Shill bidding and misleading ads

[olddiamondlil]

Was reading an earlier post and wonder if Ebay really does care about shill bidding and fraudulent seller activity if it's making them money.  For  months now I have kept coming across "very unlucky" Queensland used jewellery sellers who seem to put the same ring up at .99c start and have dozens of bids only to relist the same item a couple of weeks later. Eg opal ring 33125953890 sold 19/7 $492, 321472061988 sold 2/8 $290, 231300712639 13/8 $266.99 and finally 231308100347 $273.  All the same ring although listed under a couple of different seller ids. At the moment I think have at least 8 different seller ids that are used but don't know if I can quote them.

Another thing that really p---s me off with these "sellers" is the misleading ads which are sucking gullible buyers in eg "huge GENUINE 9.30ct pink sapphire diamond ring".  The wording makes the buyer think that the pink sapphire is genuine but it's NOT, only the diamonds are real.  It is a synthetic stone worth very little and the current $399 price is possibly more than it's original new price. A genuine natural pink sapphire of this size, colour and clarity would be worth tens of thousands of dollars and would be extremely rare.  

[olddiamondlil]

Oops that first number should be 331259538890

[i-love-my-sheep]

The first one looks like a different stone, the green flashes are different. The other 3 are identical though. I'd say those 2 'sellers' are one and the same. To coincidental not to be. 

I can understand one sale falling through, but the same ring 3 times? It's not exactly an ugly ring!

Interestingly, both accounts seem to have feedback for pretty much every other item sold, except for that ring, so it makes me wonder if it will get listed again a 4th time.

As for shill bidding, I initially though that eBay took it seriously because of them NARUing the other offenders accounts (except for one she hadn't used for a couple of years). However, since they have reinstated her old main account again and she seems to have shill bidding happening again on her other account, I really don't think they care. 

She had been reported by quite a few members and I believe has been reported by quite a few people this time, yet both her accounts remain very active. I am not reporting any more suspected shill bdding accounts due to upsetting a few forum members with them thinking I'm a know it all snitch. I was doing it because I didn't like the idea of innocent buyers getting defrauded, but apparently I did the wrong thing.

If you think these sellers are shilling or scamming somehow, by all means report them and give eBay any evidence you have to back up your claims. If they don't know about it, they can't do anything about it. At the very least they may check the accounts of the bidders and see if there is anything untoward going on. It is possible that if the bidding accounts are owned by the sellers, they could very well suspend them or shut them down. I guess it depends on who gets the report.

[cq_electrical]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

As for shill bidding, I initially though that eBay took it seriously because of them NARUing the other offenders accounts (except for one she hadn't used for a couple of years). However, since they have reinstated her old main account again and she seems to have shill bidding happening again on her other account, I really don't think they care. 

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Dunno about you, sheep, but I'm actually beginning to suspect that eBay actually encourage it. They did nothing for weeks until enough people eventually complained about them then they very reluctantly shut down a couple of the offending accounts for a few weeks, and now that the hullabaloo has died down, those very same accounts have mysteriously been reinstated and the shill bidding goes on exactly the same as it did before.

Like you, I'm not going to bother complaining about or reporting shill bidders any more because if ebay clearly don't give a stuff, why the hell should I? We try to do the right thing and keep this place an honest trading environment for other buyers while all the time we're constantly being undermined by eBay who do absolutely nothing to prevent their buyers from being ripped off. Seems to me it all comes down to money. The more eBay make, the less they care. I've stopped selling here and flatly refuse to participate in any auctions either. It's BIN or nothing from now on.

[olddiamondlil]

Hi Sheep - the example I gave was only one of many I keep seeing with this seller/s.  I would have an item on my watch list, see it sold then see the same item pop up under a different seller id.  a week or so later.   Surely no seller can be that unlucky to have so many sales fall through? It also stands to reason that no seller could afford to continually take their chances on auctions with a 99 cent start when the jewellery is often worth hundreds. As I said, I currently know of at least 8 seller accounts that they are using - it's easy to pick them, as all have the same selling blurb/format (often with same grammar mistakes) photos and 99c starts. Am I allowed to quote seller ids on here?

The misleading of  buyers into thinking coloured stones are genuine carries across too eg 121425738622 and 231325184984.  No where do they state that the coloured stones are actually synthetic.  I know one of the seller ids got a neg for that reason after the buyer paid a hefty whack for a synthetic ring. 

[i-love-my-sheep]

Hi, no, you can't name and shame buyers or sellers, but leaving an item number for dodgy sellers like you have seems to be OK. Can't say for sure it's OK, but those messages don't tend to get edited by the mods.

There are so many dodgy sellers around these days, it's quite scary. You're right too, no-one could have that much bad luck with buyers that don't pay on the same item, especially over multiple selling accounts. Anyone who lists an item for auction starting at 99c when it's worth hundreds is an idiot, especially when they are wanting a lot more. I originally started my auctions at 99c because I thought that's what you did, but then realised everything was selling with only 1 bid and I was actually losing quite a bit of money.

I think there is some laws off eBay in regards to selling synthetic stones. It's frowned upon and I think sellers can cop a big fine. I was reading about it the other day when I was researching some of the stones I am selling off. The Chinese and Thai's have put a big dent in the gem market due to their ability to create the perfect fake. Retailers basically have to have some sort of COA with gemstones they sell. If I get some time a bit later, I'll see if I can find the site I was looking at again.

I know that so far the gemstones I have sold have been real, of varying qualities. A repeat buyer has bought quite a few and is a member of his local gem club. He took them all in to show off his bargains and had them tested with all the right gadgets and they were all what I said they were. It was a relief for me because I'd bought them years ago and never had any teated to see whether they were real.

[black*poppy]

I was wondering if it is possible to glean anything from the bidding history?  I know that you can't see the buyers' ids, but if the fb# is the same - eg p***6 (0) across the listings then that can be another indication of a shill bidder at work.  Shill bidders are often obvious when they have very low or 0 fb.  

[cq_electrical]

A quick check of the % of bids with that particular seller is usually a dead giveaway as well.