hi have you ever been a victim of shill bidding. Where someone connected to the person whos auction it is puts in false bids to up the price of the auction. What are you views on this and should ebay do more to stop this and punish those who participate???
2007-02-12 06:24:43 · 19 answers · asked by hayley 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
I use eBay a lot and encountered shill bidding for the first time last year. I was outbid by someone who seemed to purchase a lot of items from the seller, but the seller never left feedback for the buyer ever. I posed the question on the community pages of eBay and got some really helpful answers almost immediately. The link below is one that you can use to help identify shill bidding on an auction
http://auctionpix.co.uk/shill_bidding.php
Shill bidding is not allowed on eBay so you should definitely report your suspicions to them. I did and within twenty four hours, both the seller and buyer were no longer registered users of eBay.
2007-02-15 20:47:41 · answer #1 · answered by Michele the Louis Wain cat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BIG BIRD,
"we had a bike and got mates to bump it up..it was great and it worked!..nothing wrong with it i say!"
well, guess what?
every state in the US has laws against SHILL BIDDING! it is a CRIME!
it shows what type of ethics you DON'T have!
HAYLEY,
if you suspect SHILL BIDDING, it needs to be reported. use the REPORT link on the bottom of the auction.
it is sometimes very easy to spot a SHILL BIDDING situation.
using the ADVANCED SEARCH feature you can look up suspicious IDs by bidder.
see if the bidder seems to be bidding on the same sellers auctions a lot but never winning.
check the feedback. does the bidder win, but never leaves feedback for the seller?
also, using the FIND a MEMBER SEARCH, you can check to see if the seller and the bidder are in the same state.
watch for patterns between bidders and sellers you are suspicious of.
there is no harm in reporting, even if you are not totally SURE. ebay will sort it out.
2007-02-12 14:06:08 · answer #2 · answered by deco 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This happened to me when a bidder thought I was someone else, bid my item up to a fantastic price and then sent me an email telling me that he'd done as I asked! I reported it to eBay and sold the item at a much lower price to the other bidder but still got stuck with the sellers fees for the high price and a warning from eBay for being involved with shill bidding! I went off eBay after that!
2007-02-12 06:34:53 · answer #3 · answered by 'H' 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think that goes on A LOT, almost every auction. Sure, I think that's wrong. It would be difficult to stop it and find out who is legit and who is not.
But, the bottom line is... if you really really really want the item you'll pay just about anything. There's a lot of things I've bid on that I was crazy about wanting/needing -- but I have my price that I am willing to go and after that -- well I don't feel I need it anymore. Many times the bidder has contacted me, saying their top bidder (probably their friend, or faux bidder) "dropped" out and he could offer it to me as a certain price. That's a scam.
2007-02-12 06:30:53 · answer #4 · answered by curious_One 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It happens all the time on certain items.
I did'nt know it was referred to as SHILL though.
The only way to avoid it is if you know the going rate of the items you are bidding on.And stop at a certain amout.
I know very respected sellers who trade under 30 or so different accounts. When you check there feedback they all buy from the same buyers and have 100% feeback. all bent.
Noticed in valuable items with no bids they suddenly go for large sums in the last few seconds.That is the owner bidding on there own stuff so it dosen't go cheap.
2007-02-12 06:34:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I am always on eBay and I had no idea that this happened. hm mm maybe I am just too naive well I think its unfair. but I figure it would be expensive for eBay to handle this. they hardly want to get involved when you pay and don't receive the item.
I had to come back and add this: Funny how I just read about this yesterday from your question and today it happened to me hahaha about 7 bids from someone with 0 feedback and the person only started bidding towards the end of the auction when I and another bidder began to bid. INTER-RESTING!!!!! hmmm
2007-02-12 06:34:47 · answer #6 · answered by carinayota 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hi hayley, just read you skiing question, and see this one. I am a favourite of ebay love buying, selling, everything ebay.... I hate shill bidding, have bought something that the seller just inflated the price with their other account, ebay should do alot more. Sellers like this are giving good sellers a bad name!
2007-02-12 06:30:34 · answer #7 · answered by Jammy_Dodger 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How can i tell if the person bidding has something to do with the seller? anyway i think its terrible and yes i agree that ebay should pull their socks up about alot of things! Theyre getting a really bad write up in the newspaper just now, especially paypal!
2007-02-12 06:35:56 · answer #8 · answered by jayne 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in case you do no longer comprehend that shill bidding in any style of public sale is against the regulations in any style of public sale, you will desire to be tragically common. On eBay, you will probable the two have your account suspended, acquire a broker's strike or take shipping of a penalty which prevents you from merchandising products for a definite volume of time.
2016-11-03 06:22:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be difficult to identify shill bids. Simply bid what you think the product is worth and do not get carried away.
2007-02-12 07:35:52 · answer #10 · answered by James Mack 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋