View Full Version : Shill bidding? Opinions please
Mayhem
10-09-2003, 04:57 AM
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=3352629394
The person in question (fairly obvious who here from the bid history!) made a number of bids before and after I put mine. Look at the bid retraction though... they got up to my max bid (which was $505 btw) and then took it back and didn't bid again. But seeing as they were also bidding before I even came on the scene... they were shilling even before anyone else began? Just thought I'd see what people here thought...
By this, I presume I could report them to eBay also...?
Flack
10-09-2003, 05:16 AM
Yes that's shill bidding, yes you could report them, no, that won't get you the item but might make you sleep better tonight. I don't feel obligated to buy anything from an auction where someone's bidding like that. If they push the matter, I just send an e-mail saying, "yeah, I was interested in it until that shill bidder ran the price up and retracted their bid at the last moment," that usually gets them off your back.
Mayhem
10-09-2003, 07:59 AM
On the other hand, from bidding history, you can see they're after other auctions with the same items...
http://cgi3.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewBidItems&userid=jpnole&completed=0&all=1&rows=25
Maybe I just got pushed up high? I doubt (though you never know) that the seller I won from and the two others that "jpnole" has bid on are all the same person...
Darth Sensei
10-09-2003, 08:59 AM
He's obviously shilling. I wouldn't buy it or only for $360+ which is where the other buyer stepped out.
Dave
jonjandran
10-09-2003, 09:49 AM
And why would you bid $500.00 but then say $505.00 was wrong amount and to high.
Unless he entered something higher.
Was $505.00 your max bid , Mayhem ?
Mayhem
10-09-2003, 09:57 AM
Yes it was...
jonjandran
10-09-2003, 09:59 AM
Then I'm going with shill bidding . Like I said, no way at $500.00 you wouldn't spend the extra $5.00.
And it would be impossible to hit 5 0 5 when you meant something else.
Chunky
10-09-2003, 10:05 AM
yeah shit he's at 500, did he mean to hit 502, 504? wtf? I'd go right to Ebay. and even ask both of them what they hells going on here.
jonjandran
10-09-2003, 10:17 AM
The only problem is that he hasn't done this before.
I mean bid it up and then retract.
Maybe just a case of bidders remorse ? Or the spouse said "no way".
All of his other bids and purchases were for things for his kid , and they were a lot cheaper. Maybe he just got carried away and then said " wth , I don't have $500.00 ".
I'd still contact E-Bay though.
Darth Vader
10-09-2003, 02:46 PM
How was the bidder able to retract their bid with around an hour to go?? I thought ebay rules state you can't do a bid retraction with less than 12 hours to go in the auction?? Very fishy!
Danny
Mayhem
10-09-2003, 02:57 PM
You can btw... I did check. If you do it with more than 12 hours to go, you lose all bids you currently put in. If you do it within 12 hours to go, you only take back the last one you put in.
Darth Vader
10-09-2003, 03:05 PM
You can btw... I did check. If you do it with more than 12 hours to go, you lose all bids you currently put in. If you do it within 12 hours to go, you only take back the last one you put in.
Let me rephrase, I think we have this confused:
Retraction= omitting your own bid
Cancelled= omitting a bidder's bid by the seller
Bidders are not supposed to be able to retract their own bid with 12 hours or less to go in the auction. It happened to me in a few auctions, that's why I can't believe this happened.
Danny
Griking
10-09-2003, 08:57 PM
Well isn't there a certain point where someone has to draw a line and say that they won't pay any more for an item?
Then I'm going with shill bidding . Like I said, no way at $500.00 you wouldn't spend the extra $5.00.
And it would be impossible to hit 5 0 5 when you meant something else.
jonjandran
10-09-2003, 09:14 PM
Well isn't there a certain point where someone has to draw a line and say that they won't pay any more for an item?
Then I'm going with shill bidding . Like I said, no way at $500.00 you wouldn't spend the extra $5.00.
And it would be impossible to hit 5 0 5 when you meant something else.
The point is , if he was trying to win this item and had already bid $500.00 and didn't get high bid. Then he put in $505.00 and did , why would he then decide the $505.00 was to high ?
That's 1 % higher.
Balloon Fight
10-09-2003, 09:18 PM
I am fairly new to ebay, only been using it for 3 months. So what is shill bidding anyway. (I know, stupid question...)
Achika
10-09-2003, 09:53 PM
The best thing to do (avoiding confusion here) is quoting eBay:
Shill bidding is the deliberate placing of bids to artificially raise the price of an item and is not allowed. To avoid the appearance of being involved in this activity, family members, friends, and individuals living together, working together or sharing a computer should not bid on each other's items.
Balloon Fight
10-09-2003, 10:01 PM
Thanks Achika for the definition.
Darth Vader
10-09-2003, 11:21 PM
You can btw... I did check. If you do it with more than 12 hours to go, you lose all bids you currently put in. If you do it within 12 hours to go, you only take back the last one you put in.
Let me rephrase, I think we have this confused:
Retraction= omitting your own bid
Cancelled= omitting a bidder's bid by the seller
Bidders are not supposed to be able to retract their own bid with 12 hours or less to go in the auction. It happened to me in a few auctions, that's why I can't believe this happened.
Danny
After re-reading what you said, I understand what you mean. You cannot retract any bids that happened before 12 hours to go in the auction, but you can retract any bids that you do place in that 12 hour window only (not all of them). That is a bunch of BS and definitely shill bidding.
I think I should read a little better next time. ;)
Danny
Mayhem
10-10-2003, 05:19 AM
If it started happening only after I put in my bid, then I would 100% say so. But as the guy, as pointed out, was bidding before I even knew about the auction and is bidding on similar items from other bidders, then it's harder to tell. Certainly though that last bid...
Well here's how eBay works you see... When he bid $500, it would have told him "Sorry, but Mayhem is still high bidder on $505.". When he bid $505, it would have told him "Sorry, but Mayhem is still high bidder on $505.". Hence by that, you can tell EXACTLY what someone's high bid is without having gone over it. Quite whether he got "lucky" or guessed my bid was set to that, I don't know. Why he withdrew it, dunno.
But as I've yet to hear from the seller, we'll just have to wait and see...
mcgrail0007@netzero.net
10-10-2003, 10:54 AM
He might have withdrawn the bid because he couldn't afford it. I think that some people just like to bid to have a sort of "competition" with someone on eBay and have no intention of actually buying the item.
Mayhem
10-12-2003, 10:17 AM
Well from my investigations so far, I'm 99% certain the seller has nothing to do with this. "jpnole" has been doing it to a number of other auctions, and one that finished last night (where he won) has been relisted straight away. So SOMETHING is up with that guy...