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Bid Shilling

I just recently bid for and won two CP auctions. The seller has a very well known business with both a website and numerous Ebay auctions. The problem is that at about 10 seconds before each auction ended, a "private bidder" bid amounts that were exactly 28 cents below my max set bids. I had a different max bid set on each auction. I still won the auctions, but at a price that was exactly at my max bid on each.

I believe this is a shiller that is either the seller or a friend of the seller (since shilling only benefits the seller).

Have any of you experienced this when bidding on plants via Ebay? Do you agree that this seems a bit too much to be a coincidence that both auctions ended the same way (they ended about 3 minutes apart).
 
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I mean as far as I'm concerned, the seller can't see your max bid so how would they know to bid right below the max bid? I agree it sounds fishy though
 
One way is to bid until you bypass the winner, then retract your last bid. This will put the spiller right below your max bid.
 
I would not be surprised if there's some way to manipulate eBay. Frankly, I think it probably happens regularly. (A Google search reveals quite a few examples).

That said, I do doubt that it's the seller in all cases. I'm sure that some people are vindictive bidders. They know they can't afford the product but want to push the price up. And, there's probably money to be made (somehow) in shill bidding.
 
E-bay has set amounts it will "autobid" when you have bidder A with a $25 max the item is currently at $1, bidder B adds a $30 bid. E-bay does not just set the next bracket at $25.01, it would use these increments so the new max would end up being something like $25.24. Its odd but intended by there system for some reason.

I would be very care retracking bids, it is a good way to get "blocked" by a legit seller or have E-bay actually look into your account. The last thing I want when selling things on E-bay are buyers with baggage so I've blocked probably 3-4 for retracting bids. It really messes things up from a sellers point of view.

Last second bidding or snipping is very common on E-bay and things can easily go from .99 to $99 in the last 10s.
 
E-bay has set amounts it will "autobid" when you have bidder A with a $25 max the item is currently at $1, bidder B adds a $30 bid. E-bay does not just set the next bracket at $25.01, it would use these increments so the new max would end up being something like $25.24. Its odd but intended by there system for some reason.

I would be very care retracking bids, it is a good way to get "blocked" by a legit seller or have E-bay actually look into your account. The last thing I want when selling things on E-bay are buyers with baggage so I've blocked probably 3-4 for retracting bids. It really messes things up from a sellers point of view.

Last second bidding or snipping is very common on E-bay and things can easily go from .99 to $99 in the last 10s.

If I understand correctly any negative repercussions of retracting a bid are initiated by the seller. In this case a friend of an unscrupulous seller could easily bid up, beat a high bid and then retract the final bid with no worries of repercussions.
 
If I understand correctly any negative repercussions of retracting a bid are initiated by the seller. In this case a friend of an unscrupulous seller could easily bid up, beat a high bid and then retract the final bid with no worries of repercussions.

I've canceled a few bids over the years (seller side) and I know for a fact E-bay watches this as I've had a few questions as to the how/when/why/ect, so that would be an issue if they did this more than a few times a year.

If I recall correctly, once the friend bidder retracted the false bid ALL of the bids are gone. Basically if the false bidder ran from $1 to $50 then retracted any bids it would go back down to $1. You would then need a 2nd friend to bid it back up to around $45...
 
I've canceled a few bids over the years (seller side) and I know for a fact E-bay watches this as I've had a few questions as to the how/when/why/ect, so that would be an issue if they did this more than a few times a year.

If I recall correctly, once the friend bidder retracted the false bid ALL of the bids are gone. Basically if the false bidder ran from $1 to $50 then retracted any bids it would go back down to $1. You would then need a 2nd friend to bid it back up to around $45...

Those two tidbits certainly make scamming the system more difficult, but .........
 
I heard early in the game (the beginning of Ebay's operations) they allowed a seller to make one "shill" bid on their own items. Long since gone, and that might be incorrect...though I think it came from an "All you need to know about Ebay" type book.
 
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When a buyer retracts bids it shows on their feedback profile. Too many times and Ebay will shut down the account.
 
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Pearldiver if they catch you bidding on your own stuff (usually with a second account run on a second PC) you'll be booted from the system. I do have two accounts in order to sell different kinds of items but I do not bid or buy my own items from one account to the other. It wouldn't benefit me much since the bulk of my listings are buy it now listings.

The way I police my accounts is if a buyer retracts a bid, decides they don't wanna pay the shipping or become a pain in the butt in some other way I block them. To save myself the hassle I block them from both of my accounts incase they should happen upon listings from my other account.

My biggest pet peeve about eBay buyers is them not paying attention to the notice that certain items are not available to ship outside the USA. Somehow even if there is no shipping outside the USA selected they are able to bid or buy the item and then they beg and whine pleading with me to ship and not cancel their purchase and give them a refund. I wish they would not be able to bid or buy the item but eBay still allows them to.
 
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