Shill Bidding

[jasopehe]

Hey there,

Just wondering if anyone on here has been accused of shill bidding on ebay before. Happened to me today and apparenlty I've been reported (Hi to the lovely user if they are on here). Pretty outraged to be honest. Just curious if anybody has had to go through any kind of process in the past due to this.

Oh yeah, I didn't by the way.

Cheers
J

 

[bloomst]

How on earth someone report/accuse you being shill bidder? Is there a reason why someone would do this?

I wouldnt worry...you can still trade even if you have 2 non paying record.

 

[jasopehe]

How on earth someone report/accuse you being shill bidder? Is there a reason why someone would do this?

I wouldnt worry...you can still trade even if you have 2 non paying record.

Apparently a particular user always bids on my coins. I usually put up a couple of 1 day 99c auctions at a time. As they start at 99c people come along and bid on both of the auctions. Get quite a few repeat bidders...sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Not too worried, just really annoyed at the accusation.

Sent me an email accusing me of inflating the prices and that an email was sent to Ebay. Silly thing is that they sell stuff also....would hate to accidently report some of their auctions.

J

 

[bloomst]

How on earth someone report/accuse you being shill bidder? Is there a reason why someone would do this?

I wouldnt worry...you can still trade even if you have 2 non paying record.

Apparently a particular user always bids on my coins. I usually put up a couple of 1 day 99c auctions at a time. As they start at 99c people come along and bid on both of the auctions. Get quite a few repeat bidders...sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Not too worried, just really annoyed at the accusation.

Sent me an email accusing me of inflating the prices and that an email was sent to Ebay. Silly thing is that they sell stuff also....would hate to accidently report some of their auctions.

J

By all mean, feel free to pm me their user name...2 can play the same game!

 

[serial]

before you go and start something you may wish to consider that they genuinely believe you are shill bidding a practise I personally hate
if you are not then you should have anything to worry about as ebay will clear you

 

[Gilligan]

Shill bidding? Qu'est que c'est?

 

[jasopehe]

before you go and start something you may wish to consider that they genuinely believe you are shill bidding a practise I personally hate
if you are not then you should have anything to worry about as ebay will clear you

Yep I hate I too. Also hate being accused of doing something I didn't do. 2 mins of investigation shows the 'shill' has bid 600 odd times in 30 days....7 times on mine.

Me reporting him was tongue in cheek.

 

[serial]

before you go and start something you may wish to consider that they genuinely believe you are shill bidding a practise I personally hate
if you are not then you should have anything to worry about as ebay will clear you

Yep I hate I too. Also hate being accused of doing something I didn't do. 2 mins of investigation shows the 'shill' has bid 600 odd times in 30 days....7 times on mine.

Me reporting him was tongue in cheek.

wow that is nothing like a shill bidder!
that is 1.6% bids on you. shill bidders tend to have more like 40%+

 

[bloomst]

Serial, I think Jasopehe was accused of doing shill bidding on his own auction...thats how i read it.

 

[nickybaby]

i have mostly given up bidding on ebay for similar reasons.

my main peeve is when you put a max bid in. Someone bids up and over your max bid $1 at a time. And then miraculously stops 1 dollar over your max bid.

2 mins after the auction you get a second chance offer. Almost as if someone is seeing what you were prepare to go to before selling to you at that price.

i never ever have taken a second chance offer. just feels wrong.

 

[copperhead]

If you call Ebay they will remove , repeat business is repeat business .

Wile i do buy silver on Ebay. Plenty of times I just bid low on one members items as much as 50 items just in hope that one might slip by and sell low . Never worked yet . lowest I paid was $1 over spot

You need call have it taken off . as long as you have no E bay communication between accounts or your account being opened on a another ISP (the other bidder)
there accusation holds no water .

Yes by the way Ebay emailing is not private .

 

[copperhead]

i have mostly given up bidding on ebay for similar reasons.

my main peeve is when you put a max bid in. Someone bids up and over your max bid $1 at a time. And then miraculously stops 1 dollar over your max bid.

2 mins after the auction you get a second chance offer. Almost as if someone is seeing what you were prepare to go to before selling to you at that price.

i never ever have taken a second chance offer. just feels wrong.

Thats just how biding works automatic

Second chance is fine as the seller has more items to sell or other bider did not pay

 

[long88]

if you selling on ebay as business, would like to sell at a loss ?

bidding on your own items are standard practice already.. i did it millions of times..

if you dont want to take the second chance ? there will be someone who will take the third and fourth chance.. as long as the item that i sell doesnt sell into loss after the fees and paypal. at the end of the day.. (ebay makes money, they will close their eyes on this, paypal makes money, customer get their best deal, i made my money). everyone wins.

 

[nickybaby]

and the above to posts are why i don't use ebay.

doing it a million times does not make it right.

 

[clear]

If you want the item - bid, if it has a reserve or shill bidding occurs, so what, each bidder decides what the true value of the item and bids to that level.

 

[BeHereNow]

if you selling on ebay as business, would like to sell at a loss ?

bidding on your own items are standard practice already.. i did it millions of times..

if you dont want to take the second chance ? there will be someone who will take the third and fourth chance.. as long as the item that i sell doesnt sell into loss after the fees and paypal. at the end of the day.. (ebay makes money, they will close their eyes on this, paypal makes money, customer get their best deal, i made my money). everyone wins.

Well, eBay doesn't know it is standard practice, as it violates their rules.
There are several ways to prevent selling at a loss, without shill bids.
I sold $500 camera lenses with $9.99 first bid, no reserve, never lost a penny.
I have over 900 positive FB as both a buyer and seller, although mostly as a seller.
If you think you need shill bidding to prevent losses, you are in the wrong game.

~ ~

Policy overview
Shill bidding happens when anyoneincluding family, friends, roommates, employees, or online connectionsbids on an item with the intent to artificially increase its price or desirability. In addition, members cannot bid on or buy items in order to artificially increase a seller's Feedback or to improve the item's search standing.

Make sure you follow these guidelines. If you don't, you may be subject to a range of actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account. Shill bidding is also illegal in many places and can carry severe penalties.

Review our shill bidding policy tutorial to learn more about this policy.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-shill-bidding.html

 

[BeHereNow]

If you want the item bid, if it has reserve fine or shill bidding occurs, so what, each bidder decides what the true value of the item and bids to that level.

Here is the problem.
With shill bidding, the seller decides what they think is the true value, and violate the rules to get it.
Within the rules they can decide what the minimum is they will accept, they can decide what they consider the 'true value'.

I have walked away from many auctions because it is clear what the seller wants, and I am not willing to pay.
When it appears the final price is up to the bidders, and may well be less than I am willing to pay, I will take my chances, invest my time.
I have been in auctions where it is clear there is shill bidding - I walk away.

One example.
A seller had exactly the same, new item listed in multiple places (categories). No problem.
I wanted to buy it at the minimum price listed, so I put in a minimum bid. Within hours I was outbid.
So I went to another listing, same item, same seller, put in another minimum bid. Within hours I was outbid.
So I went to another listing, same thing.
I checked the closed listings for the same item. His last round of listings, same item, same price, had NO bids.
Over a 30 day period, the only time this item of his got bids, was mine, and the one after.

So I got jerked around, spent 30 minutes or an hour of my time, for nothing, since some seller wanted to violate the rules.
If they would have followed the rules, I would have paid his listed price, or walked away, no foul.

In life, getting the best price means an investment of time. Same with eBay.
Shill bidders are stealing my time, and want to take my money, if I let them, that's how I see it.

 

[mmissinglink]

I've been accused of having my selling prices too low on eBay.



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[BeHereNow]

I've been accused of having my selling prices too low on eBay.
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Me too, but only by my wife.
In those days selling fees were based, in part, on starting price, may have changed.
She would see me listing all this stuff at $9.99 first bid, no reserve, and about had a stroke.
First bid of $400 would have been a few dollars more, every dollar counts.
We were well into selling by then, knew our stuff, I knew there was no chance I'd get burned, and I was right.

I got the most flack from selling $15 worth of strike-anywhere matches.
"Barn burners" we used to call them. They had become hard to find nationally, but the Amish store up the road always had them in stock.
I had opening bid of $3, my cost, always sold them for $12 or more.
I got hateful emails telling me I shouldn't be able sleep at night, cheating people like that. I tried to explain this was an open auction, no guns to the head, didn't work. I was a cheat, and that was all there was to it.
I got wonderful feedback, for a great product at a great price. I pointed that out, did not matter.
Soon three or four others picked up and were probably buying wholesale. Not enough money to make it worth while.

Lots of great stories from eBay.
The most fun was the crazy stuff I'd buy at live auctions, and get the looks from my wife. "What the H are you going to do with that crap?"
When my $1 office machine sold for $180 she thought it was a fluke. I knew what I bought.
My $5 deck of cards that sold for $130 was a shocker too, to her, not me.
The $2 peanut butter jar that sold for $75 was a surprise for both of us.
When my $30 candy scale sold for $375 we split the money since she did the listing.
Some of them even surprised me. My $40 goatskin shadow puppets sold for $300. I had no idea on that one.
She did good too. She sold some $10 jadeite restaurant plates (with the $1 price tag still on them) for $80 to $150 each.
Even with auction fees, gas money, eBay fees, we still doubled our money. We didn't get rich, but had great fun.

We're not listing now, but probably will by the end of the year. Retirement pastime.

I still buy off eBay occasionally. Once you learn the rules, as in techniques, the principles remain the same.

 

[mmissinglink]

Great eBay stories. eBay now gives sellers at least 50 free (no listing fee) listings per month....that's actually very good for most sellers like me.

Before the big crash in 2008, I too could sell just about anything on eBay. Now, it's very different. Other than the wealthy (who generally wouldn't go on eBay to buy anyway) I think that many people are hurting financially these days. We have stealth (and perhaps even a little overt) inflation going on and many people are feeling their wallets shrinking as taxes, utilities, repairs, rents, food, medical costs and medications, and clothing goes up in price (or what you get in the package is less than what you used to get...stealth inflation). That affects eBay sales I'm certain and I noticed the marked shift in what people will buy around 2008.

Sellers on eBay for many (not all) items literally are taking a loss (or making almost no profit) just to sell their goods or underbid their competition.

Anyway, I hope when you come back to sell on eBay you are very successful again!



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