eBay

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

I need your opinion on this item and all the other the seller sold recently (especially on July 24): 330765673044

There's a bidder with 0 feedback who always bid unbelievable prices, but never wins anything. And this person only bid on this seller's items.

I think the poor girl who won all those auctions got ripped off by the seller, who was - in my humble opinion - probably shill bidding. For photos and items not even THAT rare or not even autographed!

I reported him, but if I'm the only one, I fear I will only be seen as a jealous competitor... but I'm a fan more than anything and I find it sad that another "fan" stole money from a poor new buyer (she is new even if her feedback says otherwise).

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

This item would be a better example: 330765639442

i*m-still-here · ‎08-13-2012

I have to agree.

I checked out the seller's completed items and sorted them from high to low and that bidder is the under-bidder for a lot of the items but I couldn't find any winnings.

I suppose ebay would see that too if they took the time to check, but if it's done well I'm not sure how you'd prove that it's shill bidding.

Very suspicious!

toby_le_pue · ‎08-13-2012

Don't really look like shill bidding because the bidder in question has not retracted any bids and have not found any auctions where the seller has cancelled any bids which is a good indication of shill bidding.

i*m-still-here · ‎08-13-2012

I'm not experienced with shill bidding.

Maybe just an enthusiastic bidder then?

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

Don't really look like shill bidding because the bidder in question has not retracted any bids

In this case, that is not a good indication. Because the seller perfectly knew that the new bidder was willing to pay ANY price as long as she won. He KNEW she would outbid him immediately as soon as she got outbid. If you look closely, there's not bid by the 0 member near the end of any auction. Too much risk to win his own item.

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

By the way, the same 0 bidder is still bidding on this seller's items, but he stops as soon as he is near the winning bid.

bb_cool_stuff · ‎08-13-2012

or the bidder decided on the maximum amount they were willing to spend prior to the last bid.

I always have a maximum amount I'm willing to pay for any Auction or BIN Item.

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

In these examples, the girl who won would increases her bid as soon as she got outbid. The 0 bidder would then increase too until he reaches the maximum bid but without winning. Then the girl, seing she has competition, would increase her bid 2 more times. The 0 bidder would then increase, increase and stop just before the maximum bid. The girl would bid 2-3-4 more times, because she doesn't want to get outbid. Then the 0 bidder would increase, increase until he's near the maximum. And so on and on. But he never won. Doesn't look suspicious to you?

toby_le_pue · ‎08-13-2012

. If you look closely, there's not bid by the 0 member near the end of any auction. Too much risk to win his own item.

If you look closely at the bidding history of auction number you posted in # 1 Post you will see that the bidder in question was the last bidder at

24-Jul-12 16:49:44 EDT

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

toby_le_pue, it was not even near the end of the auction. Plus, the winner already put 2 more bids before him. So he knew he would not outbid her.

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

I meant to write "3 more bids" not 2

i*m-still-here · ‎08-13-2012

A bidder can only be the under bidder so often before one starts asking questions.

In this case it seems that almost every auction (or even every auction?) with multiple bidders closed with this same person as the under bidder and almost always by a dollar or so.

It's possible that it's on the up and up............. but very very odd.

i*m-still-here · ‎08-13-2012

This bidder ONLY bids on items from that one seller.

100% of the 32 auctions bid on by o***s have been from that seller only.

That's suspicious as well.

toby_le_pue · ‎08-13-2012

toby_le_pue, it was not even near the end of the auction. Plus, the winner already put 2 more bids before him. So he knew he would not outbid her.

Look again.

You will see bidder in question made their last bid

2 hours before the auction ended.

And that was the final bid made by anyone.

The winning bidder made their final bid

6 hours before auction ended.

i*m-still-here · ‎08-13-2012

This bidder ONLY bids on items from that one seller.

100% of the 32 auctions bid on by o***s have been from that seller only.

That's suspicious as well.

I take that back............ that's only true for the auctions currently being bid on by o****5.

All in all 55% of her bids are with this seller.

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

You will see bidder in question made their last bid

2 hours before the auction ended.

Yes, but read my comment again: the winner already put 3 more bids BEFORE him. So he knew he would not outbid her with his last bid.

toby_le_pue · ‎08-13-2012

Seeing the poor winner in question is a buyer of yours have you asked her what her opinion was.

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2012

I take that back............ that's only true for the auctions currently being bid on by o****s. All in all 55% of her bids are with this seller.

No, you were right:

Bidder Information Bidder: o***s( 0 )

Feedback: 0% Positive

Items bid on: 32

Bid activity (%) with this seller: 100%

As for the winning bidder t***r, I know she was not shill bidding. Only 45% of her bids are with this seller and she won almost all of her bids (if not all, I didn't look further).