Respectable Member Seamonster Indeed it is a real beauty classic. However dishonest attempt by greedy seller in gaming the auction through shill bidding ruin everyone appetite to this beauty. Thank you.
It looks like this seller use shill bidding in many of his auctions: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolex-Dayto...923370553?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item1e7ba41839Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p2047675.l2565&rt=nc&item=111090622796Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Internation...923851615?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item1e7bab6f5fPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Internation...683819009?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item485632dc01Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Audemars-Pi...683822081?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item485632e801Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolex-Celli...923967814?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item1e7bad3546Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-Winst...923973049?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item1e7bad49b9Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blancpain-V...924413766?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item1e7bb40346Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glashutte-O...684469674?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item48563cc9aaPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network and many more........ Doesn't Ebay controlling/ forbidding this kind of practice?
shocking!! read mode on this link: http://www.ebay.com/gds/Shill-Bidding-How-to-Find-Avoid-and-Report-The-Scam/10000000001368684/g.htmlPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
odd I can´t either now. anyway here it is in print voilà monsiuer/madame: SHILL BIDDING WHAT IS IT & WHY DO I CARE? Shill bidding is when a seller (with an additional Ebay account or the assistance of another Ebayer), bids on their own items against legitimate bidders in order to unfairly push the price of thier own items up. Obviously, this unfair practice (forbidden by Ebay policy) forces legitimate bidders to pay more than they should or more than the true market value than would otherwise be necessary. HOW CAN I TELL IF SHILL BIDDING IS GOING ON? It eventually becomes instinctive for those who shop regularly on Ebay. An idicator can be a huge difference in what bidders pay for the same item in other auctions going on at about the same time. That fact alone may indicate shilling on one sale and not on another! It seems buyers eventually develop a nose for it - especially when the price for a used item rapidly approaches that of a new one, or the price of the item skyrockets beyond what is reasonable. However, while you are developing your instincts, I offer some suggestions on other ways you can pick up on shilling to avoid being ripped off. To see if there may be shill bidding going on, look for the following signs..... THE VERY LOYAL CUSTOMER (TOO LOYAL!) In this case, you would look at the current bidders on an auction for any item in which you are interested. The Very Loyal Customer almost exclusively buys from the seller holding the auction, occassionally from one or two other sellers (more shilling??). You may also notice that this devoted buyer bids a lot and yet, rarely wins. Another indication is that the Very Loyal Customer seems to be attempting to buy a wide variety of items from the same seller. For example, what are the chances that a single buyer would be purchasing an antique mustache cup, two contemporary novels, a Metallica CD, a laptop computer and some clothing -- all from the same seller on the same day? How lucky it is that this one seller seems to have exactly what this particular "Very Loyal Customer" is looking for....... It can't pass the smell test --don't bid -- move on to another more fair sale. BIDDING THAT IS INTENDED TO LOOSE Look for early, low and frequent bidding designed to push up the hidden bids of legitimate buyers. This is a way to show the highest maximum bids of legitimate buyers who bid early. This is a very common shill bidding scam. Avoid this by watching the item you want and bidding later in the sale. In fact, bidding in the last few minutes of an auction is best -- more about this later. Bidding intended to win focusses on putting in a few extra cents and an odd number in the bid in an effort to best the other buyers, if only by a few pennies (i.e. $10.27 instead of $9.99). If the other bidder is not bidding this way, they are either very inexperienced Ebayers (check feedback number) or they are intentionally offering "looser bids." Using a loosing bid instead of a winning bidding strategy is clearly designed to push the price up without winning ones own item. Shillers don't want to win, they just want to push the price up. In auctions in which you intend to bid, be sure to look at the bidders, time, size and frequency of bidding. Frequent small bids early on by the same ID can indicate shilling. If you suspect you have been shilled, you can find all the bid information in the bid history after the auction is over. This information may be found by following the link on the main auction page. If you feel you have been shilled, copy and paste the information (highlight + control C) into an email (highlight + control V) to be sent to Ebay Safe Harbor. Ebay has the means to track specific information that can ferret out and stop Shill Bidders. SIMILAR BIDDER IDS People can be so predictable! Never is it more obvious than when shill bidders use little imagination in setting up additional Ebay accounts to manipulate the system. Shill bidders sometimes make it easy to detect through silly similarities, aliterations, or patterns that are common between the seller and shill bidder IDs. For instance; PZBJones94307 at anyisp or PatriciaJone at anyisp are suspiciously similar IDs, as would be Harleys4eva at anyisp and ILUVMYHARLEYat anyisp Whenever you see such obvious patterns between the seller and bidders, look more closely at other elements in this guide before bidding. Coincidences do happen but be suspicious! Any other indicator there may be shilling and you should report the sale. Ebay has analysts employed to check IP addresses to detect shilling and if you are wrong, no harm done. LIGHTENING FAST RE-LISTING OF SOLD ITEMS When a shill bidder accidentally wins his/her own item(s), the obvious thing to do is to get the item relisted quickly and be more careful shilling next time. Interestingly, most are rogue enough to even use the Ebay free re-listing tool when they do this! In the case of a shill bidder, that relisting will typically take place in far less time than it would be possible to have an item sold and returned to the seller. In a practical sense, it is not likely that a seller can sell , receive payment, ship the item, the winner to receive it, complain and send it back in less than 5 days. This process would more likely take the better part of a week to 10 days. So, when things are relisted in less than a week (and surely in less than three days), it is a good bet shilling was going on and the owner accidently won his/her own item. HOW TO FIND "TREND BIDDING" INFORMATION ON A BIDDER ID To find out if the Ebay ID you suspect as a shill bidder has trends discussed earlier, you can check the bidder ID. To check the Bidder activity, simply do a User ID search using the Ebay search link provided in the navigation bar of almost every Ebay page. Sellers names are now listed on the Bidder List page so you can now quickly and easily see if the bidder prefers only one or two sellers - a great indication of shilling activity. FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET FEEDBACK. If you see that feedback is exchanged in a curiously short period of time (3 days at the outside), this is a good indication of shilling activity. Feedback between the seller ID and the Shill is a small perk for the seller who wins his/her own item while shill bidding. Few can resist the temptation to post glowing feedback in their own feedback score. This trend is increasingly difficult to spot with the instantaneous payments on PayPal and the priority shipping options available, but it can still be done. HABITUAL BID RETRACTIONS We can all make a mistake and bid too much or make a typo resulting in an unrealistic offer in the heat of last minute bidding. We can also get lost in the frenzy of bidding and later have buyers remorse when we come to our senses. Having paid too much, we decide not to go through with the sale and retract the bid. Fortunately, we usually learn from the experience and it does not become a habit (nor should it be). With shill bidders it happens frequently when they are running the bid up to the highest amount offered by legitimate sellers during the auction. If they go too far, however, they really don't want to win their own item. So they are quick with bid retractions. Three or more bid retrations in the past 6 months is a good indicator of shill bidding. Shills using this technique generally use less than plausible excuses to retract bids and do retract more often than normal bidders. Thankfully, bid retractions now show up in Bidder profiles. Consequently, this method of shilling has become significantly less popular. Those new to Ebay still use it thought, strangely, often believing it is an original idea! For more information on shill bidding visit Ebays policy on this issue. TO REPORT SHILL BIDDING: copy and paste (Cntrl + C, then Cntrl + V) as much information as you can find into an email and send it to Ebay's Safe Harbor. Make sure you include the item number and other information that can help and investigator locate and monitor the correct auction. There is nothing more fulfilling than a great bargain on a dream purchase -- this process should not be overshadowed by nepharious dealings that ruin the fun. If you susoect shilling, report it and let Ebay sort it out. Sellers who engage in these behaviours do not belong in a community of quality sellers and honest customers. I hope this helps you with bargain hunting in the world's best market place. Please drop by and visit my auctions and sales at "The Write Place."
Respectable Member Privateday7 Dishonesty does not pay. The price has dropped now and this is interesting. Thank-you.
Interesting. I don't know this could happen...... So at last minutes the seller remove the shill bid.........or the shill buyer retract their bids?
The shill would retract their bids in the closing stages. Based on this thread the seller "wirelug" won't be getting any of my business...