[ziplock]

Isn't it illegal for people to bid on their own auctions? or have friends do it for them, whom have no intent on actually purchasing the item. The seller then re-lists said item a few days or weeks later with different wording or pictures. I have no solid evidence, but in the past my gut feeling tells me someone had rigged the auction.

Example. You are bidding on an obscure item that is difficult to find via searching. Perhaps it is buried deep inside some sellers store. The current bid among a few people is still attractive and the item has no reserve. OK, I want that. You enter in an insane maximum bid to ensure your win. Tick.. Tock.. Tick... Tock.. 30 minutes till auction end... Some noob comes out of nowhere, with zero feedback, and who had joined only a few weeks ago starts clicking like a mad man to raise the bid. Before you know it he reaches your maximum and stops.. What the ****?!

In many cases I just bail out before it even reaches that point. Disappointment ensues.

Does Ebay have some system in place to track this kind of thing? It's disheartening to see people take advantage of such loop holes in the bidding system. Quite frankly it pisses me off to no end. I would really love to see the bidders/sellers IP addresses so I can run a run a few traceroutes and do my own homework. Ah well, what can you do?

Have any of you had similar experiences? How common is this sort of scam?

~Zip

 

[vcoheda]

how does he know what your maximum is.

 

[ziplock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif how does he know what your maximum is.

That is a good question. Far as I know, he/she doesn't. If there was some sort of hack or exploit, that sure would be useful to the ill willed. Stopping at the max bid is just one example, sometimes they go over too.

 

[kg21]

how many times has someone with zero feedback actually done this to you? Its frustrating to get outbid but like vcoheda said how would they know what your max bid is? If the "scammers" were to push it that high eventually they would outbid everyone, essentially hurting themselves.

 

[vcoheda]

i agree that there is shill bidding on ebay and plenty of it. but there are also a lot of people who want an item and will bid by the smallest of increments until they reach/exceed another person's maximum and become the high bidder. for this reason, it is always best to bid your maximum amount in the finals moments of the auction.

 

[ziplock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kg21 /img/forum/go_quote.gif how many times has someone with zero feedback actually done this to you? Its frustrating to get outbid but like vcoheda said how would they know what your max bid is? If the "scammers" were to push it that high eventually they would outbid everyone, essentially hurting themselves.

It's happened about 5 times over the years. Only now am I starting to wise up and watch out for this type of activity. I would rather avoid the whole confrontation of an investigation. Ebay is no small time company, surely they will catch on and fix this at some point. This IS illegal, is it not?

 

[ziplock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif i agree that there is shill bidding on ebay and plenty of it. but there are also a lot of people who want an item and will bid by the smallest of increments until they reach/exceed another person's maximum and become the high bidder. for this reason, it is always best to bid your maximum amount in the finals moments of the auction.

Right, I do agree with that. How do you sort out the honest bidding folk? That is another reason why I keep my mouth shut. These are pretty serious accusations IMO. I would rather let the authorities figure it out.

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziplock /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's happened about 5 times over the years. Only now am I starting to wise up and watch out for this type of activity. I would rather avoid the whole confrontation of an investigation. Ebay is no small time company, surely they will catch on and fix this at some point. This IS illegal, is it not?

It's against Ebay polices.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/...l-bidding.html

That an other reason to snipe. If you only bid at the last second. The shill bidder won't have your bid input for shill bidding.

Although I don't buy much from ebay these day.

I treat ebay as a silent auction and put in a bid that I expect to pay if I win.

My way to deal with it, is to only bid a what I think is a fair price and snipe.
Don't bid more than what your willing to pay.

With online sniper so I can always retract my bid before the end of the auction if I change my mind. Also my max bid is not in ebay system before the last 5 sec.

 

[mr_baseball_08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziplock /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, I want that. You enter in an insane maximum bid to ensure your win. Tick.. Tock.. Tick... Tock..

Here's an idea.. Only enter an amount that you're comfortable paying and no more. If you win, good for you. If you don't, then obviously someone wanted the item more than you did.

I believe that is how auctions are supposed to go..

 

[WhatMACHI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_baseball_08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's an idea.. Only enter an amount that you're comfortable paying and no more. If you win, good for you. If you don't, then obviously someone wanted the item more than you did. I believe that is how auctions are supposed to go..

But he is saying that the person who outbids them seems to be someone who is working in collaboration with the auctioneer.

 

[trose49]

Fact is people do it all the time and have friends try to bump up the bid for them to try and raise the price.

Sometimes the friend ends up being the highest bidder and the person selling does have to pay the ebay fees so it can backfire and when they relist it they will have to pays the fees the second time so there is a detorrent but it still happens.

Bottom line is never bid more that you are willing to pay for the item. This sounds easy but many times you can get caught up in the bidding fenzy and fall victim to the "ebay bump"

Let it backfire on them and walk away!

I often wait till about 1-2 mins left and bid the maximum I would be willing to pay for the item. If I win I still got a good deal IMO because I didnt let the bid take control of me and if the bidding starts going up and up past my number I let it go!

There will be another one (hopefully):]

Happy Bidding!

 

[3x331m]

It's evil Bay. That's what they meant.

 

[trose49]

What is "online sniper"?

 

[infinitesymphony]

Bid sniping is when you wait until the last second to place a bid, often winning over people who may have outbid you if they had been given the chance. I used to be of the opinion that sniping was a bad practice, but now it's pretty much the only way to get a fair deal. If everyone bids their maximum at the end, what does it matter that they didn't bid before?

This has been said in other threads, but eBay is not a true "auction" site because the listing closes before everyone has had a chance to counter-bid. A solution to this would be to extend the auction by a few minutes after the last bid.

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trose49 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What is "online sniper"?

Ebay sniping is to bid at the last second so other people cannot react on time.

Here example for illustration

You bid $100 max but only show $10 since nobody else bid

User B come in bid $20 your bid is at $21

Then bid $30 your bid is at $31

then $40 etc

So snipping you don't bid at all until the last 5 sec

User B come in and bid $20 since you haven't input your bid yet he think he winning at $20 and wait happily

5 sec before the auction end you bid $100 so the bid is at $21

if User B refresh just in time and see $21 if he doing it manually he don't have much time to put an other bid since he only have 5 sec left

Online sniper is a website that does it for you.

Meaning you input the bid you want into a 3rd party website.
Their computer will generate your bid at the time you have set. For example 5 sec before the auction end.

The 3rd party website will bid for you at a set price with the set delay before the auction end.

Since the bid is not been officially input in ebay until 5 sec before the end you can cancel the bid anytime before it ends

However you have to trust the 3rd party website with you ebay password if you want them to bid for you.