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Is shill bidding considered scamming?


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This guy listed a Warwick SSII ( [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230197312683&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=013[/url] ).

Winning bid was £711, not bad for a SSII... however it was subsequently relisted ( [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230200163221&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX&refitem=230197312683&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...type=osi_widget[/url]

Smelling a bit of a rat I emailed and asked the guy what had happened with the sale. He replied that the buyer 'had time to think about it' (more of which later) and had asked if he could pay after Christmas, but the seller declined and reported the buyer to eBay who gave him a refund on the sale fees. Plausible (NOT) then I noted that the seller left positive feedback for the buyer; also eBay regulations allow a buyer 7 days before you can even consider reporting a non-paying bidder.... Strangest of all the bass was relisted 20 minutes after the original sale ended! FFS it would take 20 minutes to send a couple of emails back and forward between the buyer and seller if they were both on the ball and sitting waiting for contact!

I smell a shill bid

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Also if you look at morkeal's feedback musicgearguy left feedback for him on 24th aug on another sale. Either this is purley a coincidence or they have done something similar before.

I was looking at a car on ebay a few years back which kept getting relisted and the same guy won it 3 times. If you don't want to sell something for peanuts then stick a reserve on otherwise people soon cotton on to what you are doing.

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Interesting! I bid on the first auction but missed the finale....lucky me I might been of victim of shill bidding!....I asked the seller why the bass was relisted and gave me the same answer...at least the lying bstrd is consistent.......

This is the feedback the seller gave the buyer (who greacefully bowed out...)

Great Ebayer, highly recomended AAAAAAAAAA+++++++++++

Yep, I'm sure that what we all feel when someone is ruingin your auctions.....

Edited by carlosfandango
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Last night I watched a Watchdog programme about how sellers bully their customers to retract negative feedback in order to get refunds for dodgy goods. This shill bidding business doesn't improve my view of it at all.

TBH, I don't tend to use eBay for anything worth more than £20. Too much dodgy stuff.

Edited by s_u_y_*
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hey folks!

was that bass not on sale here a while back?

seem to recall the selling pitch??

tosser anyway getting folk to do dodgy work....pure greed

here is how I run my auctions....not trying to sell here on this thread,just examples.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270194402089&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:IT&ih=017[/url]
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270194405030&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:IT&ih=017[/url]

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[quote]I forget who it was but someone had a bass listed here and subsequently won it himself under another username lollol[/quote]

:)

We need names.

The one time I gave some git -ve feedback because he sold me a very 2nd hand amp as new I got into the cycle of him giving me -ve because I gave him......

It ended up with retracted feedback just to preserve my 100% record. Best when buying to let seller provide feedback 1st - doh.

The vast majority of eBayers are good, and there are some bargains still to be had but 'let the buyer beware' as per usual.

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='102331' date='Dec 10 2007, 07:06 PM']Who wants to place a bet that if you place a bid he has a mate or two that will ensure that it gets to at least £711?[/quote]

Who would credit it...

Go on have a wild stab in the dark and guess what the amount of the 2nd highest bid was!

No don't look, have a guess!

'Oooch dearie me' did I say that he would get at least £711

And the second highest bid from someone who kept bidding up in small increments was... £711

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103623' date='Dec 12 2007, 11:28 PM']'Oooch dearie me' did I say that he would get at least £711

And the second highest bid from someone who kept bidding up in small increments was... £711[/quote]
Whoever it was (Bidder 1) didn't keep bidding up in small increments, they were the first bidder and put in a £711 bid on 6th Dec. The rest of the bidding was on 12th Dec. It does look somewhat fishy - if Bidder 1 is morkeal, it downright stinks (a good reason for bids not to be anonymous).

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[quote name='tauzero' post='103692' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:27 AM']Whoever it was (Bidder 1) didn't keep bidding up in small increments, they were the first bidder and put in a £711 bid on 6th Dec. The rest of the bidding was on 12th Dec. It does look somewhat fishy - if Bidder 1 is morkeal, it downright stinks (a good reason for bids not to be anonymous).[/quote]

Well IMHO it does stink. You can't tell me that is coincidence. The first bid placed (that everyone then has to beat to get the bass) happens to be the exact price that the bass sold for previously!

There is a genuine reason to have private bidding though. When I sold regularly on eBay (not usually bass related items they were multitools and Leathermans) I got emails from potential buyers (who had bids on my items) that they had been contacted by other ebayers offering identical items for either less money or they guaranteed to sell for less than xy or z amount. In the end I bowed to the pressure and I started to make my listings private, funnily enough one of the guiltiest sellers of this sniping, started making all of his listings BIN.

I'm not saying it is perfect because it isn't by any means.

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='103706' date='Dec 13 2007, 08:59 AM']Report it to ebay but do they care - do they f***. [b]The ebay police must be a very small team cos they have only ever managed to pick on you[/b]![/quote]

:) Yes I sometimes come across feeling aggrieved about eBay and having a personal grudge. Hmmm maybe I have... nah even if I wasn't banned I'd still think they were selective with their policing and terms & conditions. :huh:

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103696' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:48 AM']There is a genuine reason to have private bidding though. When I sold regularly on eBay (not usually bass related items they were multitools and Leathermans) I got emails from potential buyers (who had bids on my items) that they had been contacted by other ebayers offering identical items for either less money or they guaranteed to sell for less than xy or z amount. In the end I bowed to the pressure and I started to make my listings private, funnily enough one of the guiltiest sellers of this sniping, started making all of his listings BIN.[/quote]
Perhaps the answer is to have bidders' IDs shown publicly in the bidding history after the auction has closed. Still not ideal, admittedly.

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103715' date='Dec 13 2007, 09:24 AM']:) Yes I sometimes come across feeling aggrieved about eBay and having a personal grudge. Hmmm maybe I have... nah even if I wasn't banned [b]I'd still think they were selective with their policing and terms & conditions[/b]. :huh:[/quote]

+1

They don't give a toss and have done nothing about any of the scam auctions I've reported. Watch RIC or someone else corporate snap their fingers and *whoof* auction disappears.

Idiots. All they care about is collecting their fees.

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Well.....clearly this bloke is dodgy........don't understand why peple are going through all the hassle...imagine all the energy he'd spent on this auction(s).......why not ismply put a reserve or BIN option indicating clearly how much your expect for the bass minimum.....instead of all "cunning" adn "clever" tricks of shill bidding....I have used ebay a lot in the past and I haven't had much problems before and as far as I know never bewen a victim of shill bidding....anyway, I think its not more that fair that warwickhunt puts up one of his stage II's for sale now..... :)...I really wanted one for Xmas!

Edited by carlosfandango
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[quote name='markytbass' post='103775' date='Dec 13 2007, 11:30 AM']If he wanted over £700 why didn't he put a reserve on it. I saw another auction on ebay where the seller didn't put a rerserve and wrote in the discription "I won't be letting this go for peanuts". So in other words "if I don't get what I want I won't follow the sale through". It stinks!.[/quote]

ah yes, the old, I'll just pull it with only 24 hours to go... just claim it's no longer available or some other silly reason...

'tis a ****** when you're the sole bidder and it vamooshes just before they can't pull it without penalty...

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103696' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:48 AM']Well IMHO it does stink. You can't tell me that is coincidence. The first bid placed (that everyone then has to beat to get the bass) happens to be the exact price that the bass sold for previously!

There is a genuine reason to have private bidding though. When I sold regularly on eBay (not usually bass related items they were multitools and Leathermans) I got emails from potential buyers (who had bids on my items) that they had been contacted by other ebayers offering identical items for either less money or they guaranteed to sell for less than xy or z amount. In the end I bowed to the pressure and I started to make my listings private, funnily enough one of the guiltiest sellers of this sniping, started making all of his listings BIN.

I'm not saying it is perfect because it isn't by any means.[/quote]

Did you use to sell the rescued stuff from airports? There was someone who was clearly a bass player as all their "ideal for " examples were musicians, but having a little dig at all but bass players :)

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[quote name='OldGit' post='104111' date='Dec 13 2007, 10:10 PM']Did you use to sell the rescued stuff from airports? There was someone who was clearly a bass player as all their "ideal for " examples were musicians, but having a little dig at all but bass players :)[/quote]

What do you mean little dig! I made it my mission to ridicule all other musicians and the drummer :huh:

Yep that was me!

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='104115' date='Dec 13 2007, 10:26 PM']What do you mean little dig! I made it my mission to ridicule all other musicians and the drummer :huh:

Yep that was me![/quote]


ha ha then I bought one from you and we had an email exchange about it :)
Small world ...

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