ebay shill bids?

midlifecrisis

ive noticed, 3 guitars that i were interested in have been bid up past what i was prepared to pay only to be relisted straight after end of aucton. whats that all about?

mikeyrob73

shady ebay bastards is what thats all about 

professorben

A lot of guys win the bid then try to dick you around, I've had it a few times. 
They won the bid then you get the "oh btw I'm in Poland/Argentina" or the classic " Yeah so my mates gonna pay for it on his PayPal but I need you to ship it to my totally unconnected address"

octatonic

Yeah, that is a classic sign of shill bidding.
You can report it, but the sellers will likely just pop up with another account once they are banned, which will take a while.

Have a look here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Sellers-bidding-on-their-own-item-shill-bidding-/10000000001398738/g.html

I don't bother reporting it- I just avoid that seller.

midlifecrisis

professorben said:

A lot of guys win the bid then try to dick you around, I've had it a few times. 
They won the bid then you get the "oh btw I'm in Poland/Argentina" or the classic " Yeah so my mates gonna pay for it on his PayPal but I need you to ship it to my totally unconnected address"

yes i suspect that happens but this stuff gets relisted almost immediately, where if people dick around they tend to take and waste time doing it. My immediate thjought was they got a mate to put in bids to foce the price up and when no one else topped that bid they were stuck and so relisted?

Winny_Pooh

Dont kill me, but I have done this. Notably when my ex and I split, to get the min price on her piano (less than what she paid considering I'd just replaced all the damper felts) as we had a deadline to move it.
It is annoying though. I prefer a BIN w free postage myself and have done so with the last 10 or so things I've sold.

octatonic

The last 10 or so purchases on eBay (including the drum kit from a few days ago) I've just 'asked a question' in order to get the email/phone details of the person and done a direct deal.

Save myself £300 on the drum kit and the seller saved about £200 in fees.

Bridgehouse

octatonic said:

The last 10 or so purchases on eBay (including the drum kit from a few days ago) I've just 'asked a question' in order to get the email/phone details of the person and done a direct deal.

Save myself £300 on the drum kit and the seller saved about £200 in fees.

Tut tut - naughty boy!

carlos

Winny_Pooh said:

Dont kill me, but I have done this. Notably when my ex and I split, to get the min price on her piano (less than what she paid considering I'd just replaced all the damper felts) as we had a deadline to move it.
It is annoying though. I prefer a BIN w free postage myself and have done so with the last 10 or so things I've sold.

You are ebay cancer. Why not just have a reserve or start at the minimum of how much you want for it?

fields5069

I did it once as well, years ago now. Not bidding up, just got a friend to make sure he "won" it as I had messed up with the opening bid and/or reserve.

octatonic

Bridgehouse said:

octatonic said:

The last 10 or so purchases on eBay (including the drum kit from a few days ago) I've just 'asked a question' in order to get the email/phone details of the person and done a direct deal.

Save myself £300 on the drum kit and the seller saved about £200 in fees.

Tut tut - naughty boy!

It isn't criminal.
I'll stop doing it when eBay stay paying proper levels of tax in the UK.
Maybe.

Bridgehouse

octatonic said:

Bridgehouse said:

octatonic said:

The last 10 or so purchases on eBay (including the drum kit from a few days ago) I've just 'asked a question' in order to get the email/phone details of the person and done a direct deal.

Save myself £300 on the drum kit and the seller saved about £200 in fees.

Tut tut - naughty boy!

It isn't criminal.
I'll stop doing it when eBay stay paying proper levels of tax in the UK.
Maybe.

I was, of course, winding you up. Strictly speaking it's against 'their policy' and they can get arsey with you about it. 

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

Philly_Q

Bridgehouse said:

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

You're right, but buyer/seller protection can be an issue.  I've done my share of "off eBay" deals, but only when they involve cash and collection in person.  I wouldn't transfer money to someone at the other end of the country with no protection whatsoever.  Would anyone?

Going back to the shill bids thing, I think it can be self-defeating.  All very well getting friends and relatives to bump up your selling price, but you could price genuine buyers out of the auction and end up with no sale at all.  Fine if you're prepared to swallow the listing fees I suppose.

octatonic

Philly_Q said:

Bridgehouse said:

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

You're right, but buyer/seller protection can be an issue.  I've done my share of "off eBay" deals, but only when they involve cash and collection in person.  I wouldn't transfer money to someone at the other end of the country with no protection whatsoever.  Would anyone?

Definitely not.
But most of the stuff I buy (guitars, drum kits, snares) I kinda want to check out before I pay for anything anyway.

hotpot

I suspected an item I was bidding on recently there was dodgy bidding as the other bidder kept putting multiple bids on until they were just over my bid by a quid or so, in the end I let them win & within 2 minutes of the auction ending I got an email off the seller saying the winning bidder had pulled out & as I'm the next highest bidder it's yours, I told him to fuck off & reported the get.

midlifecrisis

hotpot said:

I suspected an item I was bidding on recently there was dodgy bidding as the other bidder kept putting multiple bids on until they were just over my bid by a quid or so, in the end I let them win & within 2 minutes of the auction ending I got an email off the seller saying the winning bidder had pulled out & as I'm the next highest bidder it's yours, I told him to fuck off & reported the get.

yes, thats exactly what im seeing, it is self defeating cos im not gonna bother bidding again

Philly_Q

octatonic said:

Philly_Q said:

Bridgehouse said:

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

You're right, but buyer/seller protection can be an issue.  I've done my share of "off eBay" deals, but only when they involve cash and collection in person.  I wouldn't transfer money to someone at the other end of the country with no protection whatsoever.  Would anyone?

Definitely not.
But most of the stuff I buy (guitars, drum kits, snares) I kinda want to check out before I pay for anything anyway.

Likewise, if I'm buying from eBay or from a shop I prefer to travel if it's anything like a reasonable distance.  But sometimes I've just gotta have something that's in Scotland, or the USA, or Japan, so buyer protection's essential.

Exchange rates are probably going to put paid to all that, though.  Especially once Scotland vote for independence and adopt the Euro....

professorben

Philly_Q said:

Bridgehouse said:

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

You're right, but buyer/seller protection can be an issue.  I've done my share of "off eBay" deals, but only when they involve cash and collection in person.  I wouldn't transfer money to someone at the other end of the country with no protection whatsoever.  Would anyone?

Going back to the shill bids thing, I think it can be self-defeating.  All very well getting friends and relatives to bump up your selling price, but you could price genuine buyers out of the auction and end up with no sale at all.  Fine if you're prepared to swallow the listing fees I suppose.

Do we not do that all the time on here via ppg? 
I know I have several times, and scored a few nice pedals and a lovely guitar. 

paul_c2

professorben said:

Philly_Q said:

Bridgehouse said:

I do agree that it's a bit rich for a big corporate like eBay to harp on about ethics and playing fair, and it is ironic that their policy over off-ebay transactions is supposedly because you don't get buyer/seller protection but we all know it's cos it avoids fees, and they don't avoid any sort of 'fees' as a corporate now, do they?

You're right, but buyer/seller protection can be an issue.  I've done my share of "off eBay" deals, but only when they involve cash and collection in person.  I wouldn't transfer money to someone at the other end of the country with no protection whatsoever.  Would anyone?

Going back to the shill bids thing, I think it can be self-defeating.  All very well getting friends and relatives to bump up your selling price, but you could price genuine buyers out of the auction and end up with no sale at all.  Fine if you're prepared to swallow the listing fees I suppose.

Do we not do that all the time on here via ppg? 
I know I have several times, and scored a few nice pedals and a lovely guitar. 

Some but not all. I'd not send a significant amount via PPG unless I knew the person, irrespecive of the trading platform the deal was done on.

Philly_Q

professorben said:

Do we not do that all the time on here via ppg? 
I know I have several times, and scored a few nice pedals and a lovely guitar. 

I haven't personally, but of course people do. 

If I was buying from the classifieds on here, I'd still be cautious.  I'd buy from someone I "knew" from their posts over a period of time, but I wouldn't buy from someone who'd signed up just to sell something.  No offence intended to them.

fretmeister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/10508913/man-fined-over-fake-ebay-auctions