What do you do if you suspect eBay shilling

[Marchillo]

I just won a trio of cards from a seller. I am fine with the price I paid. After I won I noticed the the two runners up both bid on all 3 items. They are all 75 Topps minis so I guess you could have the same interests. Anyways one of the two has over 6k feedback and the other account has 0 feedback and listed as private. The zero fb one is more worrisome.

Again I'm fine with the price but this type of thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Would you just pay and forget about it or say something?

I realize shill bidding happens all the time on eBay but when it seems obvious it's concerning. There's also the chance it's not shilled and I'm being paranoid.

What would others do?

[Jason]

I bid my top amount within the last minute. I try not to look at the underbidders as I too am paranoid about it. The zero feedback + private bidder status is the one that would worry me the most. Seems fishy. Why would a brand new account make there feedback private to start? Or even have the know how to do it as a new account?

[megalimey]

Originally Posted by Marchillo

I just won a trio of cards from a seller. I am fine with the price I paid. After I won I noticed the the two runners up both bid on all 3 items. They are all 75 Topps minis so I guess you could have the same interests. Anyways one of the two has over 6k feedback and the other account has 0 feedback and listed as private. The zero fb one is more worrisome.

Again I'm fine with the price but this type of thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Would you just pay and forget about it or say something?

I realize shill bidding happens all the time on eBay but when it seems obvious it's concerning. There's also the chance it's not shilled and I'm being paranoid.

What would others do?

SAME OLD STORY same old answer
heard this many many times
simple solution know your product , know your price limitations
bid accordingly and most important
do not let your heart rule your head , then who cares who the under bidders were , not every thing on ebay can be got at a rock bottom bargain price , if you pay more then so be it .

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by megalimey

SAME OLD STORY same old answer
heard this many many times
simple solution know your product , know your price limitations
bid accordingly and most important
do not let your heart rule your head , then who cares who the under bidders were , not every thing on ebay can be got at a rock bottom bargain price , if you pay more then so be it .

agree..plus even if shilled etc....the guy is doing a hidden reserve..whatever number you happy with thats the number. The only issue i have is if someone bid retracts making you the high bidder

[rainier2004]

Cancel the transaction and remove the bad taste from your mouth. Every time you look at those cards this is what you'll remember and it wont bring a smile to your face. As I have gotten older, the transaction has become at least of not more important than the card. I cleansed my collection of all those cards, its just not worth it. Stuff doesn't trump all.

[bmattioli]

You state your fine with the price. I would just move on..

[Mountaineer1999]

I feel like I always pay more than what I am able to sell the same item for , I think 90% of the sellers shill

[drcy]

It's a practice used to artificially and illegally raise prices. No excuses should be made for it.

[Marchillo]

I appreciate all the perspectives here. I did in fact only bid what I was comfortable with. The first two cards went for a few dollars less than I thought and the third a tad more. Since it was combined shipping I was fine paying a little extra. It wasn't about the total amount of the transaction as it was very small it's more the idea of it happening.

The idea of so many doing it really sucks but there are plenty of deals to be had. I know this type of post has been done before but I learned about this type of activity when I first joined. It seemed like a good opportunity to share what I saw today so maybe others become more conscious of this and bid based on what they are comfortable paying versus emotional.

I paid for the items and think I'll be happy when they arrive.

[Marchillo]

Originally Posted by drcy

It's a practice used to artificially and illegally raise prices. No excuses should be made for it.

The biggest problem is eBay doesn't care. I saw one seller who had 20-30 items that were being shilled by 3 different accounts. I sent them screen shots of all the evidence. The seller isn't a 100k feedback seller more like a 5k feedback seller and as far as I'm aware nothing was done. They still sell and I never got a response from eBay. As others stated before if you don't like it buy elsewhere. I just try to stay away from those that do it. In today's case I didn't realize it until the auctions were over.

[gabrinus]

As soon as you get the cards put them up on ebay and use the same guys to shill for you.......Jerry

[CMIZ5290]

If you are holding your breath for Ebay to do something.........Times up, your dead.....

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by drcy

It's a practice used to artificially and illegally raise prices. No excuses should be made for it.

but zero proof....(its really hard to prove)...thus anyone can back out of a future sale if they 'suspect' shilling..i can see that used as a fake excuse for people to back out of lots of legit auctions..

you can just stop buying ever again from that seller or from auctions that use any of the user bids with ids you dont like.....most auctions you never get to see the user ids..at least ebay you can......can also never bid when there are hidden ids on ebay as well..

[CTDean]

I hardly ever consider a 0 feedback bidder a shill bidder for the seller. I see them as someone trying to give the "shill bid" impression to drive away other bidders. As a seller on ebay for 17 years, I deal with it from time to time. Worst case for a seller is a 0 feedback bidder, that is also a bid retractor.

[pbspelly]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

As I have gotten older, the transaction has become at least as if not more important than the card.

This is a fascinating insight. And I think is true for a lot of us.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Marchillo

The biggest problem is eBay doesn't care. I saw one seller who had 20-30 items that were being shilled by 3 different accounts. I sent them screen shots of all the evidence. The seller isn't a 100k feedback seller more like a 5k feedback seller and as far as I'm aware nothing was done. They still sell and I never got a response from eBay. As others stated before if you don't like it buy elsewhere. I just try to stay away from those that do it. In today's case I didn't realize it until the auctions were over.

As a very informed authority who has looked at ebay happenings told me, just remember, Ebay doesn't make money preventing or stopping shilling.
To me, whenever a question in life seems so obvious, yet the answer doesn't make sense, it can usually be answered with this symbol, $$.