I was the victim of shill bidding on ebay!

[bh3443]

After reading many threads here about this subject and the subjects of auctions, it finally happened to me!
So, now what should I do? Buy the 2 cards and move on? Report this to ebay? Don't buy the cards?
The total is about 25$, but man, what a bad taste this scam left in me!
I love ebay, but I'm not happy.
I saw 2 cards I liked and entered my max bids. With less than 30 minutes in the auctions, the same bidder kept upping the bid until I get notices he outbid me. Seconds later, I get two letters from Ebay saying I'm still the high bidder because this buyer retracted both bids! After driving me towards my max, he then says he bid the wrong amount!
Now, according to this bidder and sellers history, it happens a lot! Same two guys. The buyer has a feedback of 1, yet has 27 bids and 15 retractions!

So, my dear friends on Net 54, what do you recommend I do?
Thanks for your help.
Bill Hedin

[drc]

Give him negative feedback saying that he shills.

[glchen]

I thought you could not retract bids on the last day of the auction. If it were me, I would not pay.

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by glchen

I thought you could not retract bids on the last day of the auction. If it were me, I would not pay.

Gary, I thought the rule currently was one could not retract w/in the last 4 hours aof the auction as I looked this up a few weeks ago...but alas, the rule has changed and a bid can now be retracted within the last seconds if the bidders chooses.
"If you meet any of the above conditions, consult the following table to determine if you meet the time restrictions for retracting the bid.

Time restrictions for retracting a bid

Listing ends in more than 12 hours
Yes

When you retract the bid, we remove all bids you placed on the item. If you are correcting a bidding error, you must bid again.

Listing ends in less than 12 hours
Yes, but only if you retract the bid within one hour of placing it
When you retract the bid, we remove only your most recent bid. Bids you placed prior to the last 12 hours of the listing are not removed."

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-retract.html#cond

Nothing like continually changing policies until they fit an agenda. Why wouldn'y every dishanest seller do this? This is one stupid rule!

Steven Suckow

[Peter_Spaeth]

It's a lousy rule but there is an easy answer -- snipe.

[BlueDevil89]

If you believe that you have been a victim of shill bidding, you should report the incident to eBay. An eBay representative will likely contact you to understand why you think the seller was involved in shill bidding during the auction. They will then evaluate your case. If eBay agrees that there is evidence of shill bidding, they will offer you the option of either completing the transaction (if you wish to do so) or not paying for the card(s). You will not be penalized if you opt to not pay for the transaction.

Due to privacy reasons, eBay won't tell you what happens to the seller next. However, if you see the seller's account suspended within the next 24 hours, you'll have your answer. Also, eBay cooperates with authorities and turns over evidence of such cases to the proper jurisdiction when appropriate, as the practice is a crime.

In order to protect the eBay community and fellow collectors, it is important to report instances of shill bidding, to weed out those engaging in this practice.

[bh3443]

30-Day Summary
Total bids: 167
Items bid on: 39
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 92%
Bid retractions: 15
Bid retractions (6 months): 15
Here's the shill guy. 15 retractions!!!!!!! 92% with this seller?
The seller is, geeze, a member here, I think.........
Man, this is getting depressing!
Well, I'll stick to buying from my pal's like Jay at Quality and the rest of the guys here and ebay.
Seriously, what do you make of the info above?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

Gary, I thought the rule currently was one could not retract w/in the last 4 hours aof the auction as I looked this up a few weeks ago...but alas, the rule has changed and a bid can now be retracted within the last seconds if the bidders chooses.
"If you meet any of the above conditions, consult the following table to determine if you meet the time restrictions for retracting the bid.

Time restrictions for retracting a bid

Listing ends in more than 12 hours
Yes

When you retract the bid, we remove all bids you placed on the item. If you are correcting a bidding error, you must bid again.

Listing ends in less than 12 hours
Yes, but only if you retract the bid within one hour of placing it
When you retract the bid, we remove only your most recent bid. Bids you placed prior to the last 12 hours of the listing are not removed."

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-retract.html#cond

Nothing like continually changing policies until they fit an agenda. Why wouldn'y every dishanest seller do this? This is one stupid rule!

Steven Suckow

Ridiculous!

Ebay needs to clamp down on habitual retracting.

Only reasons for it, is to shill an auction or interfere with an auction.

Instead they open the Pandora's box. God forbid we put any kind of restriction on "BIDDING" activities, no matter how nonsensical it is.

Originally Posted by drc

Give him negative feedback saying that he shills.

+1

[Tcards-Please]

Bill,

Sorry this happened to you. I would report it to ebay, not pay and leave him a negative. Can you give the seller's id so that I can can put him on my block list?

r/
Frank

[bh3443]

Thank you, Gentlemen, for your comments and advise.
I thought I'd add that once I looked into this, it was easy to follow the trail of the relationship of the fake bidder and seller.
I agree, and even though I want the cards, I won't buy them because I don't want any cards in my collection I'm making for our grand-children to have a stench about them!
So, I won't be buying them and I'll leave factual feedback about the shill.
I'll stick to the nice guys on ebay and here that I know and have dealt with.
Have a great Sunday, all!
Your Friend,
Bill Hedin

[bh3443]

Well, instead of adjusting the 3.50 for each of the 2 cards, the guy gives me free shipping after I questioned the shill!
This is crazy....lol.....

[Jay Wolt]

Bill that stinks!
Who is the seller?
And you may want to use a sniping service, this way no one can bid up to your max bid, since there wouldn't be time to do so.
My snipes are set to go off w/ 2 seconds remaining in the auction.

[atx840]

Was thinking maybe a fan as he tends to have great cards. Thanks!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by atx840

Was thinking maybe a fan as he tends to have great cards. Thanks!

40 bid retractions gives me a lot of pause. Ask yourself how many you have ever retracted?

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by Leon

40 bid retractions gives me a lot of pause. Ask yourself how many you have ever retracted?

Yep, I forgot to use the sarcasm font. In 13 years on ebay I can't remember a single bid retraction.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

Yep, I forgot to use the sarcasm font. In 13 years on ebay I can't remember a single bid retraction.

Me too. Been there, I think 13 1/2 yrs, and can't remember one though I could be forgetting. This seems to be a reoccurring problem with the large ebay sellers. Same thing happened to Wonka the other night. I hooked him up with that large ebay sellers owner so they could chat about it. That bidder had something like 22 retractions in the last month and seemed to be running John up. Maybe they were safety bids that were no longer needed?

[jbbama]

This is becoming an all to common occurrence on Ebay, i questioned a seller recently, i was confronted with threats of legal action.

[atx840]

Never have either, still suspicious but appreciate the input.