Shill bidding on ebay? What to do?
 

Hi,

Is there any course of action if you think an item has been shill bid on e-bay? they claim they can detect this (Im doubtful) but their is no cleare, at least to me, path to dispute.

Thanks
-os73

I'm not sure approaching eBay with "...you think..." is going to get you anywhere.

If you had concrete evidence, and it directly impacted you as a buyer, that might be a better place from which to start.

In either case, you're probably going to start with reaching out to eBay Customer Support. There's a "Help & Contact" link at the top of the main eBay page. Fair warning: the support team you'll reach isn't equipped (generally speaking) to handle something like this. You may have to spend a bit of time attempting to elevate this to higher-ups and find one who (a) understands what shill bidding is and (b) believes shill bidding took place in the particular auction you're describing.

Than, after all that, let them know what remedy you're seeking. If you were the high bidder, are you looking to cancel the sale?

Stop bidding. Hopefully, the current price is under your limit. Then wait until the auction is closing, and with 15-20 seconds left, place your final bid. If the shill bid wins and you are the runner up, expect the seller to reach out with a story of how the winner bowed out.

You should bid no more than twice in any ebay auction, once to remind yourself that you want to buy it, and again at the very end.

Ebay
 

I agree 100%

John P

You can reach out to eBay trust and safety but unfortunately, shill bidding, unless done from the seller’s IP address is very difficult to detect. eBay could investigate all of the sellers auctions and activity and see if items were consistently unpaid and Relisted from certain bidders etc, however they are unlikely to do so.

Just don’t deal with that seller and don’t bid more than you are willing to pay.


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The problem is the amount we “are willing to pay” for everything but ‘88 Donruss is inflated due to decades of shilled comps.

They could easily have a system in place that automatically detects such activity for all sellers & buyers all the time, but because they make a percentage of the shill they are happy to let it continue.

Many would call this proof that I'm right:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=366999

It's an unregulated industry. The solution is just buy and/or sell from the auction houses.

Ha! They are just as bad if not worse.


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