Several questions about eBay policies.

[doniceage]

I know many folks bid up auctions in hope of getting higher prices. So yesterday I put a bunch of bids in and let them ride. So I check my e-mail and I see about 4 or 5 auctions that I or another member won. I was happy with the prices so no biggie but my question is after looking at the ebay userid of this member why would they let them stay on as they will probably hundreds of retractions in the last six months. Was wondering if you see this pattern can you say I am not paying for this or that item in the future especially when you see a pattern of someone bidding up the bids and retreating them in droves. Here my recent examples:












Here you can see the member in question is averaging a 100 retractions plus a month.




So my question is there any reason why you would need a 100 retractions each month?

Is there anything to do by telling eBay about this member this is a load of crap (shill bidding imo)?

Is there any rights protected to us as buyers when we win a bunch of auctions that someone is shilling even if we are happy with the price. Just a principle of the matter to teach the seller a lesson by backing out and costing them more money.


Thanks for any thoughts as I am by no mean a expert when it comes to eBay.

DON

[pwskelly]

@doniceage I have seen lots of this recently, not with retractions but being bid up by users who have like 70-80% of their bids with the same seller (definitely shill bidding). Mind you they are probably bidding on twenty or thirty of these items and repeatedly bidding up the same auctions.

I say you should report them. Once enough honest bidders start alerting eBay they will be forced to deal with the situation. As much as it hurts the PC, I refuse to bid on items once I notice the competition engaging in what appears to be shill bidding. More often than not, the card magically reappears on eBay again for the price I was last willing to bid .... coincidence?

I would actually contact the seller as well and let them know that they need to start blocking "these shady bidders" because people might "mistakenly think they are engaging in shill bidding." Most of these scammers don't want to be called out. I would imagine that these sellers might lay off with the shady sales tactics when multiple bidders contact them to say something about their auction stinks.

That or maybe we need to start a list of eBay sellers suspected of engaging in shill bidding.

My two cents ...

[pwaldo]

I don't know how to do it but I'd report him to eBay if I were you. Let eBay decide his fate (though they probably won't do squat since banning more bidders just brings in less money for them).

[RGM81]

100 retractions a month is so blatant. I think it 20 years I've maybe retracted 2 bids ever, and that's because of fingers keying in the wrong bid amount. Absolutely ridiculous.

[doniceage]

100 retractions a month is so blatant. I think it 20 years I've maybe retracted 2 bids ever, and that's because of fingers keying in the wrong bid amount. Absolutely ridiculous.

That me as well only a two or three over the years.

DON

[doniceage]

@doniceage I have seen lots of this recently, not with retractions but being bid up by users who have like 70-80% of their bids with the same seller (definitely shill bidding). Mind you they are probably bidding on twenty or thirty of these items and repeatedly bidding up the same auctions.

I say you should report them. Once enough honest bidders start alerting eBay they will be forced to deal with the situation. As much as it hurts the PC, I refuse to bid on items once I notice the competition engaging in what appears to be shill bidding. More often than not, the card magically reappears on eBay again for the price I was last willing to bid .... coincidence?

I would actually contact the seller as well and let them know that they need to start blocking "these shady bidders" because people might "mistakenly think they are engaging in shill bidding." Most of these scammers don't want to be called out. I would imagine that these sellers might lay off with the shady sales tactics when multiple bidders contact them to say something about their auction stinks.

That or maybe we need to start a list of eBay sellers suspected of engaging in shill bidding.

My two cents ...

Thanks for the time and the reply. Might drop you a pm as well.

DON

[doniceage]

Just a update I called eBay and taked to a eBay rep and he asked me for the various eBay item numbers. After providing 3 of them and all having bid being retracted by this member he said it did look suspicious. So I asked him for one thing and that was to give me a update via e-mail of what their verdict is.

Thanks again for all that chimed in.

P.S. Also, he said if I did not want those various items I could have easily reported them and declined all 5 as it definitely looked like shill bidding and not paid for them.

DON

[doniceage]

So eBay customer service really rocked as they did send a e-mail like I asked on the investigation.

[QUOTE]Hello Don,

We have successfully made a report of the person who made a bid retraction and we have taken an appropriate action on the bidder's account, rest assured that the bidder's account will face a consequence here on eBay.

Item Number: 383218817345, 264503257508, 264503236293

Thanks,

eBay/QUOTE]

So, that is very cool from my standpoint.

As other mentioned I contacted the seller and we had a nice conversation and it looked like it was not shill bidding but a one of those guys that wants a better deal than what they bid on. Check out these replies.

Here was their reply from the message I sent them:

A guy from Ontario... have so many problem with him right now, he has been blocked this morning. Every time he is Buying from me in the last couple he is asking for reduce charge le shipping and want to cancel offer for some cards. So i've blocked him. Dont have any time To loose with him.
Really appreciate your time To let me know because i dont want any further problem

Thanks again

We all know there folks out there that keep asking for better deals, throw in some freebies, etc.

Now the seller also sent me this to east my mind on the shill bidding issue. So you can see the bidder with all these retractions is a literal pain in the butt and they eBay seller has blocked them from future eBay auctions with them.








I just hope eBay shutdowns this eBay buyer account with all those retractions. You would think eBay would have something in place to redflag them when there are like 20 retractions a month or a a number for six months etc.

@pwskelly @pwaldo

Figrued I share the update with you.

DON

[pwskelly]

@doniceage that's good to hear. And thanks for following through on this. So many people complain about things that are not right, but not enough actually try to make it better. Hopefully this will result in one less moron ruining eBay for buyers and sellers alike!

Awesome job!

[doniceage]

@doniceage that's good to hear. And thanks for following through on this. So many people complain about things that are not right, but not enough actually try to make it better. Hopefully this will result in one less moron ruining eBay for buyers and sellers alike!

Awesome job!

I can only hope. Thanks for the suggestion and time to post.

Don