Does This Look Like an Ebay Shill?

[PovertyRow]

On ebay there is an auction I have a special interest in. The bidding currently reads like this:

 

e***e( 11Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $365.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $360.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $350.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $330.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $318.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $308.00

e***e( 11Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $300.00

( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $295.00

n***s( 18Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $285.00

d***6( 636Feedback score is 500 to 999) US $275.00

n***s( 18Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $250.00

7***i( 25Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $210.00

t***r( 373Feedback score is 100 to 499) US $200.99

a***g( 10Feedback score is 10 to 49) US $100.00

e***y( 1274Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) US $22.00

 

I replaced the bidder ebay code in question with "???". See all of those zero feedback "???" bids? Do you think this "???" bidder is a shill?

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Do you think this "???" bidder is a shill?

 

Yes.

[TFL-migration]

Yup. Shill at work.

[Drakeprimeone]

is this reportable to ebay?

[Claudio]

I usually don't like throwing accusations around but that does look like a shill.....

[juggernaut]

Without a doubt.

[ChemEng]

This is probably a silly question, but how do you all know with that much confidence that it is a shill bid? Is it just because it's a new acct with no feedback?

[ArAich]

It's possible...but it could also be the amateurish bidding technique of an eBay noob ...

[ant]

is this reportable to ebay?

 

if ebay cared even a little they would already have ways to slow down folks from making a second account.

 

i am making it so the same address cannot be used 2 times. so either the item will be sent to wrong location /not home or they just wont do it. i will have folks with work accounts but lots of folks dont want there packages going to there job. there is no way to stop it but i can sure try to slow it down.

 

im also going to randomly ask for proof of shipping on questionable items bidding. so they will have to print a label to ship to themselves. loosing money might slow them from doing it also.

 

again i know we cant stop it but we can sure slow it. or make it not worth the trouble.

[PovertyRow]

Thanks for the replies. Actually I am the seller here.

 

I was looking at the bid history so far and even MY shill alert went off. Looking further into it I find the same zero bidder has bids on another auction that is for the same item as mine. And has bids on a different item but on three different auctions.

 

ArAich may be right - could be a really uninformed noob.

 

But this really makes me rehtink the "shill" idea. Most unsettling.

[DKeeneman]

I'm now confused. Are you saying that you are the seller and are concerned that someone is shilling your book?

 

Who has the motivation to shill a book except the owner/seller/consignor? If you are the seller, and you aren't shilling, who else would be?

 

 

 

[PovertyRow]

I'm now confused. Are you saying that you are the seller and are concerned that someone is shilling your book?

 

Who has the motivation to shill a book except the owner/seller/consignor? If you are the seller, and you aren't shilling, who else would be?

 

 

 

No, I was concerned about the appearance, that it may look like a shill, even though I know it isn't.

[SilverRich]

I'm now confused. Are you saying that you are the seller and are concerned that someone is shilling your book?

 

Who has the motivation to shill a book except the owner/seller/consignor? If you are the seller, and you aren't shilling, who else would be?

 

 

 

No, I was concerned about the appearance, that it may look like a shill, even though I know it isn't.

 

 

I've had that happen to me before as well. It almost makes you feel guilty that it looks like you're running a game, even though you aren't. Who knows what lurks in peoples minds?

[ChemEng]

Just a crazy guess- Perhaps it is a limited market for that item, and they want to stabilize the market by making sure nothing gets sold too low? They could have the same item (or lots of it) and maybe want to put it up as a BIN with a higher price, but still look reasonable compared to the auctions?

[He11blazer]

I've had this happen on more than one of my ebay sales.

 

It's embarrassing when it happens, because I just know how it looks! I find myself wishing I could give the 'shiller' some bidding advice!

 

This one auction I had got bid up in minimum increments by a zero feedback bidder all the way up to another bidders top bid of £625, and then nothing. The winning bidder didn't say anything, but the feedback he left was brief and nondescript. I felt awful, but what can you do?

 

Only a really stupid shiller would bid like that anyway. That pattern can only be two things: A pre-pubescent 2-digit IQ shiller, or an innocent non-savvy genuine bidder.

[PovertyRow]

Thanks SilverRich and He11blazer for your responses. You both hit it on the head -I actually felt "dirty" from this bidder. This is why I just said it was an auction I had an interest in. I think (hope?) folks here who know me also know I would not shill an auction. So I wanted to present it as an annonymous auction just to gauge reactions. Regrettably they were as expected - probaly a shill. ::shudder::

 

On the plus side they have been well outbid and seem to be leaving me alone. I pray to God they continue to do so!

 

I hate to block zero feedback bidders as I was one at one time - but in those days ebay was a different animal. What to do?

[comixcroz]

I think this is quite common and not necessarily stupid. Not something I would do, as I do not bid on auctions I'm interested in until the last few seconds, but not stupid. It most likely is someone that is interested in buying your item. They decided to place a bid and found that someone had already placed a much higher bid. They are willing to pay a certain amount of money but don't necessarily want to if they can get it at a lower price. So they want to see where the previous bidders marks is. They bid in increments and eventually the price gets to a point they are no longer willing to pay. I would only be concerned if someone did this, gained the high bidder spot and then retracted the bid. Some do this and then bid the amount back up again, this time without taking the top spot.

 

IMO - the stupid guy is the person that bid a high bid early in the auction, just to watch his bid go up and up.

 

This is very typical auction behavior and just means their is a decent amount of interest in the item. No need to feel bad about anything unless you are shilling your own auctions. Shill bidding only occurs when someone is bidding up their own item under another ebay acct or asking a friend to bid something up with no interest in actually selling the item to the "shill bidder"

 

You should email the zero feedback bidder and ask them to confirm their interest in the auction. If they do not respond in 24 hours, add their user name to your block list.

[SilverRich]

It could also be that the real shill seller would have his shill partner bid multiple times on other auctions. By doing that, the % of his bids with the crooked auction would be a lower average. To make it look good, the shill bids on legit auctions just enough that he knows he won't win.

 

That game can be played in lots of ways and that's one of the reasons that eBay keeps losing credibility.

[Jonah Hex]

Could be that he wanted to scare away other bidders by giving the impression that his bid was so high they shouldn't even bother bidding. Sounds plausable, I've done it!

 

[the_Greatest]

I've sent a message at least one time when a very low feedback bidder started repititiously bidding in increments that way early in an auction. I told him I greatly appreciated his interest, but I would appreciate it if if he only made one more bid, whenever he wanted to make it, at the the highest amount he wanted, because his bidding pattern resembled shill bidding.

Didn't hear back, and he didn't bid anymore, which suited me just fine.