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Interesting events while bidding.....

Stephen J

Stephen J

Suum Cuique
I did some bidding on an item last night. It had been bid up to Fourty something dollars.Way under value,but with a lot of time left.I through a $50.00 bid out,and was immediately out bid by a 3 feedback bidder.Here's how it went.......



Member Id: stephenm US $202.50

Member Id: c***b ( 2 ) US $200.00

Member Id: stephenm US $200.00

Member Id: stephenm US $101.00

Member Id: stephenm US $69.00

Member Id: stephenm US $65.00

Member Id: stephenm US $60.00

Now obviously you are not seeing the bids in between.They were all buy the same guy c***b ( 2 ).
The interesting part is that when I bid 202.50 it showed him winning with the same bid,then his $202.50 bid disappeared and it showed me with the high bid ! :scratch2:
 
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Hmmm, thats happened to me twice on ebay. I didn't persue it because I wanted the item. Makes me think though that seller has someone bid it up to get more for the item then retracts the bid making you the winner. Probably can't prove it but thats what it looks like.
 
There. is nothing odd about it. If you put in a bid much higher than the current bid, ebay remembers it and each time you bid next, the high bidder outbids you by the next increment (I think it's $5.00 up to some amount then it goes higher)

Then you bid exactly the same amount as his highest bid and he wins.., well, that is because his $202.50 bid was placed earlier, and on eBay, if the winning bid amount is the same between bidders at the closing time of the auction, then the bidder who placed his bid first wins.
 
Contact Ebay and complain about shill bidding. If there was a bid at $202.50 it should show up as a canceled bid. If it was canceled less than an hour before the auction end (I think, although Ebay might have shortened it), you are probably off the hook anyway. If there is no canceled bid you'll need to ask Ebay how this maneuver is possible.

Also contact the seller about the suspicious bidding. Let the seller know that a complaint has been filed about the suspicious bidder, and offer to rebid on the item if it is reposted, but not against that suspicious bidder. This may give you some leverage in negotiating a better price, since your final price was jacked up by that bidder.

Of course, both Ebay and the seller may come back that you should not have bid $202.50 if you weren't willing to pay it. Confirming the canceled bid, especially the timing, is key to any argument.
 
Satcom123 said:
Hmmm, thats happened to me twice on ebay. I didn't persue it because I wanted the item. Makes me think though that seller has someone bid it up to get more for the item then retracts the bid making you the winner. Probably can't prove it but thats what it looks like.
Click to expand...

Yep,I'd have to agree.
The seller has almost 1000 feedback.You would think they would just utilize another option for selling the item,such as "Minimum bid". or "Buy it now or Best offer". :dunno:
 
hammr7 said:
Contact Ebay and complain about shill bidding. If there was a bid at $202.50 it should show up as a canceled bid. If it was canceled less than an hour before the auction end (I think, although Ebay might have shortened it), you are probably off the hook anyway. If there is no canceled bid you'll need to ask Ebay how this maneuver is possible.

Also contact the seller about the suspicious bidding. Let the seller know that a complaint has been filed about the suspicious bidder, and offer to rebid on the item if it is reposted, but not against that suspicious bidder. This may give you some leverage in negotiating a better price, since your final price was jacked up by that bidder.

Of course, both Ebay and the seller may come back that you should not have bid $202.50 if you weren't willing to pay it. Confirming the canceled bid, especially the timing, is key to any argument.
Click to expand...

thisOne said:
There. is nothing odd about it. .............If you put in a bid and on eBay, if the winning bid amount is the same between bidders at the closing time of the auction, then the bidder who placed his bid first wins.
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The item doesn't end for another 2 days. I seriously doubt I will get it at this price,but would be happy to pay it if I do.It'd be 100.00-$150.00 cheaper than usual.
 
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The bid should still show up as a canceled bid. If it is shill bidding by the seller (or an accomplice) it means the seller would be happy to sell at the current price.

Or it might be that the person who placed the other bid wanted to know what your high bid was so they can snipe at the very end.
 
^ Yep, that's right. If you bid the same as his existing high bid, then he would be the winner, unless he retracted his bid. That does show up in the bid history. If his bid still shows but has you as the winner... that's really weird. Could be an eBay glitch?

I once had a chat with a guy who sells on eBay. He has excellent feedback (AFAIK). But he told me about a shill bidding practice he employs from time to time. He has a few friends on eBay and when an item he has up for sale isn't getting much activity, he asks them to bid on the item. Reserve prices are apparently more expensive to place and they can cool off bids if the item isn't super hot on the desire list. From what I gathered, if one of his bidders ends up placing a bid that is the winning bid close to the auction end, they pull a retraction and the next guy places a bid just under the highest bidder's price. The problem with this is that if you as a bidder have too many retractions, eBay will close your account. His strategy is to sometimes let the auction close with his bidding friend as the winner, but then later cancel the transaction due to "buyer changed his mind." He claimed that on several occasions he created an artificial bid war that caused a significant above market price, and then when the item was relisted later, subsequent buyers would see the previous closing price and bid higher because of it. Anyway, clearly this is an illegitimate practice, but very difficult to prove if the seller is careful enough.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is kind of what you experienced.
 
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Shills are as old as auctions. I don't worry about them. I always bid as much as I'm willing to pay, usually in the last ten seconds.

I don't worry about people with sniping software, because if I don't win, it's because it sold for more than I'm willing to pay.
 
js1138 said:
Shills are as old as auctions. I don't worry about them. I always bid as much as I'm willing to pay, usually in the last ten seconds.

I don't worry about people with sniping software, because if I don't win, it's because it sold for more than I'm willing to pay.
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This is for the benefit of the people who didn't read it the first time.

I'll do it again, just in case:

js1138 said:
Shills are as old as auctions. I don't worry about them. I always bid as much as I'm willing to pay, usually in the last ten seconds.

I don't worry about people with sniping software, because if I don't win, it's because it sold for more than I'm willing to pay.
Click to expand...
 
For me... I do buy it now only... I just feel more comfortable doing it that way. If i like the price, i buy it then and now. Easy
 
I just wait till the item is about to end to bid or just snipe and forget about it .




Barney
 
Stephen J said:
I did some bidding on an item last night. It had been bid up to Fourty something dollars.Way under value,but with a lot of time left.I through a $50.00 bid out,and was immediately out bid by a 3 feedback bidder.Here's how it went.......



Member Id: stephenm US $202.50

Member Id: c***b ( 2 ) US $200.00

Member Id: stephenm US $200.00

Member Id: stephenm US $101.00

Member Id: stephenm US $69.00

Member Id: stephenm US $65.00

Member Id: stephenm US $60.00

Now obviously you are not seeing the bids in between.They were all buy the same guy c***b ( 2 ).
The interesting part is that when I bid 202.50 it showed him winning with the same bid,then his $202.50 bid disappeared and it showed me with the high bid ! :scratch2:
Click to expand...

Nuff Said:
 
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I once bid on a Scott CD Player on the Bay and figured that I would easily get it because it wasn't a high demand item. Surprisingly the next day there was a higher bid. The auction ended and I assumed that the other guy won. The next day I received a "second chance" offer from the seller to buy the item at my original bid. However, because I was now suspicious I declined. The item was then relisted one more time at a starting price which was five bucks higher and never sold. I don't know if there was any funny business going on but I didn't like the possibility that there was. In the end the seller never sold the item.
 
I too have bought more items at a "decent" buy it now price - rather than get into a bidding war and end up paying more than i would like to for an item that "i just gotta have".
 
portnoy said:
I too have bought more items at a "decent" buy it now price - rather than get into a bidding war and end up paying more than i would like to for an item that "i just gotta have".
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Yup! There will always be another Deal! Might have to wait a while, but it will find you.
 
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