Suspicious Ebay sellers.

[ryan_289]

Im pretty ticked off! I was scalped on a bid just seconds from ending the other night (Monday or Tuesday). I won several other things from the seller. I was checking the sellers listings today and noticed he as already relisted the item that I was SUPPOSEDLY outbid on Pretty quick to know that the bidder wasnt going to pay. I called him out on it just to see his response.

 

[ryan_289]

It gets even better!! I went back and checked my didnt win box and the only other item I was scalped on from this seller also got relisted

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

Was that a Snapon Ratchet?? SL936? From $$COONIE

 

[ryan_289]

No nothing nice like that. It was a couple of MAC hammer heads that I bid a few dollars apiece on to try my hand at rehandleing. I was recently inspired my a post on here! I won two and lost two. The two larger ones are what got scalped.

 

[brian90505]

The seller is doing that because the winning bid is too low?

 

[ryan_289]

The seller is doing that because the winning bid is too low?

Thats my guess.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

great idea , but just list it for what you want

 

[vartz04]

its called bid schilling, just message ebay and they will end up temporarily suspending the guys account. they can look into it and compare the 2 accounts

 

[Flathead Red]

Schilling happens all the time on EBay sinced they changed the policy of not allowing a bidder access to a sellers info. Now sellers can get several user IDs and jack the prices up. Just remember that EBay is out for the mighty dollar and customer service in on par with most large companies. Little to none.

Flathead Red

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

ebay doesn't suspend squat
unless you don't pay your bill - then it's the nuclear option

 

[charle10]

Was it actually relisted or another one of the same thing? I was watching a guy selling a boat load of Mac stuff (like what a mac dealer would see as returns). He lists the same things over and over again, I don't know if they are relistings, or if he has a stockpile of items to sell.

 

[Skyline]

Schilling happens all the time on EBay sinced they changed the policy of not allowing a bidder access to a sellers info. Now sellers can get several user IDs and jack the prices up. Just remember that EBay is out for the mighty dollar and customer service in on par with most large companies. Little to none.

Flathead Red

Just keep in mind that eBay's system will AUTOMATICALLY pick up shill bidding if a seller did this. The seller must use different names and banking info to set up the different accounts. And since each account must be tied to a credit card or bank account, it's not as simple as just setting up an account under a fake name. Can you use a friend's identity/ credit card/ bank account? Absolutely.

 

[rsanter]

I have know people that do shill bidding by 2 friends bidding on each other stuff

bob

 

[Danglerb]

But if the shill makes the winning bid, as in this snipe end of auction type bid, then how do you avoid ebay fees? Tagging the winning as a non pay will get them suspended, and too much oops I made a mistake won't fly forever.

 

[PowderKeg]

This wouldn't happen to be a guy that sells "brokntool"s, would it? If so, I'd say something smells a little rank to me. There's been two 32oz Mac hammer heads that have "sold" recently - one for the opening bid, the second with 5 bids for $3 more. There's another 32oz head listed now with no bids. All three auctions have the exact same head pictured - while hammer heads may wear in a similar patterns (raised edges, sides, corners), rust/pitting on the head will never occur in exactly the same place and in exactly the same shape/pattern. Same thing goes for a 3lb head - one sold with three bids, a second never got a bid, now a third is listed - all three auctions showing the exact same head (with a small chunk of handle still in it). Likely other auctions as well, just not gonna waste any more time looking.

Now it's possible that the guy is just re-using the pics for multiple heads of the same size (seen one, seen 'em all attitude), but I don't know if that's an acceptable practice by fleabay's rules - you can do that with multiple auctions of NIB stuff I believe. The auctions don't state that the pic might not be of the actual item.

It really raises my suspicions when a seller hides his bidders ID's completely by listing his auctions as "private listing - bidders' identities protected". That used to be the way "adult oriented items" were sold, or really high dollar stuff, but typically not "brokn" tools. Listing that way apparently also hides the auction #/link in the sellers feedback lists as well - didn't realize that until today - so you can't look back and see who might've bought a particular item via the feedback.

I either ignore seller's like that, or place a very low low-ball bid - but mostly ignored.

It doesn't make any sense to me why someone selling such low value items would actually practice shill-bidding and re-list the same stuff over and over. Either they've got a lot of friends (or accounts) willing to take flack from fleabay for not following thru, or they're just adding more and more actual "cost" to the same single item with multiple listing and final value fees while trying to reach some high final sale price.

May be completely legit and just taking shortcuts, but then again, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck....

 

[ryan_289]

Yep it was brokntools. I put in a few low bids on some things he had. I got a pair of mac brake pliers and a 16oz hammer. Also got a seal puller I paid more than I wanted to for but got it on combined shipping so it works out ok. I just got leery when I noticed the item was relisted. Oh well, he hasnt emailed a response back. I hope he has already shipped my items I won.