Shill Bidding on eBay

[cce]

If you just bid the max you are prepared to pay, a shill bidder will never cost you more than you wanted to pay. Sometimes they will mean you will not win the item, but only one person controls how much you bid.

 

[pete_mcc]

The whole point of ebay is not about paying the maximum you are willing to pay but getting a fair price. I may be willing to pay £10 for an item, but in a fair auction I would rather pay £5.

Imagine going out to buy a t-shirt from Gap only to find its in a one day half price sale when you get there - do you then say 'Oh, I was going to buy this at the full price, so you can keep the extra money'? Not a chance, so why should you have to give that money over to a seller on ebay engaged in illegal practices?

 

[MikeD]

"Willing to pay" is always a bigger amount than "would like to pay". Being pushed from one to the other by underhand means is clearly unacceptable.

(Although in this case we seem to be discussing a £4 hub, which I'm struggling to get too worked up about except on principle )

 

[FMJ]

the large majority of the honest and trustworthy eBay community?

That may have been ebay back around 05. That sure ain't ebay now.

 

[yagamuffin]

Bid as much as your'e willing to pay, if it goes over then look for something else.
I agree shill bidding is a bit cheeky but you still won the item at a price you were willing to pay, no real reason to complain?

 

[Rampage]

EDIT: A quick check shows that bidding against the wall by dodgy auction houses is legal in property auctions upto the reserve price but not beyond! Shill bidding is illegal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction#Bidding_strategy

It was on a tv program I saw it, possibly homes under the hammer. And the made up bidder won!

When I've had someone from the auction company bid on my behalf in a real-life auction when I've not been able to attend, I've always ended up paying my highest bid. It happened too often to be a co-incidence.

 

[Tom79]

I suspected a shill bidder once, so reported him and eBay investigated and subsequently suspended him. As others have said, this is all you can really do once you've let off some steam!

I do agree with only paying what you think is fair, no-one forces anyone to make a bid....I've been sniped many a time but to be honest I have a price I am happy to pay and stick to it, I try and bid as late as possible but it's not always practical (and I haven't got to grips with sniping yet).

Report the bloke and let eBay sort it out if it's bothering you that much. Or maybe set up a covert operation outside his house and mess up his flower beds or something.

 

[Russell]

You know what, if you're not willing to pay the price you won it for... don't bid that high.

Shill bidding is wrong, illegal and immoral, but if people were sensible about what they were willing to pay for things and not get involved in mindless bidding wars, then it wouldn't be a problem.

I only use BIN on ebay now because I tired of idiots bidding up prices beyond actual worth, shilling or otherwise.

Just my 2p.

 

[markwoo]

totally over it now lol. I vented my frustrations on here which has massively helped!

I'd actually bid on a number of items - xt pedals, xt shifters and rear mech - the hub was the first thing at the top of the list when I was getting a screen grab - although the principle still stands

I still don't buy into any of this "you got a fair price/what you were willing to pay" etc... I entered into a situation where I expected (and the rules dictated that) I would be bidding fairly against other prospective buyers - the fact of the matter is that I wasn't - this was outside the rules, I've ended up paying more for an item than I would've if this hadn't happened - I've been had. End of.

I'm not gonna report to eBay as doesn't sit right with me - I've been pretty clear with the guy over messaging about my feelings on the situation - although I doubt it'll make a scrap of a difference.

But hey, if I've made a few more members aware on here of his antics then maybe others will be more vigilant - and then they at least have a choice whether to pay an inflated price for their bike bits or not in the future.

Over and out

 

[Barneyballbags]

Another good reason to snipe instead of doing regular bids.

That's exactly what I do. Figure out the maximum price I want to pay for something, head on over to Gixen, put my bid on and let it do the rest.

I either get an email from eBay saying that I won it, or one saying that I didn't

The beauty with setting up a snipe is that, if the seller is getting someone to manually bid up on his items, they won't have time to enter a higher bid after your snipe goes through, as it usually happens within the final few seconds of the auction.

The only issue with this is I've actually forgotten that I've been bidding on things before now, and I've only remembered when I've had the email from eBay!