eBay Shill Bidding

[Hawnjigs]

Finally upgraded from dvd to blu ray, and being a thrifty guy have been buying used "like new" movies on eBay.  After purchasing most of the mass market classics, have recently upped the ante bidding on Criterion releases which often sell for close to the Amazon new retail of $20-25.

Yesterday, won a Criterion "Thin Red Line" for my max bid price and checking the bid history noticed that in the last few minutes a bidder with a (private) feedback # after the coded ID had bid up the price in dollar increments to just below my top and instead of bidding a few cents more to win quit.

OK, that was suspicious so I checked the the Seller's other completed auctions for Criterion movies and all sold for top dollar with the SAME (private) bidder usually the runner up but sometimes the winner.  Logically, the Seller could then "second chance offer" or relist if the shill won the auction.

Few days earlier, I lost 3 Criterion auctions from another Seller below the runner up and checking back noticed the same f***ing (private) bidder had run the price up. 

Am I paranoid to think conspiracy?  Seems like there might be a shill service for Criterion sellers on eBay to keep prices up.  Maybe even by the company?

 

[Hawnjigs]

Here's the bid history:

me(1191) $14.34 1 Apr 2018 at 8:27:22AM PDT --
n***i(private) $14.00 1 Apr 2018 at 5:49:05PM PDT --
n***i(private) $13.00 1 Apr 2018 at 5:48:52PM PDT --
n***i(private) $12.00 1 Apr 2018 at 5:48:38PM PDT --
n***i(private) $11.00 1 Apr 2018 at 5:48:32PM PDT --
l***9(879)   $10.00 26 Mar 2018 at 12:13:08PM PDT --
Starting Price $10.00 25 Mar 2018 at 5:51:10PM PDT

There was still ample time for the runner up to place a winning bid since my high bid was showing.

 

[Hawnjigs]

eBay has stats on the shill bidder:

30-Day Summary
Total bids: 513
Items bid on: 386
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 12%

Seller shows 22 Criterion sales in the past 15 days and the shill has bid in all of them, runner up in most but winner of the low price ones.

 

[Hawnjigs]

I called eBay customer service to report my suspicions with what sounded like a Filipina gal but not expecting much knowing eBay's history of allowing bootleg merchandise a pass and failing to honor their "Buyer Protection" & reimburse me for a fraudulent transaction

 

[LedHed]

I snipe my bids - wait until the last 2-3 seconds....

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I do the same as Sonny, if I win great and if I don't I get over it. Really think there's a lot of shady things going on as well.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Call me stupid, but I gave up sniping as being contrary to the competitive spirit of the auction process.  Plus sometimes I was unable to bid due to other engagements or just plain forgetting.

Bidding on another Criterion blu ray now with a different seller from the other 2 mentioned.  A bidder with a history of only (2) feedbacks and 4 retractions bid in $1.00 increments to just over my max with an at the time high bid, then retracted. So now the Seller knows my max high bid. That makes 3 recent different Criterion sellers using shill tactics to jack prices.  Thought Criterion high used resale value was due to product integrity, now not so sure.

Only started noticing getting shilled in the past month, wonder how many times I've been scammed previously?

 

[hookup]

What's sniping on eBay?

What's getting shilled on eBay?

 

[AtticaFish]

I had to look it up too. Never bought a thing on Ebay.

 

[hookup]

Just looked it up - guess that's why I never win many bids because I set a price, bid it, and when someone goes over my price, I'm done

 

[duffy]

I do the same as Sonny, if I win great and if I don't I get over it. Really think there's a lot of shady things going on as well.

2X The wife and I used to get into the ebay thing years ago but I haven't bought anything on there for eons. When the auto bidders, shill bidding and other shady tricks (sellers or friends running bids up) started we just canned it. If you bid on an item like you don't give a crap you'll usually get it, but if you "just gotta have it" you'll pay through the wazoo. Works the same way at farm auctions.

 

[Kdog]

I rarely do the bidding game and look at the buy now offerings. Ive won several auctions and will quit immediately when I reach my max. Watch those closely and in the last 5mins of an auction see how many bidders you are fighting. If its one probably a shill. A friend that got me into ebay, told me the smart thing is to wait till the last minute and place your max bid.

 

[Bucho]

This kind of software is almost as old as e-bay itself. Over here there`s a free craigs list version of ebay where private stuff can be freely negotioated while the old form is used almost exclusively as a fixed price professional platform. I am surprised to hear a professional seller is running "free" auctions. I am not surprised they are rigged.

BTW I had to experience e-bay customer protection first hand when I bought 200€ worth of tin that turned out to be hard lead and spoiled another 100€ worth of real tin in the pot.

In the end they fobbed me of with 50 bucks since I could not deliver a "proof" of any kind.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Yup, eBay can be a swamp for the unwary. My customer service complaint only got lip service as the obviously fraudulent Seller is still up.

Altho I very seldom post negative feedback, did so to warn others about this shill Seller. Surprised that 6 buyers posted + feedback after I did and checking their auctions every one was shilled by the same (private)"buyer" that bid the price up just like mine.

I once bought an eBay lot of razor blades that looked new in the pic & turned out to be used, but refrained from leaving feedback figgering that a Seller knowingly selling used razor blades must be really desperate for $.

 

[eddieb]

I have ran into the same thing , and at times the seller charges 3 times the price for shipping :dodgy:

 

[Hawnjigs]

Noticed that the shill Seller is "no longer a registered user".  Never paid em so am bidding the same price on the same item with another Criterion seller.  And guess what, exactly the same pattern of $1 increment bids up to just below my max appeared.  That "bidder" has a history of 149 retractions in the last 6 months !!

I don't see how a real live person can bid $1 increments precisely every 3 seconds then stop just short of my high bid, so I'm guessing there is some kind of shill bidding program that bids in $1 increments  and then retracts the final bid when they go over the previous high bid.  I really want the item, so if I end up the winning bidder will just pay the price and be done with it.  My high bid is $14.34 - check this out

d***e(
$14.00
3 May 2018 at 8:02:58PM PDT
d***e(
$13.00
3 May 2018 at 8:02:55PM PDT
d***e(
$12.00
3 May 2018 at 8:02:52PM PDT
d***e(
$11.00
3 May 2018 at 8:02:49PM PDT