ebay bidding question

[wildknees]

hey, on this item i'm looking at, someone with a zero history is bidding the price up.
that seems kind of strange that someone that has never bought anything on ebay would be bidding multiple times on a specialty item.
thoughts?

 

[sony_apm_fan]

hey, on this item i'm looking at, someone with a zero history is bidding the price up.
that seems kind of strange that someone that has never bought anything on ebay would be bidding multiple times on a specialty item.
thoughts?

Hard to say...could be a genuine new bidder,or the original seller logged in with a new name to push the price up.

Just choose your limit, bid up to it and then step away....IMHO....

 

[wildknees]

in the bid history, same person,with no transactions, bidding several times in a row.

am i reading that right? if a person bid, and no one raised the bid, why would they raise the bid five times?

 

[sony_apm_fan]

am i reading that right? if a person bid, and no one raised the bid, why would they raise the bid five times?

They could be bidding to push the price up, dummy bidding so to speak.

So, you place a bid, and they make further bids raising the item up to a (reserve) that they may want.

Or, someone else wants the item...

 

[redbenjoe]

APM = correct

 

[Terry]

Report the auction to ebay, it's called Shill bidding and in many countries it's illegal. (especially the UK).

Worthwhile going through the process of reporting the auction.

 

[wildknees]

thanks guys.
that confused me.
like on those bid histories shouldn't they alternate?
like
person X
person Y
personA
person B


not:
person X
person X
person X

am i reading/seeing that correctly?

 

[Terry]

thanks guys.
that confused me.
like on those bid histories shouldn't they alternate?
like
person X
person Y
personA
person B


not:
person X
person X
person X

am i reading/seeing that correctly?

Not always, the bidder is increasing his bid, i often do this to make sure I am not outbid, for example on a 99 cent item I might bid $2.00, then I decide I really want the item, and increase my bid to $10.00, then I decide that the item is actually very rare, so I increase my bid to $100.00, these would show up a 3 consecutive bids.

 

[wildknees]

oh okay shucks.
i guess i would never bid at all until the last two minutes.
seems like you just drive the price up.

 

[Superduper]

Multiple bids, especially from new users who don't yet know the "game" is not uncommon.

If there is a reserve, the bidder could be trying to incrementally increase bid to meet a reserve. If there is no reserve but another bidder is currently the high bidder, the newbie might be incrementally increasing their bids in an attempt to become a high bidder.

Highly unlikely that reporting this to eBay will result in any action whatsover unless there is some proof that shill bidding is taking place. It would very well be legitimate newbie behaviour.

 

[wildknees]

thank you, i'm kinda new myself and appreciate your guys answering some questions, i've never perused the bid history bit.

i will say i got kinda burnt on a couple things though, so i'm trying to learn.

 

[Terry]

Multiple bids, especially from new users who don't yet know the "game" is not uncommon.

If there is a reserve, the bidder could be trying to incrementally increase bid to meet a reserve. If there is no reserve but another bidder is currently the high bidder, the newbie might be incrementally increasing their bids in an attempt to become a high bidder.

Highly unlikely that reporting this to eBay will result in any action whatsover unless there is some proof that shill bidding is taking place. It would very well be legitimate newbie behaviour.

Ebay would look at the ip address of the seller and the bidder, if they match, instaban

If not, nothing would be done.

 

[Superduper]

Before all this anonymous user id bit, I reported several auctions to eBay for which I was absolutely sure that shill bidding was in effect. That's because it's possible to see the same pattern by looking at the user's respective histories. Nothing was ever done, and the auctions always ran their course.

 

[71spud]

What motivation does ebay REALLY have to stop shill bidding.... anything that drives the price up adds to their bottom line. :ebay:

 

[tsx387]

I didnt understand this either when I first got on ebay. Like the other guy said, bid your highest amount then walk away. I hate the "game" also. :sin:

 

[blu_fuz]

We hate the ebay game because we get emotionally attached to these things..... happens to me all the time.

 

[redbenjoe]

very often --we all see a top bidder place several more top bids --
it seems ' ultra newbie stupid ' to do all that

my guess is that these extra top bids are placed to discourage any further bids
like '' dont bid ... this ones is MINE "

it rarely works

 

[MasterBlaster84]

very often --we all see a top bidder place several more top bids --
it seems ' ultra newbie stupid ' to do all that

my guess is that these extra top bids are placed to discourage any further bids
like '' dont bid ... this ones is MINE "

it rarely works

When I see this I like to bid until I get in between their top two bids, of course the danger is you top both if they bid just pennies or a few dollars apart. This has only caught me once or twice but it wasn't a problem because the Item was good and the bid wasn't very high, the evil fun I have abusing these people makes up for it. :devil:

 

[redbenjoe]

MB !!!
so cool =
i do that -- always when we have any one of our own member boxes listed

 

[MasterBlaster84]

MB !!!
so cool =
i do that -- always when we have any one of our own member boxes listed

I've done it for members on occasion too.