Hate shill bidders >.<

[Dragonflitter]

So there's some Chinese sellers on ebay selling some MLP merchandise that is not official... cosplay MLP wigs.

I was already suspicious because this one seller has a bunch of the same wig for sale all for different BIN prices, but conveniently the shipping makes them all the same price... Like they have one wig BIN for $25 with free shipping, and the same wig for BIN for $15 with $10 shipping, and one for $20 with $5 shipping, etc etc.

But they had one of the wigs up for regular auction for 99 cents rather than a BIN, so I made a high bid, told myself I wouldn't pay any more than that, and waited. The auction ended tonight and earlier today I found a bidder had pushed my auction all the way up to $13.50, with the $10 shipping... so pretty much it's almost $25. Suspicious, I checked that bidders history and it says this auction is the only auction they've bid on in the past 30 days. Ebay doesn't give you any more information than that, but I suspect this seller had a shill bidder to push the auction up. How annoying!

Oh well, at least I got the wig for $23.50 instead of $25. But still I am annoyed. >.<

[RockinPrettyBeats]

It does look suspicious but it's possible someone had the same thought you did and wanted to get it just a little bit less than the normal price.

[Dragonflitter]

True. In that case it was nice of them not to bump it up just to make me pay more.

I guess this technically isn't a Support thread, sorry for ranting in the wrong forum, just needed to let off some steam. ^_^;

[RockinPrettyBeats]

True. In that case it was nice of them not to bump it up just to make me pay more.

I guess this technically isn't a Support thread, sorry for ranting in the wrong forum, just needed to let off some steam. ^_^;

lol, that's cute.

Honestly, I've thought many times I've seen shill bidding before with some Chinese items that are started at 1 cent. I think we all know just how easy it is have something end at the first bid no matter how low it is. So it's hard to imagine that every single time it gets up to the price the seller seems to want for it (ie, compared to how his other items are priced).

I really hope that Ebay has some kind of defense against it. Like for instance, if they see two ids bidding on each other and they are in the same area they check it out.

[Sarahlacewing]

Sounds shady to me definitely.  I mean what are the odds?  Plus I bet they list another '.99' one and the same thing happens every time someone shows interest.  I hate it.  I mean be honest about your prices people.  If you can't take less than $$ without losing money then don't try to pull the cons just set the price and if people like it they will buy and if not they won't.

[Dragonflitter]

Plus I bet they list another '.99' one and the same thing happens every time someone shows interest.

Oooo good point! Now I'm curious so I'm going to watch them and see if they put up another 99 cent auction, and see what it ends at. ...because obviously I am nosy and have too much time on my hands.

[Glacia471]

It's cases like this that made me stop putting in my max bid right away I buy jewelry on ebay every now and then, and a lot of it comes from China where there's these sellers with multiple IDs. I can watch an item go unsold, but as soon as I bid on a similar one, suddenly someone else is interested (even if it's not the only one out there at that starting price!). I've taken to putting in only the minimum bid and putting my max as a sniping bid, or just sniping my max bid after keeping a close eye on the auction (but don't put it in my watchlist, I don't need to tip off any possibly-shady seller that I'm debating on buying from them ).

[popyduggan]

That happened to me with an Xbox 360 faceplate from a chinese seller before, my max bid was just below the buy it now price and magically one bidder with 100% activity with the seller bid me up to my maximum just before the auction closed.

I just didn't pay for it, took a strike and bought their relisting for way closer to the starting bid without any hassle.

It sucks that ebay won't investigate these sort of things, they must have a log of the bidder's IP addresses somewhere to validate a claim.

[Emberfly]

I've taken to putting in only the minimum bid and putting my max as a sniping bid, or just sniping my max bid after keeping a close eye on the auction (but don't put it in my watchlist, I don't need to tip off any possibly-shady seller that I'm debating on buying from them ).

Does a seller get notified when you put an item on your watch list?  I had no idea.  I tend to do the snipe thing as well, and have occasionally put the min bid in to start with also.  I always thought I was being weird but if others are doing the same, maybe not. 

[Sarahlacewing]

It's not so much they get a notification.  It's more like -this many- people are watching your item.  But they don't know like who is or isn't or anything.

[HoustonCollector72]

I've taken to putting in only the minimum bid and putting my max as a sniping bid, or just sniping my max bid after keeping a close eye on the auction (but don't put it in my watchlist, I don't need to tip off any possibly-shady seller that I'm debating on buying from them ).

Does a seller get notified when you put an item on your watch list?  I had no idea.  I tend to do the snipe thing as well, and have occasionally put the min bid in to start with also.  I always thought I was being weird but if others are doing the same, maybe not. 

yes the seller can see how many views and how many watchers an item gets !it is very possible that a seller can get someone to bid on it as well to get the bids to a higher place ;(