Ebay - shill bidding ?

[TonyW]

I have been watching a few items on the bay. In a couple of cases I have seen items with quite a few bids where all the bidder/s ID's are hidden with the quotes "private listing - bidders' identities protected".

I know that items over £100 bidders names can be protected but in these cases bids were well under this amount (in some cases just a few pounds!).

I am fairly new to the world of auctions - but life experience has taught me to be cautious about many things.

I am aware of shilll bidding and was wondering if the particular scenario described would give you cause for concern - and any tips from the more experienced "bayers" would be useful

Cheers
Tony

EDIT: Oh b***** have put this in wrong forum. Could a kind Mod please send to General chat off topic - sorry
Sorted -Philly

 

[ByronBlack]

Tony - not necessarily anything to worry about, when listing an item for a sale there is an option to keep bidders identity private, it doesn't always mean that there is shill bidding going on. Besides it's still very easy to setup shill bidding even with identities open to the public.

As long as you set a maximum to which you are prepared to spend you can't go wrong.

Good luck, and happy bidding!

 

[Karl]

Tony

I'd be a bit more dubious than Byron.

I personally won't bid on anything where the bidders identities are kept private - why would the seller do that? I can't think of any good reason.

Of course, as Byron says, Shill bidding can go on even if the bidder id's are not hidden - one of the pitfalls of the bay.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Lukey]

I have a feedback of 930 odd, so you can tell I use it a bit.

I am never worried about private auctions.

Some listers may always have private auctions, some are paranoid.

It is just as easy to shill bid without a private auction. All you need is your mates account details...after all, who will ever know?

Although I once bid on something being sold by mmarsden that was won by someone called emmamarsden and ten minutes later it was relisted. (Obviously didn't get what they wanted)

But would I have realised if emmamarsden was called, say emm24563 ? Probably not.

At the end of the day, put on what you are prepared to pay. If it reaches your limit back out. If they are shill bidding you will probably get a second chance offer for your maximum anyway (in the event that the 'winner' [ie emmamarsden] does not want the item)

NB all user id's fictional

 

[TonyW]

Thanks for your comments guys.

Byron - Did not realise that the option there to keep bidders private. Good advice to set maximum bid (for any auction) and not get carried away upping the amount because you think you are close.

karlley - Like you was a bit dubious about this (seller seems to do this for all items) and cannot think of a good reason to keep bidders identity private for such low priced items.

Lukey - Quote "At the end of the day, put on what you are prepared to pay. If it reaches your limit back out. If they are shill bidding you will probably get a second chance offer for your maximum anyway (in the event that the 'winner' [ie emmamarsden] does not want the item) " Looks like sound advice

I have just won a Disston back saw! Also won a couple of planes last week which I am in the process of cleaning up (probably post a couple of pics and ask some silly questions later).
I think I need to cool it for a while on the bay - SWMBO is beginning to get suspicious - various packages arriving with me busily cleaning tools. My stock answer to her questions "what is that?" being "what, this old thing don't you recognise it" is I feel wearing a bit thin

EDIT: Thanks philly
Cheers
Tony

 

[brianhabby]

I see no reason for sellers hiding bidders details and even less their own. One of the strengths of eBay is the fact that you can talk with other members about your experiences, and that includes bidders.

I for one will never bid when stuff is hidden in this way, I always ask myself - What have they got to hide?

regards

brian

 

[motownmartin]

I see no reason for sellers hiding bidders details and even less their own. One of the strengths of eBay is the fact that you can talk with other members about your experiences, and that includes bidders.

I for one will never bid when stuff is hidden in this way, I always ask myself - What have they got to hide?

regards

brian

I sold something hiding the bidders details, sometimes buyers don't like others to know what they are bidding for, e.g. not letting the Mrs know :lol:

Seems that I might be wrong, but it did sell for what I wanted.

 

[brianhabby]

I sold something hiding the bidders details, sometimes buyers don't like others to know what they are bidding for, e.g. not letting the Mrs know :lol:

Seems that I might be wrong, but it did sell for what I wanted.

Interesting point Martin, but how would you know that a buyer doesn't like others to know what they are bidding on?

At least your item sold for what you wanted and so everyone was happy.

regards

brian

 

[motownmartin]

I sold something hiding the bidders details, sometimes buyers don't like others to know what they are bidding for, e.g. not letting the Mrs know :lol:

Seems that I might be wrong, but it did sell for what I wanted.

Interesting point Martin, but how would you know that a buyer doesn't like others to know what they are bidding on?

At least your item sold for what you wanted and so everyone was happy.

regards

brian

I don't know Brian :?

It does seem a good excuse for the seller to use their mates to bid though, maybe ebay thought it would make more profit for them :?

 

[oddsocks]

I've sold things where the bidders ID was private but it was by accident - I hadn't 'opted in' to show them (maybe ebay have changed the default now).

I do tend to steer clear of private bidder lists - I normally check the seller's history via feedback to see what they have sold and try to find something similar to the item of interest. If private bidding is enabled you cannot see the winner or the item title, just the feed back (which makes it almost useless). I specifically bought something last week from one seller and not another because of this.

 

[cumbrian]

FWIW, my thoughts are that if it's something you're really after, and you're put off solely by the fact that it's a private auction, then ask the seller why it's private. You can possibly tell quite a bit about the seller from their reply; you can tell even more if they don't bother to reply!