whats wrong with this ebay buyer?

[flh801978]

Have alook at this lathe for sale on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261944319256? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Lathes like this come up for sale frequently and this same buyer bids VERY early in most cases almost within an hour of being listed
this ones been for sale 3 times recently

have a look at buyer 1s history of bid retractions how does he get away with it?

Ian

 

[RobinBHM]

Shill bidding?

 

[Mark A]

Looks completely legit to me...

 

[graduate_owner]

I think some people just put in a low bid to see if they might get lucky. As soon as other bids are made then they drop out. I have had a few purchases for a 99p first bid. I don't retract bids though (why would you when you have been outbid anyway?) And I don' just bid once and drop out, but I think that might be the reason for this bidders actions.

Or am I missing something more sneaky here?

K

 

[flh801978]

Again another lathe another set of bidders with huge amounts of bid retractions

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLCHESTER-LA ... 2353e5fdb3

 

[flh801978]

Actually just been reading about bid retractions on ebay and this person explains maybe why
quote follows


"I thought I'd raise awareness of this issue as I've just encountered it, but I don't know how widespread it is. Basically, it works like this:



- A buyer finds an item they want that is currently at a low price

- Buyer bids a very high amount - perhaps 2-3 times its real worth

- An accomplice (or the same buyer with another id) immediately places an even higher bid

- The first bidder's inflated bid is now the current price, deterring anyone else from bidding

- Seconds before the auction ends, the second buyer's high bid is retracted, leaving the first buyer with a "bargain".



This happened to me with one bid of £350 and another of £800 entered a minute later for an item that should fetch no more than £150+.



I've reported this to Ebay under "invalid retracted bids" and I won't complete the sale until they've investigated. Most likely I'll have to relist with these buyers blocked.



It's easy to spot - a retracted bid for a huge amount cannot be hidden so if you do get a retracted bid late on in your sale, then be very, very suspicious! It's also been referred to a "bid shielding".

 

[DTR]

How unscrupulously cunning

 

[doorframe]

Unless things have changed, you can not retract a bid with less than 12 hrs remaining.

 

[nicguthrie]

An ex friend of mine tried to get me to help in a similar scam, I think it's the "shill bidding" mentioned above.

He'd list an item, then ask friends to put a holding bid on it for the amount he wanted at minimum, to make it look worth the money rather than put a minimum price on it that would make him look greedy.

It's then up to the guys working together, to mutually cancel their sale, if they get no further bidding, rather than pay any dues on the sale, or have to put it in the books.

It's not very savoury, but very common.

Nic

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