Shill bidding conviction on ebay.co.uk

[domainseller200]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bu...ificially_Raising_Prices_Of_Own_Items_On_Site

 

[tifosi]

well he was just an idiot for being so naive. But the practice is rife, far more subtle, and the primary culprits are the business users.

I've seen far too many items I've been monitoring have 'strange' jumps in price in the periods leading up to & beyond the last 24hrs of the auction. They will have a base/cost value for the item and make sure it gets that but is low enough to be bid over. These 'additional' users will have longevity & good references & will ocassionally bid successfully for items in other categories.

Suspicion & proof are something I don't think ebay have a handle on for this practice.

S

 

[crabfoot]

So there's a bloke in Vietnam selling things, and a bloke in US bidding on those things. Mr US hasn't actually won any auction in 5 years, and he never will - but eBay has reorganised the way they work, so you can't see that happening any more ...

Once upon a time I bought a turntable from a twot in Torquay, which arrived as a heap of postally reorganised junk with vermin (dust mites) in the shredded paper packing (I burned that rapidly).

It cost me about £5 for the item and £10 for postage, eBay said they did doodly if it cost less than £15, I got the £5 back from the Royal Snail but the postage costs were down the drain.

Having been told by the seller to metaphorically "get stuffed" by email, I decided to investigate his dealings, and discovered a ring of schill bidding between himself, his wife, his sister-in-law, and other relatives. I was so pissed off by this bum deal that I used "directory services" to obtain addresses showing that they were all 9bob notes and related by incest.

I reported this to eBay several times. No action Knee jerk placatory emails followed by silence. Followed it up a couple of times to be told that eBay's records did not extend back more than 30 days, so they couldn't verify what I was saying - ie, they were not tracking anything or paying any attention to complaints.

The guy sold a fishing reel to his sister in law twice, to his wife once, and to his cousin, until he found someone willing to buy it at an acceptable price (or got sick of the sight of the thing).

Ebay is not British or American - the founder is Belgian, but he knows how to give the right impression. They have standard European morals, and are as inscrutable as a Swiss bank when you are having difficulties. They re-registered their corporate activities in Luxembourg (including Paypal) quite recently - and I am CERTAIN that the reason is to avoid several legal actions.

eBay do not take advice from anyone - their rep told me that was their policy when I asked. "So why do you ask for suggestions from customers?" I enquired.

Still waiting for a reply after three years ...