Ebay 'Shilling' scam warning

[EnVeeTee]

I believe I have been the victim of an Ebay scam so I thought I'd pass my experience onto others just incase.

I was looking for another small digital camera which I found on Ebay and stuck an automatic bid on it for 35.00

10 seconds before the end of the auction I noticed I had been out bid by another bidder and a email was sent to me in the usual manner. Nothing suspicious there.

However a few minutes after the end of the auction I received a second email stating that the winning bidder had retracted his bid and I was now the winning bidder.

I became suspicious and did some investigating only to understand that this is a technique known as Shilling where the seller and bidder are known to each other and work in tandem to reveal the maximum amount of automatic bids

I have reported this to Ebay, but to be fair, I was only prepared to pay 35.00 and in fact this is what I have ended up paying, although if the Shiller had not been involved I would have probably won it for 15.00 (although I suspect the seller would never have posted it)

Just a warning

Nigel

[sacko]

Didnt think you could retract a bid with less than 24 hours left on an item, certainly suspect.

[RGPuk]

Hmmm ..... something doesn't smell right about that.

Rules here: Can I retract or cancel my bid?

I'd be tempted to raise the whole sale as an issue because of this, before you pay, then pay by PayPal to get your item, so you are covered by having questioned things but still followed the rules.

Ro.

[trillian]

Didnt think you could retract a bid with less than 24 hours left on an item, certainly suspect.

Well, the buyer can back out and the seller can make a 'second chance offer' to the next highest bidder which you can then accept or decline.

I had this happen recently but it didn't seem suspicious really, just a bit surprising. I got an OS61SXH for like 30 quid.

But after the auction has ended it would not be the same as if another bidder retracted their bid, it would be a second chance offer which is not binding.

What I have had happen in the past that I thought was a bit suspicious is that the bidding went right up to the amount of my proxy bid. But no one is supposed to know what that figure is. I never looked for retracted bids, hmmmm.

[Tim Procter]

Didnt think you could retract a bid with less than 24 hours left on an item

You certainly used to be able to do.

May have changed now though.

[moyesboy]

Looks like we all have to play last minute bidding and never bid much more than the previous bid to avoid this.

[Birdie4x4]

I have heard of systems that will bid on your behalf at the last second of the auction at a preset price, I.E. an invisable reserve. Sellers useing this system may make a second chance offer or tell you that the winner was a none payer, obviously only iff your bid was high enough for the scammer. I am allways suspicious when I receive an e-mail 5mins after the auction end telling me that the winner was a none payer.
Steve

[GravityKills]

There has been a recent incident on a German heli forum, where a seller of a laptop got scammed. Someone placed a high order and then withdrew it, thus keeping the price low.
Apparently some days later three Russians showed up at his door step, and tried to intimidate the seller. He called the police, they freaked out, one tried to intrude into his house (a bad idea since he was aware of the Dobermann dog) and ended up in hospital.

Long story short, my own conclusion is simple: Stay away from ebay. There are too many criminals around.

Ebay absolutely relies on the fact that a bid can't be taken back. The problem is, apparently it is not so in reality. As a honest person, I can only lose.

[coptermanic]

" As a honest person, I can only lose."

Now there is a surprise.

[Dedcalm]

I never bid on an item until the last few seconds, that way no-one knows my intent to purchase it or have any possibility of shill bidding to achieve a higher price.

[Guest]

I bought my blade 400 of there this week all upgraded spektrum dx7 3lipos charger carry case and other stuff for it all for £260 bargain.

[st200ol]

I bought my blade 400 of there this week all upgraded spektrum dx7 3lipos charger carry case and other stuff for it all for £260 bargain.

I was watching that one too, thought somebody would get a bargain. It wasn't clear that the DX7 was in the auction (except for pics and one line in the listing).

Well done!

[Guest]

I was watching that one too, thought somebody would get a bargain. It wasn't clear that the DX7 was in the auction (except for pics and one line in the listing).

Well done!

Yeah quite impressed with it cannot fly yet so just started it up and spun the blades up.
Gonna see if i can get a expert to test fly it but all looks fine.