People Arrested For Shill Bidding On eBay

from the they're-after-you dept

Fri, Feb 8th 2002 12:40am — Mike Masnick

I've heard plenty of people talk about helping friends out on their eBay auctions by "bidding something up". Apparently, doing so is considered wire fraud and can get you five years in jail - so perhaps it's worth a second thought. Of course, in this case, the folks involved were caught rigging nearly 500 auctions. What I still don't understand is how they caught them. How do you figure out that a certain bid is a "shill" instead of a real bid?

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Peter Bradshaw, 8 Feb 2002 @ 2:45am

How they where caught
Sounds as though they were using multiple identities and bidded against themselves. For instance if DonaldDrongo and PaulaPonzii are bidding and they turn out to be the same person (by matching IPs) then you've got fraud.
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sb, 8 Feb 2002 @ 10:39am

No Subject Given
YOWSA !
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2002 @ 5:30am

Re: How they where caught
which just goes to show ya':

if you're going to shill bids, shill from behind a NATing internet service provider.
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Blow Me, 2 Dec 2002 @ 4:43pm

Re: How they where caught
Or at least from differnt locations
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Annette, 19 Feb 2004 @ 12:04am

Re: How they where caught
I'm pissed off. I'm trying my best to do everything possible to make money and here is this guy on ebay who I know for a fact that is shill bidding and yet ebay does nothing. Why?
Here is his site http://stores.ebay.com/id=12818542&ssPageName=L2
He is always getting somehow (new registered users) and I know his auction of his jewelry is contradicting itself. He is lying to make it sound so inticing. I sell Jewelry and gems and I know my stuff. He is cheating. How is he doing this, what source. Here he is on day 1 and already selling stuff up to $50.00 and here I am at day 6 and still nothing.
Input would be great. Make me feel sane. What can I do? All I want is traffic to see me. Like everyone else.
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Rob Campbell, 10 Mar 2004 @ 4:04pm

Re: How they where caught
Hi Annette,It's a shame that your jewelry is not selling as well as you would like. I am,however puzzled at how you can be sure that this guy is shill bidding,without the records that ebay have access to,which presumably show the IP addresses of the bidders.Here I am assuming that you have reported your beliefs to ebay;in which case,I'm afraid there's nothing else you can do.
Regards,Rob
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2007 @ 7:12pm

Re: Re: How they where caught
what is a Nating internet service Provider??
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Catching Them Is Easy, 29 Mar 2007 @ 7:32pm

Ebay Shill Bidders And How To Catch Them
It's really very easy to catch shill bidding in the act. First off if your going to shill bid rule number 1~don't give yourself feedback such as this buyer/seller did.....
">pay close attention to the email addresses

Rule number 2~don't copy and paste. See when you copy and paste you suddenly forget which auction and name that you were under such as this seller/buyer did.....pay close attention to email addresses

Now if you have taken a close look and said, "Gee so the buyer of this auction just has the same name as the sellers email address, that doesn't constitute shill bidding"

If you have said that then go get your sign now! The seller of this auction finally gets it together in the end of her auctions such as this one and finally gets the copy and paste technique down right..... ">decides that email and names should coincide and once again decides that email and names should coincide.

I guess she could claim in a court of law that it was multiple personality disorder. And that she couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to be Lori or Brandy. Make no mistake they are the same person. It is really quite entertaining busting someone though.....;)
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B, 20 May 2007 @ 6:15am

Re: Re: How they where caught
I have reported 2 sellers I know were shilling. How is it there are bidders with little or no bidding history,and they all have name's like: Bidder1, Bidder2, Bidder3. On and on. Another thing I noticed, was these people would run up the price, and if they won the item...I would see it re-listed almost immediately. There is a huge scam going on with ebay, and even Bbay has a class action suite for increasing buyers bids without their permission. They just increase the buyers bid if there is a reserve amount the buyer has to automatically place another bid up to a capped amount. Now you tell me that isn't as low as you can go. In musical inst.'s there is a flood of counterfeit guitars from China, about 90% of what's being sold. Talk about unfair competition. I'm about ready to start blowing the whistle big time on these guys.
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simon, 9 Jul 2007 @ 7:39am

bidder1
i have been searching ebay for a car for some time now but have been made unsuccesssful by bidder1 8 of 10 items i search has high bids from whoever this person is but the person only has a feedback score of three wich i find highly suspicious cant ebay staff investigate
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bizzarefall, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:01am

Re: Re: How they where caught
Well this store does not seem to exist anymore as your link is dead, so maybe they were caught.
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bizzarefall, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:31am

Re: bidder1
Usually this is a private auction - you see bidder 1 bidder 2 etc.
These always raise a red flag for me but are often for items that are adult in nature.
Here is what ebay has to say about it.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/private.html

Also that is hilarious about busting the mold lady shill bidding, she is still on there. (HAHA get it? busting the mold)
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bizzarefall, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:40am

Re: Re: Re: How they where caught
Why do you want to know?
It stands for "Network Address Translation"
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Floyd, 5 Oct 2007 @ 8:50pm

bidding
Ebay knows whom does what. They are intelligent fellas whom design their sellers a way to make their item sell for what it cost normally or very close and sometimes most likely over what it should cost and to the better of any commission. I enjoy the 99 cent bid and the 29.99 shipping cost especially when you make the bid and then all of a sudden here comes several bidders out of the blue right at the end and all with funny names and small numbers of items won or sold. Sometimes a friend will help out and you will see he or she is a power seller and that is how sellers maintain their stores for profit instead of loss. Make sense to have a little help from your friends? If you don't like the bid don't bid or just overbid and you are sure to win. HaHa
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tian, 7 Aug 2008 @ 5:51pm

There is nothing wrong with shilling, some people r trying to make some money on ebay. Everything u get on ebay is probably cheaper than elsewhere and your still saving money. Some powersellers need to make the money so their business can continue, without shilling there will not be many sellers and without sellers u dont get the good deal in the first place So stop acting like babies and just suck it up, and ebay doesnt care for shilling cuz the higher the price the item is sold, the more they make from the final value fee
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Helen Wallace, 14 Aug 2008 @ 9:49pm

Shill Bidding
Auction laws allow the consignors to bid on their own items. Looks at terms of Christies, Sothebys, etc. Ebay USED to allow it, but when they began charging for reserves, they banned it with an accompanying fear campaign. All of the arrests involving "shill" bidding have actually involved selling counterfeit or stolen merchandise.
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Mark, 15 Aug 2008 @ 2:24pm

Re: Re: How they where caught
I don't know what the incentive would be for eBay to really make an all out effort to prevent shill bidding. After all, if it's as prevalent as many people seem to think, and if sellers who employ it wouldn't make any money if they did not, then they would stop selling on eBay and eBay would lose profits also. So why would eBay really go all out to try to stop the practice?
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Mark, 15 Aug 2008 @ 2:37pm

follow up to my own posting
For those of you who haven't seen it, here is a really interesting story from the Sunday Times on shill bidding including interview of an actual power seller from eBay who says he has done it and also does not believe eBay is going to hassle him about it. Kind of confirms my suspicions of why eBay may sometimes "look the other way".
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SEEKING ENFORCEMENT AND REGULATION, 20 Aug 2008 @ 6:06pm

Shill Bidding
Shill bidding is fraud, it deceives a potential buyer watching an item, it enriches those who do it and robs the public of a fair auction. The buyer is usually left holding the bag and it reflects upon all legitimate Ebay users because the public will lose trust in any and all auctions as if they are fixed. Ebay needs to crack the whip they know who these people are, they get the fees from them and turn their backs. Check this guy out on Ebay under the user name porscheahmet. He has been caught not once but twice and they only suspended him for I believe 90 days for committing a felony. I am sure that the dozens who are in contact with the federal authorities because of items they purchased on Ebay are no whee near the worth what they were sold for. I am not talking about a fair profit. I am talking about ripping people off in large amounts.
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SEEKING ENFORCEMENT AND REGULATION, 20 Aug 2008 @ 6:12pm

SHILL BIDDING
Stop the foreign people using Ebay to rob Americans by shill bidding, it just may be your inheritance they rip off with their scams. How many of you heard about the Nigeria email scamming of folks who lost millions. Well now they are high tech and from quite a few different countries hiding here in the USA committing their scams on EBAY. They look for a weaknes in the system and take off. EBAY is that system.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Sep 2008 @ 1:19pm

eBay seller PorscheAhmet also know as Ahmet Sandikci......I have all the proff needed for shill bidding on this one, but Fleebay does not care

""Buyers beware as Ahmet Sandikci is under investigation by the FBI, The Department of the Tresury, IRS and more for defrauding customers. DO NOT BUY FROM AHMET SANDIKCI. YOU WILL NEVER SEE A RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED " "
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conkers, 5 Sep 2008 @ 11:28pm

Re: SHILL BIDDING
Is that not just a little racist? Stop 'The foreign people' ? Well I'm English, live in the UK, use ebay.co.uk, Should ebay stop me? Ebay is world wide, and happy to make a profit for it's services in almost every country around the world. Oh sorry, you must be one of those Americans, who thinks you are the world, that the globe begins and ends at your borders.
Let me guess, you don't mean me do you, you mean non-white foreign people, people that speak a different language to you.
The email scam that originated in Nigeria happened because of a loop hole in Nigerian law. There are dishonest people everywhere, it just so happens that dishonest Nigerians, not Nigerians per say, exploited this loop hole.
Or maybe Americans simply never rip off other Americans?
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diodred, 30 Nov 2008 @ 2:15pm

ebay used to be an honest place to get things we wanted. Now that spear chuckers Ect can get online, its just another place to lose money. tHEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER GAVE 3RD WORLD CONTRIES ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Steven Jones, 11 Dec 2008 @ 9:20pm

Ebay are part of the problom
I had the misfortune of buying what I believed was a car from a private seller on eBay but it turned out to be a dealer who had eBay accounts all over the place and after being conned I managed to connect the accounts to eight other accounts using telephone numbers and different cars he had sold and soon discovered other people were also looking for the same scam artist

In the first instance DO NOT CONTACT eBay as they are particularly keen to hide such activities from the public in an attempt to reassure members that it’s safe on eBay and will hide behind the data protection act if asked for detail needed in order to take action yourself.

DO REMEMBER TO SAVE OR PRINT the pages relating to any wrong doing before eBay removed them and changed the data in order to claim that you were not in fact the winning bidder as happened in my case and don’t be put off perusing eBay when they suddenly start replying to you complaints in a foreign language such as Flemish.

You can be sure eBay collected it fees from the person who conned me and have access to IP Addresses and bank details to stop these people opening a new account so from a commercial perspective they are on the side of the criminals however help is at hand with site such as www.Ebusters.co.uk, www.GoofBay.com which helps monitor and catch these criminals.

If your not convince that eBay are involved in such illegal activities then see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/24/ebay_shill_lawsuit/ that will maybe change your mind.

Shill bidder are rewarded by eBay and just in case they go too far in pushing the price up then eBay comes to the rescue with second chance offer so get it out your head about eBay helping protect members as they are not the solution when they are part of the problem and remember that the next time you suddenly find you won after all.

One last little tip is to save your time from complaining on eBay forums as you will soon discover such unfriendly topics are weighted to quickly disappear off the bottom of the screen and don’t believe all them cars that went unsold with no reserve at £0.99 with no bids as it’s a clear manipulation of the data by eBay as I have witnessed this myself.
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PhilipCohen (profile), 14 Dec 2008 @ 4:16am

eBay is knowingly "aiding and abetting" fraudsters!
Do you think there is a problem with fraud on eBay? Do you think that eBay is doing anything to protect you from such fraud? Do you think that only sellers have problems with eBay? Well, actually, in what will undoubtedly be a counterproductive attempt to improve their "bottom line", greedy eBay is now knowingly "aiding and abetting" shill-bidding fraudsters to prey on everyone buying on eBay. For full details start at: http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6499794#6499794
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2008 @ 8:25am

Do not buy from Ahmet Sandikci Arcade Currency Palace unless you want to enter into another Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme. Google his name to see that he is a fraud
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ruben cepeda, 6 Feb 2009 @ 2:30pm

shill-shocker highway robbery
They now have convinced ebay somehow to reveal a bidders maximum bid on an item with, "no reserve," so that in the last ticking seconds they will greedily up the bid to within pennies of winning bidders maximum. they both come up with this type of practice. this happened to me yesterday. in last 9 seconds a mistery bidder number 9 popped out of nowhere and left me winning the item to within 62 cents of my maximum bid. I now have to pay $34.38 more for my item.
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NEWSINPRINT, 25 Mar 2009 @ 2:32am

PONZI CROOKS FRAUD
A business out of Lauderdale by the Sea Trusted Traditions, Inc. is own by a former federal convict. He goes by the name of John Markis when his real name is John Maragoudakis and a search on the federal bureau of prisons website will confim this. Once a crook always a crook BUYER BEWARE in my opinion this guys preys on the elderly and is a real smooth con artist out to rip off unsuspecting people by selling overgraded currency to the general public. Once a crook always a crook.
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Me, 22 Apr 2009 @ 8:02pm

Re:Ponzi Crooks Fraud
I am not familiar John Maragoudakis or his shady business practices but I take offense to your assuming everyone with a criminal record is a scheming crook. I was convicted of a felony in my early 20s as a result of a road side fight with another man because it was considered road rage. I am now a 35 yr old married man with two beautiful kids, a very respectable job and an annual tax bill that would make most people cry. My point is that you are stereotyping me and assuming my record labels me and that p@##$s me off.

Now quit whinning, shut-up and go cook my fries!
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clay, 18 May 2009 @ 1:34pm

Re: Shill Bidding
well i have and do shill bid! if the price gets to high for you stop bidding stupid. your the fool that keeps bidding sucks to be you.yes that is right ebay only suspends your account for 2weeks for the first 30 days for second and so on. if its a felony why no arrests? cause it keeps the market on ebay going. without it ebay would make half the revenue they report good god people think. dont like it go elsewhere otherwise its buyer beware hahahahaha foools
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NEWSINPRINT, 20 May 2009 @ 5:44pm

Re: Re:Ponzi Crooks Fraud
If you have a guilt complex I cannot help that sir. I am sure you would be the better one to cook the fries since obviously you don't know the difference between fraud and a fight as a prior felon and not once but nummerous times...so you see Mr. Ex-con go count your beans and cook more fries untily ou get it right.
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Philip Cohen (profile), 1 Jun 2009 @ 1:19am

Shill bidding on eBay
For anyone interested, a detailed case study of a classic, blatant shill bidder on eBay, and a comment on eBay’s attitude thereto, at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033
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sara shields, 4 Jul 2009 @ 10:50pm

shill bidding
I have some shill bidding thoughts. I think shill bidding is when a seller sees double bids on his item and get someone to bid a little in order to get to that higher bid.
I don't think friends and family members should be barred from bidding on a persons items and here is why: My grandmother died and left a large collection of Barbie items. 8 Different granddaughters wanted the Barbies. My mom decided it would be a great idea to put them on ebay. We could then all bid on the items we really wanted. We had to pay for them, and then after all the ebay fees were paid she divided the money back amongst us. It was a great idea, kept peace in the family, until of course my mom got suspended because I bid (with my own personal account) from what I'm guessing was the same location. (Is that how i.p. address is determined?) Anyway we didn't do anything dishonest,As a matter of fact we didn't get some of our items. Definitly a good idea that backfired. I also think that if I put something I treasure on Ebay and its not going at the price I think its worth, I think I should be able to buy it back. I wouldn't cancel my bid in order to get fees back, I would pay the fees. Does that make me a criminal?? Please advise.
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Philip Cohen, 21 Oct 2009 @ 1:31am

Shill Bidding on eBay
And, some more food for thought …

Shill Bidding on eBay: Case Study #2

Shining some light on the more sophisticated and therefore harder to detect shill bidding activity by many “professional” sellers on eBay auctions

This time a spreadsheet analysis of multiple auctions, from some "professional" sellers from the US and Australia. Needless to say the analysis demonstrates, once again, that, contrary to eBay’s claims, shill bidding by many “professional” sellers is rampant on eBay auctions. The full comment and spreadsheet download links at:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24296
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Oct 2009 @ 8:46am

Re:
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Kathi, 8 Nov 2009 @ 1:43pm

ebay does not give a hoot about shill bidding or the consumer
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THINK ABOUT IT..., 18 Nov 2009 @ 2:32pm

EBAY: MONEY vs. INTEGRITY
IN IT'S MOST SIMPLEST FORM, IT'S VERY EASY FOR EBAY TO STOP ALL SHILL BIDDINGS IF THEY REALLY WANTED TO.

EBAY KEEPS A RECORD OF ALL BIDS (THEY HAVE TO). AND LIKE ANY OTHER INVESTIGATION, ONCE THEY SEE A PATTERN WHERE A SELLER IS GETTING THE SAME BUYER AND/OR THE BUYER HAS A RECORD OF ONLY BIDDING FROM THAT SELLER AND NEVER WINNING BIDS FROM THE SELLER, CASE CLOSED. YOUR CRIMINAL HAS BEEN CAUGHT AND THE CRIME HAS BEEN SOLVED.

HOWEVER, EBAY WOULD OF LOSS LOTS OF MONEY IN THEIR YOUNGER DAYS, WHICH THEY KNEW ABOUT SHILL BIDDINGS WAAAY... BEFORE IT WAS EVER INVESTIGATED AND FINALLY BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE. EBAY GETS PAID EITHER WAY SO, WHY MESS UP A GOOD THING? THAT'S THEIR MOTTO!
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Poopies for lunch, 29 Jan 2010 @ 4:40pm

People who hide behind fake names are cowards
Who cares? Scared you're getting ripped? Don't buy. If you place your max bid at $20, and someone shills you up to $19, well damn, you're still in your range, right? Suck it up.
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Jess, 4 Feb 2010 @ 9:36pm

Shill Bidding
I AGREE! SHill bidding rox
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MikeSellersNY, 1 Mar 2010 @ 4:46pm

Re: Re: Re: How they where caught
I was in Ebay many years ago and recently got back in primarily as a buyer to date. It is astounding how obscure items are frequently counterfeited and sold on Ebay nowadays. Somehow small time sellers with years under one ID get a hold of obscure counterfeit items and sell them on Ebay.

What percentage of new items sold on Ebay is counterfeit? 50%? More?
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ebuster, 12 May 2010 @ 4:24am

First conviction
Good news that the trading standards made it's first conviction against Paul Barrett for shill bidding on ebay and to think it only took them 12 years so you never know they might just manage one fraud conviction this year and this makes you ask what are we paying taxes when the trading standards provides is allowed to provide such a poor level of service.

eBuster has been asked to find members of the public that live in the UK who would like to take part in a live debate with ebay about shill bidding and can be contacted on the 'Contact us' page on eBuster,co,uk
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2010 @ 11:40am

To the ass who said there is nothing wrong with shilling!
Ummm, its against ebay rules and that is what a buy it now or reserve price is for!
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2HARRYBAWLZ (profile), 15 Sep 2010 @ 9:16am

shill bidding
WHAT A DAMN JOKE, SHILL BIDDING IS JUST ANOTHER WAY FOR CRY BABBIES WHO DIDNT GET THEIR WAY TO BLAME EVERYONE ELSE. THEIR DAD DIDNT BUY THEM THAT TOY THEY WANTED SO THEY BECAME DRUG ADDICTS AND MOM COULD NOT HOLD 3 KIDS AT ONE TIME SO HE IS NOW GAY AND GRANDAD DIDNT FONDLE HIM WHICH CAUSED HIS FETISH FOR DIRTY OLD MEN.

NOW TO MAKE IT WORSE HE SITS IN DARK CORNER NAKED AND TWEAKS HIS NIPPLES WHILE ROCKING BACK AND FORTH RECITING THE GIRL SCOUT OATH, AND THIS IS CAUSED BY THE EVIL BASTARD WHO OUT BID HIM ON THAT BETTE MIDLER CD!!
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2HARRYBAWLZ (profile), 15 Sep 2010 @ 9:27am

SHILL BIDDING
AS AN OWNER OF PUBLIC STORAGE FACILITY I PARTICIPATE IN SHILL BIDDING REGULARLY. I AM REQUIRED BY LAW TO AUCTION OFF ALL ABANDONED ITEMS. THE LAW ALSO ALLOWS ME TO BID ON THE ITEMS MYSELF AND THE OWNER OF THESE ITEMS ARE ALSO ALLOWED TO BID. EVERY MONTH I SHILL BID AND MANY OF THESE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE ITEMS I AM SELLING ALSO BID, SOME WANT ITEMS BACK AND OTHERS WANT TO INFLATE THE PRICE BECAUSE I MUST PAY HIM ALL FUNDS OVER HIS ACTUAL DEBT TO ME. SO I ENJOY SHILL BIDDING VERY MUCH. YOU SHOULD TRY IT TO.
THOSE WHO ARE OFFENDED BY SHILL BIDDING YOU NEED TO GET EMOTIONAL HELP, YOU DO NOT DESERVE EVERYTHING YOU WANT! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BID. IF YOU WERE NOT SO WEAK MINDED YOU WOULD PLACE THE HIGHEST BID YOU WANT TO PAY AND STOP. YOU DO NOT NEED TO OUT BID EVERYONE JUST TO MAKE A POINT!! ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BLAME.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2010 @ 5:01am

Re: Shill Bidding
Thank you!

I am new to ebay (just as a buyer right now) and I am glad to finally read a commentary from an individual with an internally driven sense of morality. It is unfortunate that people are so flippant and dismissive with their behavior and words, having to be externally policed. I do hope that Ebay will be aggressive in enforcing the "no shilling" policy and that the profit motive does not supercede this. The inflated shipping is bad enough with some sellers. Alternatively, I don't mind paying for something I want, knowing the seller is making a profit, as they have to pay a % to Ebay and worry about penalties in the form of having to pay a greater % etc., for less than perfect ratings according to some information I have read.
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The sarcastic anti-illiteratti police, 30 Jan 2011 @ 5:11pm

Re: SHILL BIDDING
That's a very concise way to put it.
And with such majestic calmness; you should become a writer!
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Adam Olson, 29 Sep 2011 @ 1:57am

Shillers beware of the intellligent.
1st red flag, feedback, they have 1-5 feedback all from buying, what kind of shill bidder would have a username or email that even resembles that of the seller, a retard? Yes..

Second IP address, no one with a brain would shill bid from the same IP address, once again unless you are a retard(In which most cases they are).

Third, The buyer has NO history on bidding on said type items( Usually a buyer bids on the same type items that falls within their interests).

Fourth, and foremost, ebay doesnt give a shyt and does absolutely NOTHING in 99.9% of the cases of shill bidding, all FEEBAY wants in their FEES, and to double dip on S&H and paypal fees(A Company in which they own), so us as sellers with 100% positive feedback like me get the shaft, as usual, is this something new or a surprise to us sellers? NO and it will continue and go one and on. It's like crack, no matter how obvious the downfalls are we keep coming back and back and back and back to sell our items and get raped by FEEBAY! and GAYPAL. Both one in the same rip-off artists that feed and leach off hard working middle class(Better Yet bottom class) sellers. Either chalk it up as par for the course or pack up and ship out, they know this and so do we, but we are stuck.... Right? WRONG?

I have a brain and am highly intelligent, I can find ways to diversify ANYTHING and every thing, Life will find a way, and so will I.. Ok, I'm done ranting.....
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EchoHawk (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 12:26pm

eBay soaks sellers, supplies life jackets for buyers
And so it goes, and so it goesWe've been tracking several schillers in the trading card section. One joker lists the car and he/buddy seems to win it. Then it's relisted and same thing happens, the same buyer wins it.It came to my attention after he won a card I was selling and had already relisted it 2 days before the auction closed.

He is doing this with about 20 items, some, as with mine, he hasn't even won yet.
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Ebayer, 31 May 2012 @ 10:51pm

QUID PRO QUO
* * * * * * * * * * * EBAY SALE! * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm cleaning house and have an assortment of quality items to bid on, now through June 6, 2012 take a look:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/yabe-beauty/m.html?item=180893974387&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3 AIT&_sop=15

Thanks!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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BigjjFraud (profile), 12 Jan 2013 @ 2:17am

BIGJJSTUDD loves Shill bidding
John J Hallinan III uses multiple accounts to make shill bids on auctions he lists as BIGJJSTUDD on EBAY. He has been performing this scam for at least 2 years now. Recently he made his feedback list private so that buyers/bidders have no idea whatsoever that these accounts have close to 100% bidding history with this account.

He will also use this accounts to bid and purchase auctions from his competitors. He does this to research their business practices and sometimes to leave negative feedback.

He also employs this tactic to make his similar auctions appear to be lower in price, he does this in order to drive the price up so that the bidders will purchase from him instead. The account he uses
to do this will then not pay for the auction.
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Philip Cohen, 1 Feb 2013 @ 9:50am

"Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay: Case Study #5"
The ugly reality for consumers dealing with the unscrupulous eBay/PayPal complex ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas
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Cyborgigy (profile), 14 Mar 2013 @ 10:50am

carswithnoreserve
This guy sells 12 cars a day on Uk. I have written to Ebay so many times I must have filled at least one mail server. As usual its "we can't find anything".

Someone do me a favour and look at his items and tell me I'm not going daft.

carswithnoreserve

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/carswithnoreserve/m.html?item=200904187780&a mp;ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
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Arun, 19 Mar 2013 @ 3:31pm

Re:
We should all strive for honesty when it comes to betting in auction and I find it emoral that in order for a person to make a living they have to resort to bidding in corrupt and nasty unfair ways.
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B.C., 14 Apr 2013 @ 6:00pm

Schills
If you want to see active schill bidding on Ebay, go to 'musicsupply' store page and watch his PAR 64 LED 36X3w light bids. All his bidding is set to private, (lol) and he sells tons of these things. If you watch several of his items in tandem, you can see the bidding go up on all his items in unison. The separate auctions even have the exact same bid prices.
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Mrs. Wright, 11 May 2013 @ 10:01am

Re: Re: Shill Bidding
instead of wasting people's time with shill bidding..why don't you just set a reserve or enter item as a buy now or make an offer.
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Jimmy, 20 Jul 2013 @ 5:07pm

stupid stupid shillers
stupid shill bidders are basically turning all customers away... if they win their own auctions as I have caught lately as a guy that doesn't want to sell his items cheap will snipe his own auctions at the last seconds for outrageous prices and win his own auction... he has done it over 300 times in the last 2 days selling maybe only 2 items at cost. where is his profit? people stop even bidding on auctions due to shill bidders and start to only use "buy it now" if its cheaper than the local store cost for that item.

shillers end up paying out ebay a fortune in listing fees for a bunch of false ratings with no profit to make up for it.

why would someone bid on a cell phone battery for $100 when you can just "buy it now" for $25 from a legit merchant if the battery cost $30 in the local store new?

the shill bidder I caught was selling USB wall chargers for cell phones he listed 20 of them every day and wouldn't let any of them sell for under $15 when you can get it at walmart for $4. same 5 people winning this guys auctions every day and giving him instant ratings. I put over 340 of his wall chargers on my watch list over the course of 2 weeks and saw every single one sell out snipe bid if it was under $4 and then you look and sure enough one of the same 5 people which if you look at their rating has only bid on this guys auction... reported the seller and eBay sends automated response to me on the shill bidding rules. guy is still in full operation on eBay with no ban or punishment. eBay really doesn't care about shill bidders and its going to hurt them in the long run when no one buys on ebay anymore because local stores are cheaper... eBay started as a way to get used or new items cheaper than local stores.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2013 @ 2:42pm

Re: carswithnoreserve
You're right nearly every single car has low or zero bidders and the knee which don't make much go straight back on. Eventually he sells even if he has to relist 3-4 times. And his description states 'no obligation to buy' so he can just claim they didn't want it
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Not true, 27 Nov 2013 @ 6:44pm

Re:
Your comment is like saying, "it's okay to rob people because some people are just trying to steal money for a living."
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Justme, 21 Dec 2013 @ 11:42pm

Shill bidding
Again, set your max bid, if you win great if not boo hoo. Here's a twist though, I have listed an item and almost immediately had eBay end it due to someone "reporting it". If you "shill" at least your first bid then it keeps competitors from being able to claim your selling restricted items and having your auction ended. So shilling is almost a survival tactic. If you don't like it then shop on Craigslist
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JOHN CAMDEN, 16 Jul 2014 @ 9:53pm

SHILL BIDDING & DUPLICATE LISTINGS
I HAVE NOTICED 100'S OF SHILL BIDDERS ON EBAY AND REPORTED THEM.
WHY DO YOU THINK EBAY BLOCKED YOUR ABILITY TO SEE WHO IS BIDDING. THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW IT IS GOING ON, SO THEY BLOCKED IT WITH A FAKE EXCUSE ABOUT SELLERS CONTACTING WINNERS OF OTHERS AUCTIONS WHICH IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE.

ANOTHER BIG PROBLEM WITH EBAY TURNING THEIR BACK TO IS DUPLICATE LISTINGS. THEY SAY IT IS NOT ALLOWED, AND IS A POLICY VIOLATION. O.K., LET'S EXAMINE THAT:
THERE IS A SELLER ON EBAY WHO HAS (2) ACCOUNTS. DIANA_CELLS / DIANA'S_SHOP. SHE HAS A PICTURE OF HERSELF ON 1 ACCOUNT, AND NO PICTURE ON THE OTHER ACCOUNT SO SHE WON'T GET RECOGNIZED.
SHE NORMALLY HAS 200 CELL PHONES LISTED. WHEN YOU CHECK BOTH ACCOUNTS, SHE HAS THE SAME PHONES WITH THE SAME TITLE, DESCRIPTION, AND PRICE ON BOTH OF THEM.
SHE PUTS THE LETTER A ON ALL OF THE PHONES ON 1 ACCOUNT, AND THE LETTER B ON ALL OF THE PHONES ON THE OTHER ACOOUNT.
SHE ONLY HAS 200 PHONES, NOT 400 PHONES. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE WHEN SHE SELLS A PHONE ON HER 1 ACCOUNT, SHE ENDS THE LISTING OF THE SAME EXACT PHONE ON THE OTHER ACCOUNT, AND VISE-VERSA.
SHE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE 1 SET OF PHONES LISTED, AND IF SHE HAS MORE THAT 1 OF THAT PHONE, SHE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE MORE THAN 1 AVAILABLE ON THAT LISTING.
I HAVE, ALONG WITH OTHERS REPORTED HER FOR THE LAST 8 MONTHS TO TOP CUSTOMER CARE, AND TRUST & SAFETY. NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN DONE TO HER BECAUSE SHE MAKES EBAY ABOUT $15,000 A MONTH IN SELLING HEES.
I WAS TOLD THAT SHE HAS AN PERSONAL ACCOUNT SPECIALIST SHE GOES THROUGH, AND REPORTS GO TO THIS PERSON TO BE DISCUSSED WITH THE ACCOUNT HOLDER.
SO TELL ME, IS THE ACCOUNT SPECIALIST DOING ANYTHING TO A NOTED VIOLATION SHE IS COMMITING. NO SHE ISN'T. IT IS ALL JUST ANOTHER OF THE MANY EBAY COVER UPS THAT HAVE BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS.
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Terrance Douglass, 1 Aug 2014 @ 4:39am

Re: Re: How they where caught
It has become a selfish, wicked buisness world, auctions have always been ( buyer beware ) and it's only going to get worse...A couple of years ago I purchased a popular flee and tic product from some backdoor supplier on ebay, thinking I was saving money only to find all the vials were empty. I was scammed out of $135.oo, and ebay did nothing, have you ever tried a claim on ebay's warrantee, well it's not worth your time, all they do is tell you you must work it out with the seller, and after repeated attempts to contact this vet clinic, found it to not even exist...My advice to anyone sticking your nose into online auctions is NEVER BUY ANYTHING THAT HAS "NO RETURNS", NEVER, NEVER...You know it's a scam for sure....
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jaymetal, 24 Sep 2014 @ 8:40pm

Dishonesty as a whole!
Best thing you can do is if you suspect that illegal or suspicious activity is going on, just do NOT place any bids. Look elsewhere! You think for a moment that EBAY cares about what is going on that is going to impact their incoming fees, you have another thing coming!!!!! Sometimes i even wonder the integrity of EBAY itself!!
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guestguest, 30 Sep 2014 @ 12:27pm

Re: Re: Shill Bidding
Good one. That's why I only bid once, and never enter a maximum bid. I carefully analyze the value of the item and then bid once. If I'm up against others and the numbers keep jumping, I back out and try and scrape out another deal somewhere else. And it's just good form to not bid up when those last minute buyers shill up the bid. That's why you never enter maximum bid figures, or you're just asking to pay that much. Don't ever volunteer a higher payment, which is why you only manually bid. Shill bidders recognize the instant auto bid method. At the very least, you'll have to bid fewer times, even if up against a shill bidder, if you never use the automated methods. Automation; The house always wins.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2014 @ 1:25pm

Re: shill bids
It called Stealing, you sum bag
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 11:55am

I bid on and buy a lot of fishing lures from China and have complained ABOUT bidders bidding with no bid code other than"private bidder". This makes me think a SHILL is in the hunt. I have had bids close and then 20 seconds later a Ghost bidder has won the auction. Guess things like this are to be expected when you do business in a foreign country with no regulations. Ebay should not allow these people to sell on ebay and have their bidders use "PRIVATE BIDDER"
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Dale, 19 Jun 2015 @ 5:20pm

check the feedback and the other seller's listings
what you can do to find this out check if the person bidding has little or no feedback, you can also check other selers listings to see if the feedback is the same on the buyer, since id's are hidden, you have to check if the feedback is the same. If the feedback is all the same for the buyers bidding on the seller, its more likely to be the same seller and lickely to be a shill bidder, it might even be the seller has multiple accounts
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Valerie, 30 Jun 2015 @ 7:25am

Ebay bad business practices
I am forced to sell everything I own of value in order to eat and pay basic bills. I never thought I would be in this boat as a senior. I have been selling on Ebay 2 years now. Occasionally I will buy. I have reported Ebay for bad business practices. Ebay will automatically up the bid price on an item when you place your maximum bid. You are being outbid by Ebay, no one else. I have quit bidding on an item only to discover that Ebay will send me an email saying "Congrats! You have won!" when I stopped bidding. I was bidding against no one just Ebay trying to get me to pay more so they can get more fees.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2015 @ 11:22pm

Re:
amen brother.
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Lynn, 19 Sep 2016 @ 10:27am

Re: shill bidding
Try not to make the forum your confessional. It's embarrassing.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2016 @ 5:39pm

if he do win his own item, he will have to pay 10% seller's fee. which means, he is losing money for his shill bidding. I think that's pretty dumb. imagine shill bidding for a $1000 item. that's a lot of fee.
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yea yea, 28 Nov 2016 @ 2:51pm

Nothing wrong with shilling. At all.
At the end of the day NOBODY pays more than they commit to, if you get caught up in the adrenaline of a bid and cant check your emotion and set a proper cutoff, thats a poor mentality. Bidders are always placed in car auctions, storage auctions, and a repeat: at the end of the day you dont pay a PENNY more than you have committed. Shilling is what allows sellers to at least work towards a market value, theres nothing MORALLY WRONG. Im sorry you buyers cannot control your compulsive buying because you get emotionally pulled into one item.
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Tim Murphy, 31 May 2017 @ 3:47am

Re: Re: How they where caught
Theres got to be a way to stop this phony bidding that the price is already known you place a bid and in one second your outbid nobody is fast enough to bid that fash it has to be done by computer so you are not really bidding till you reach the bid already establish "FRAUD"

Send this to your congressman or newspaper
My Email murphyt43@optonline.net
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MrR, 24 Aug 2017 @ 8:02am

Re:
No, shill bidding is not OK, at least it's not legal. Why do you think that there are laws against it? Because it is unfair, unethical, and distorts "the market" in auctions.

That said, I could sympathize a bit more with sellers who use shills (They often use the euphemism, "insurance bids" to make themselves feel less slimy.) if they didn't have an option. But they do have an option built into the auction system of Ebay and most other auctions. It's called establishing a reserve price. But they don't use this because they feel they won't get as many people watching, and perhaps bidding, on their auction if it's a reserve auction. And this is true, but that's the system, and there are reasons for it. First off, it's honest. It's a seller saying that the item won't be "stolen" at a ridiculous price, and that they have probably done their homework. The bargain-hunters avoid such auctions, as they want the steal deal.

But that's what known as honest dealing. Shill-bidding from the shadows is the opposite of honest dealing. It is a subterfuge, a lie, a distortion of facts. It is cheating. And if you're OK with that, I say no wonder the world is so messed up. I guess it's the law of the jungle for your ilk. I don't fear your type, as I recognize you. Thank you for letting yourself to be known.

"Insurance bids"...Ptooi!
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