twinsoft
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posted on March 1, 2001 09:07:51 PM
What do you guys make of this? I got bids on a half-dozen items from a zero-feedback newbie. He placed a bid of over $1,000 on one item that closes tomorrow, outbidding the current high bidder. For some reason this bidder seems very suspicious.
He's only bid on my auctions and the auctions of one other seller. It just so happens that other seller was a nightmare customer a while back. Filed a fraud charge at Paypal because he claimed his item never showed up. But he refused to fill out an insurance form. My bidder has bid in his auctions, but it looks like shill bidding. He goes in right at the start of the auction and bids several times in a row, each time increasing the amount a little bit. IOW, he bids three times within just a few minutes. He's never won anything from the other seller, he bids in at the low numbers. It kinda looks like he's in cahoots (shilling for) with a seller who caused me a lot of problems (when he bought from me).
Another odd thing is that when he bid on my six or so items, the bids were all placed within just a few seconds of each other. So close, in fact, that he couldn't have even had time to read the description of what he was bidding on.
Just coincidence? I'm seeing red flags all over. I don't want this guy to screw up an auction that already has a bona fide bid of $1000. Should I cancel his bid? All the bids, or just on the one expensive item? (I really don't trust this bidder!)
Suggestions? Ideas?
Steve
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ubiedaman
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posted on March 1, 2001 09:29:48 PM
Cancel like crazy, and send your suspicions to safeharbor....
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
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amy
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posted on March 1, 2001 09:45:34 PM
I'm not one to cancel bids...but if there ever was a bid I would cancel, this is the one!!
Cancel them all...NOW!
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twinsoft
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posted on March 1, 2001 09:52:31 PM
I asked eBay for the user's info and I find that my bidder and my ex-nightmare customer live within 100 miles of each other.
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amy
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posted on March 1, 2001 10:44:57 PM
Twin..stop procrastinating and just cancel this character's bids.
[ edited by amy on Mar 1, 2001 10:45 PM ]
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twinsoft
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:30:22 AM
Okay, okay! I cancelled their bids. After I cancelled it, their email address became visible to me. So I wrote them about my concerns and told them not to bid again. Who knows who is who? With AOL bidders, you can never tell. They all have 10 user IDs.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:40:28 AM
I probably just chucked $1,500 worth of sales. LOL
GratefulDad
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dottie
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posted on March 2, 2001 04:50:07 AM
twinsoft: You really needed to CC the request to refrain from bidding on your auctions to SAFEHARBOR.
That way, if he ever bids on your items again, eBay has proof that you requested him not to and he could be SUSPENDED for it.
You might want to send off another little brief note (even if you think it might make ya look silly to the "bidder" so that you can CC it to [email protected] at the same time for a record of this situation.
(Cover Your Ahem.....)
GOOD LUCK to you.
- Dottie 
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fattyman
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posted on March 2, 2001 04:54:05 AM
you did the right thing but be prepared for more of the same and maybe from different isp's.........there is no doubt in my mind this joker is a game player and a shill......
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bkmunroe
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posted on March 2, 2001 12:29:16 PM
twinsoft: I probably just chucked $1,500 worth of sales. LOL
I did that before. I offered a single trading card on another site for $5 and the bidding was up to $250 just before the end. I know the card was worth $20 at the most, so I cancelled the auction figuring that a couple of kids were screwing with my auction. A couple weeks later I offered it on Ebay and it sold for $30 to the same person that was the high bidder at the other site. He paid by PayPal immediately. So, I cost myself over $200.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 2, 2001 01:12:44 PM
I did notify the bidder last night not to bid again, and I cc:'ed SafeHarbor.
There's been even more strange bidding activity. Someone just registered at eBay this morning, placed an $1,100 bid, then immediately retracted it. Reason stated, "doubtful as to authenticity."
The new bid/retraction is also from an AOL user.
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misscandle
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posted on March 2, 2001 01:38:06 PM
Boy, Twinsoft, when you make an enemy.....
I took a look at the bid retraction on your auction. Nasty little attempt to imply your bona fides aren't bona fide! I don't know if Safe Harbor will do anything about it, but I'd sure report it as an invalid reason to retract a bid. This guy is out to get you. Stay alert and keep knocking him down whenever he pops his head up. Hopefully, he'll tire of the game. If not, I'll send you my copy of The Art of War.
Good luck.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:07:07 PM
Misscandle, hey, you're not kidding! All because this customer's package got lost in the mail. I offered to send him a replacement, I only needed a letter from him for the insurance. Instead, he contacted everyone who had ever left negative feedback and started a ListBot service dedicated to exposing me as a fraud. What a whiney baby! He posted my contact info in both my feedback file and his own. That was several months ago. Maybe he's decided it's payback time.
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misscandle
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:14:20 PM
Twinsoft:
I have a couple of cousins who would be happy to go counsel this person. They charge a reasonable "handling" fee---enough for gas & pizza, plus a variable equipment/ammo fee depending upon whether you want it to look like an accident.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:27:07 PM
Misscandle, this problem customer ran a page where he advertised himself as a private detective. He couldn't even find my mailing address when he had sent payment three weeks before! What a yutz!
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sulyn1950
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posted on March 2, 2001 02:44:35 PM
twinsoft-I don't really know anything about how the eBay's "pre-qualifing a bidder" works, but you might want to check it out and go that route until this guy gets tierd of messing with your auctions!
You might miss a few ligit "newbies", but it would stop this guy from blitzing your auctions under brand new ID's.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 7, 2001 03:03:52 PM
Hi, all. 'Just wanted to post a follow-up to this story.
It turns out my suspicions about the mystery bidder were confirmed. I received a copy of an email from one of the bidders in my auction from by mystery bidder, warning him about buying from me. From statements made in the email, it is obvious he is aligned in some way as my nightmare customer mentioned earlier (probably the same person).
I will be forwarding the email and pertinent facts to eBay.
Okay, so I'm paranoid, but this time it turns out I was right. Thanks to everybody who posted suggestions.
GratefulDad
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twinsoft
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posted on March 7, 2001 03:06:53 PM
BTW, the auction ended successfully with three bids. The winner has an excellent feedback rating.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 11, 2001 05:30:56 PM
Follow-up to the follow-up. My nemesis was suspended, along with his two bogus IDs.
Don't MESS with me!
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misscandle
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posted on March 11, 2001 05:37:45 PM
YEAH!! Way to go!
But, don't let your guard down. Now he's really mad at you.
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krs
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posted on March 11, 2001 05:37:45 PM
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sandee22
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posted on March 11, 2001 05:46:38 PM
Wow Im glad that guy got suspended before he unleashes his rath on other innocent people. Could he still register using another email or does ebay have some kind of protection against this? I hope your troubles are now over with this guy. He should never be allowed back on ebay EVER!
Sandra
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lotzamags
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posted on March 11, 2001 11:44:35 PM
I've said it before...
I'll say it again:
ALL AOL users (among others) need to be verified!!!!!
It's not discriminatory, it's just that AOL allows users to create an indefinite amount of user ID's. As long as that is the case, this BS will ALWAYS continue.
Why Ebay doesn't make this SIMPLE adjustment is beyond me.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 12, 2001 12:39:09 AM
This guy left a plain paper trail. He wrote to me a few months ago from several email addresses, and then used one of them to register a second account on eBay. What a dope! His shill bidding was easy to detect, and he created a new ID in order to interfere with an auction. I'm glad eBay booted him.
[ edited by twinsoft on Mar 12, 2001 12:41 AM ]
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