posted on June 23, 2001 04:40:50 PM
Monkey business afoot in my auction ending at 19:30 tonight. Any advice appreciated on how it should be handled. I will send a letter to SafeHarbor/Investigations with all info, but know time is too short to effect tonight's auction.
Received my first bid, 29.50 on 6/18. Good, got my minimum from bidder A. Second bid received on 6/19 from bidder B. Email 'Notice of Bid Change' from eBay on 6/21 AM, Administrative Cancellation on bidder B...bidder NARU'd. Hmmmm..curious, I checked B's Bid History...52 bids (sunglasses, joined 6/6, 1 pos). Just another deadbeat, I assumed, UNTIL I scrolled his list, shocked to see my bidder A as winner or current high bidder in at least half the auctions. Hmmmm...again...I checked the many winning or current high bidder auctions of B, and found that bidder A had bid them also. Coincidence? I don't think so! With millions of auctions, the chances of two 'strangers' bidding on the same 52 items are nil. With exception to two, all items were of an advertising nature, vintage and new, various products, in categories of thousands of listings. The two exceptions, mine (current) and another (ended), both linens, totally unrelated to advertising, yet bid by both A and B.
Afternoon of 6/21, day of bid cancellation, bidder C bids my auction...sunglasses, 0, joined 6/18. Checked C's bid history, 3 current items bid,....yep, ALL with bidder A included. Today, C has 6 current items bid, all with bidder A included. I checked email addys in my auction...A, B & C all webtv.net.
Bidder A has a clean record, 50/34 unique, sunglasses, joined 6/3...a newbie? I don't think so. Dug deeper, found earliest auctions won by A, included bidder D, joined 4/19, NERU'd 6/6. Checked feedback received and given by A & D. Both have same incorrect grammar & misspelled words. D has neutral and neg feedback due to webtv.net contact inability, PLUS, D's eBay ID is almost identical to A's email addy....a three-word name w/one deleted.
Bidders A, B, C, D are either the same person or two people working together. Doesn't make sense with my auction, unless A knows that C won't pay and figures I'll offer to second highest...A.
I've had very few problems in my over 2 1/2 years...didn't know the meaning of Bid Shielding until my 'detective' work on this mess. I'm not going through the headache of this auction ending with winner C...waiting for payment, filing NPB. I've had to file only three.
I know how to cancel the auction, hate having to do that. I've worked hard keeping my good reputation. What explanation? Item no longer available? Write the bidders a nice little apologetic note...then block them? I certainly don't want them anywhere near my auctions again. When I contact SafeHarbor, will my name be revealed to the bidders?
Apologies for the long post (War and Peace). "She has lots of time on her hands," you say? Yep...I did have time for this (nervous system took a beating). If my lists were long, I couldn't have noticed and would be stuck with a probable deadbeat.
posted on June 23, 2001 04:47:46 PM
If it were me, I would cancel their bids, with the explanation that bid sheilding was suspected. Even if it wasn't, the bidders can't do anything about it.
As far as SafeHarbor goes, they will not disclose who turned them in.
posted on June 23, 2001 05:57:50 PM
Thanks, Rev....
If I cancel their bids (eBay 101..never canceled a bid), will the explanation be shown in my auction's bid history? That would be embarrassing. I already have the administrative cancellation, which doesn't reflect badly on me.....still...three cancellations? Yuk.
When I cancel their bids, does this leave my auction open, active and back to square one. Will my auction have 0 bids on view page?
