posted on November 9, 2004 12:05:26 AM
I have an item up for auction that received an unusually large bid increment last night. Item should sell for $15.00 to $20. Opening bid was $9.99. Original bidder (#1) had bid 9.99 and obviously had a proxy bid of $23.00.
Second bidder (#2) came in and bid it up past the proxy. Not a problem there, checked their id and they have 256 positives, so I figure it is a good bid.
Tonight a zero feedback/newbie bidder (#3)came in and bumped it another $10. Being suspicious about their lack of feedback, I checked their ID and what they had been bidding on.
Every auction they have bid on has outbid my second bidder.
Seems funny to me that this bidder (#3) has only bid on the same auctions that #2 had over bid on.
It looks like my second bidder has created a new ID to keep from having to retract bids when she over bids or finds the item cheaper.
I have canceled the bid on the new ID and left a comment that they have been reported to Ebay for suspicious activity.
What would you have done??
[ edited by ltray on Nov 9, 2004 04:13 AM ]
posted on November 9, 2004 02:40:31 AM
if your 2nd bidder has such great feedback, why are you worried they won't pay? ... how many of your auctions did bidder #2 bid on anyway?
posted on November 9, 2004 03:19:51 AM
Aint, I wasn't worried about #2 until #3 showed up. That is when I noticed the pattern.
Now, before all this happened, I happened to noticed that my #2 bidder had bid on every one of these items on ebay. There are only 4 listed, so it was easy to notice.
My first thought was to make sure that I marked my item just incase she was going to pull a switch and say mine had been broken in shipment or something.
Then when bidder #3 showed up with that outrageous bid, my internal alarm really went off and I started investigating.
To see the type of problem that I am concerned about, check out the bidder's history for these buyers....(Temporarily deleted)...
Notice anything funny?? They both have something in common, but you have to check the auctions that they bid on to see it.
[ edited by ltray on Nov 9, 2004 04:19 AM ]
posted on November 9, 2004 03:58:46 AM
I'm off to bed and don't want to leave those bidder ID's up. I'll update you when I hear more from Ebay.
[ edited by ltray on Nov 9, 2004 04:21 AM ]
posted on November 9, 2004 07:15:45 AM
Just out of curiosity - why were you suspicious when a newbie bid too high? Don't they always? I had an item last month that a newbie managed to take ridiculously high. I get them for .60 and I had two dozen - even had two active listings at the time. Most of the time they close in the $8-10 range but two crazed newbies started fighting over 1 and when the dust settled they took the bidding up to nearly $50. High bidder paid within a few hours and the loser found the one listed to close the next day and got theirs in the normal range. Newbies are not all evil, some are just stupid.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on November 9, 2004 09:01:14 AM
If bidder #3 has outbid #2 on all four that are available, it could be that #3 i.d. is a throw away account created by #2. They will take the cheapest of the 4 items and NPB on the other 3. Or it could be a weird type of bid shielding scheme someone is developing. Just remember, it's your auction, and if the high bid is more than you expected, you can end the auction immediately without cancelling any bids and make #2 the winner. If they are legit, they will be happy to get it at their present bid without risking having to outbid another bidder. If they are trying a scam, then you foiled it and they either have to pay or risk a red mark on their spotless profile and a NPB strike on their record. Like Fenix, I roll out the red carpet for 0 feedback newbies, but ever so often, one of them turns out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on November 9, 2004 11:08:06 AM
Sparkz does have a good idea on this one. If there are more than 12 hours to go in the auction, then cancel the bid on the third bidder then close the auction. This will in effect make the second bidder the winner. You take it from there.
posted on November 9, 2004 12:33:52 PM
Auction closes at 7 tonight, no time to do Sparkz's idea. But I do like the way you think!
I have nothing against newbies. I was one once, lol. But this particular newbie doesn't "feel" right. They have bid on 8 auctions in 10 days. Every auction they have bid on, they have out bid my buyer #2. Type of items being bid on vary from Marc Jacobs clothes to deco light fixtures.
Figure the odds of two buyers bidding on the same items in those categories.
The auction has a ton of watchers, so I am hoping for a snipe from a new bidder that will make all of this a non-issue. I have already added newbie to my BBB and will gladly share their ID with you after the auction closes.
posted on November 9, 2004 01:43:12 PM
Rather than make a whole lot of assumtions and cancel bids, why didn't you just contact one of the past sellers and see if they have recieved payment? It's one thing to go on a gut feeling when that is your only recourse but it sounds like you have 10 other sources that you could utilize.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on November 9, 2004 01:50:09 PM
Fenix, If it had been earlier in the auction I would have done just that. It has always worked for me in the past. But I did not find this until about 2 AM this morning and the auction is ending today.
I have emailed a few of the sellers but have not heard back from them. At this point, I would rather be safe than sorry.
posted on November 9, 2004 02:42:18 PM
Ebay isn't interested in bid shielding, which this often is. I once had something up for bid, was bid up by two bidders, and one asked that I cancel their bid with an hour to go, as they were not going to pay for it. I did so, and the bid went all the way down to opening bid, which was low for this item. I did some research, and found that they two people who bid on this (the one whose bid was left, and the one I had canceled) were created the same day! They also had bid on many of the same items, so it was obvious to me I was dealing with one person who bid something up high early in the auction to prevent other bidders, got the seller to cancel a bid, and purchased the item well below what it should go for. I'm not a newbie, so I decided to remove the item for sale and block these two bidder ID's, and fowarded my info to ebay...they eventually wrote back with a canned answer about not being able to do anything.
