Ebay can there be ghost bidders

[Pickle]

Hi just have a quick question, If I am bidding on an item how do I know that the person selling the item is not also bidding on that same item to increase it;s value, they could have multiple accounts, even more than one PC to hide ip address, thanks just curious

 

[DrMoriarty]

They call it shill bidding. See [broken link removed].

 

[senni]

Yes, this is happening...I bid on an item on E BAY Ireland ( item was in the UK ) then i was outbid just at the closing of the sale.two days later the same item re appeared under the same seller but a different picture on just E bay UK..

 

[mystry4all]

That happened most of the time...Private ppl doesnt do that....Mostly proffesionals do that

 

[tiger]

Just because you were out bid at the closing doesn't mean that shill bidding took place, google
Relisting is more suspicious, but sometimes people have multiple items, or the seller falls through.
In general though you do need to be careful on ebay. If it looks too good to be true etc.
Best to learn by buying low value items before spending any big bucks.

 

[calt]

I reckon it does happen. I was bidding on an item recently, put my maximum amount in, was outbid just at the end of the auction and then got a 'second chance' offer email to buy the item at my maximum price about 10mins after the auction ended.

 

[Vanilla]

Yep, happens all the time, I'd say. Seller puts on an item at an attractively low price but if you're the only one who bids they probably bid it up to an acceptable level. Never understand myself why they don't just put on a reserve price. Seems more honest to me.

 

[huskerdu]

I'd say it does happen, but also the scenario described by a few people here. does not necessarily mean that shill bidding it taking place.

If you are outbid at the end of an auction and then offered another one at the same price, the seller might have two but wants to keep the price up by making it seem like there is only one. Once they know how much you are willing to pay, they offer you the second one. Works very well with concert tickets on the last day. If there are too many for sale at the same time, the price doesn't go as high.