getting family and friends to bid on your item.

nino

Member
Aug 8, 2007
44
0
Hi I was recently in a fabric shop minding my own business and I over heard a man on the phone to his daughter in Texas. I could obviously only hear his end of the conversation but the jest of it was she lists items on Ebay and he runs the bids up on the item for her. I am sure this is against ebay policy but does anyone know if this a common practice. I know I really didnt appreciate this. I just ask him about it and he laughed and said yeah we do that for each other she is my daughter and there is nothing wrong with helping her out so she gets more $ for her auctions. Any feedback on this problem would be app.
P.S. we were not in Texas having this conversation so they live in diffrent states not sure if that matters just wanted to throw that out there.
 
This IS shilling. A BIG no-no and against ebay policy. Unfortunately, people do it, but it is unethical and against the rules of ebay. If you read the policy, it actually states that a friend, family member, co-worker, etc. isn't allowed to bid on your auctions. I believe that is why that policy is in place, because of the possibility to it being a shill.
 
If you can establish a pattern and see the same "coupling" then you can report the fraud. It's easier to do if the seller consistantly auctions in the same catagory i.e. clothes, purses, antiques and you are shopping that catagory and notice it.

Heck ebay may even have a program looking a bidding patterns in their system that detects such a practice. I hope so...
 
Heck ebay may even have a program looking a bidding patterns in their system that detects such a practice. I hope so...[/quote]


As of January 2007 ebay implemented a very sophisticated program to catch shilling. They will suspend your account if you are caught.

Powersellers get a slap on the wrist, most get 6 month suspensions.
 
Definitely not allowed. This is part of the shill bidding policy on ebay (to read more, to to ebay, click Help and type "shill" in the box):
"Because family members, roommates and employees of sellers have a level of access to item information which is not available to the general Community, they are not permitted to bid on items offered by the seller – even if their sole intent is to purchase the item. Family members, roommates or employees may purchase items from a seller without violating this policy simply by using purchase options – such as Buy It Now – which do not involve bidding"
 
I do know someone who got busted on Shill bidding. The strange thing is, he will not say what his "punishment" for such practices was. Leads me to believe it was not a pleasant situation for him. I do think that ebay attempts to find patterns for these types of practices. A huge way to help though is if you see it... report them to ebay!
 
I get nervous when newbie buyers go to my auctions and start bidding it up in very small increments. One buyer bid in 1.00 increments and had over 25 bids right in a row. I'm always afraid that ebay will think that it is shilling to get the bid quantity up higher than normal.

It does look suspicious when a newly listed item has 30 bids on the first day.
 
Yes, shill bidding is against eBay rules and policy. I currently have local buyer bidding on my item, she's so active ( the last purchase is from me only ), I really affraid ppl will suspicious me do shill bidding then I cancel her bids and instead placing active bids on my ite, I offer to do BIN if she like item...
 
I don't think any of those things would make anyone think there is shill bidding going on. Especially the $1.00 increments... how much more would a seller make? I would just think its some cheap ass trying to get it for the smallest buck.

I don't think ebay is big on shuttin gdown shill bidders either... everyone knows they are more about making their shareholders money than protecting the buyers/sellers. Shill bidding = more money for ebay.
 
What happens if the shill bidder actually wins the item? Then the seller has to relist, file non payer, ...

If the shill wins then they usually either offer the item to the next highest bidder or relist.
Tonight I had an odd email that I believe could have been a shill (only one fb comment from an NARU). I was bidding on a certain item and kept getting outbid by this bidder. Tonight I got an email from her that said "I saw that you bid on the ___ too...if you want it, you can bid higher and I wont bid against you...I dont really want it anymore! The auction ends in an hour!"

Um ok..I didn't respond and didn't bid. I still have it in my items I didn't win column so I'll be interested to see if the seller leaves fb for it or what.