is there any chance this isn't shill bidding?

Based on the timing of the bids and their bid history it looks like it. Some bidders still up their bid by a small amount until they are the top bidder as if it's a live auction or they until reach their limit which can look like shilling. Shilling used to be easy to spot on Ebay. Since they camouflaged ID's, not as much.
 
I don't believe this to be shill bidding.

The bidder is only bidding on the same sized items, it's an item that someone is likely to have more than one pair of and this seller is the only seller (or one of few) with auction-style listings. This seller's items are selling for much lower prices than other sellers' items are so bidders can save money by participating in auctions rather than BIN'ing.
 
The bid history doesn't throw up any red flags but now that you've mentioned (multiple) retractions or cancellations, THAT throws up a red flag.

To give the bidder the benefit of the doubt, maybe they can't make up their mind, are 'comparison' shopping and thinking they may be able to win a different auction, or who really knows for sure.... Point being, it could be harmless.

OTOH, there are a lot of buyers that do this that you do NOT want to deal with.... difficult just because, or looking to rip off a seller (i.e. issues before the auction ends could be indicative of buyers that tend to also cause problems after receiving an item - filing SNAD or INR when it's not warranted, for example).

Just my 2 cents, would definitely be interested in seeing what others have to say...
 
Great thanks! Getting retraction and cancellation notices form the same bidder during last 24 hours (when I could no longer cancel) made me a little wary.
Oops, I didn't notice that!

If you're interested in more items from this seller, I'd keep an eye on her. As it is now, I'm not convinced of shilling but just slightly more uncomfortable than I was before.

Off to go back and look again at the seller's items.
 
Thanks everyone. In case I wasn't clear i am the winning buyer. I decided to go ahead and pay as in the end I'm ok with the price--although may have paid more than what was fair. Absent definitive proof (or even probable likelihood rather than my gut suspicion of unsavoryness), I decided to err on giving the seller the benefit of the doubt.
 
Out of curiosity, if you were a bidder in this auction, how did you know someone else had bid retractions or cancellations? (The only things I can see in the bidding history are manual and automatic bids.)
 
Thanks everyone. In case I wasn't clear i am the winning buyer. I decided to go ahead and pay as in the end I'm ok with the price--although may have paid more than what was fair. Absent definitive proof (or even probable likelihood rather than my gut suspicion of unsavoryness), I decided to err on giving the seller the benefit of the doubt.
I think you did the right thing. I still don't see definitive evidence of shilling.
 
The bids were canceled and retracted at the same time. Maybe the other bidder asked the seller a question about the item and didn't like the answer.

I don't think it is a shill. Usually when I see shill bidding, the shill bidder has a low feedback number and/or a history with the seller. This bidder has a high percentage of bids with this seller but they are all for this item. It isn't as if she is bidding on multiple items for the seller and not bidding on any other seller's items.

Did you notice that the last two feedbacks for the seller mention that the seller refused to ship? The seller has sold a bunch of the same shoes in different sizes and almost all of them for lower prices than yours. http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odk...732.m570.l1313&_nkw=nike+studio+wrap&_sacat=0
If the seller was shilling, I would expect to see shilling on her other auctions.
 
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All in all curious behavior but who knows (but the bidder and Maybe the seller). I hadn't realized the distinction between a cancellation and retraction so thank you for the info. I was just thrown off because I got two notifications very close to each other then saw my item bid up to my maximum which the bidder knew based on retracted/cancelled bids.

I guess not the best seller in terms of behavior either based on the refusing to ship. If I had won without the mysterious bidder maybe seller would have refused to complete my transaction too!

Definitely don't see myself needing to buy anything again from this seller in any event.

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful discussion.