Dodgy Ebay Bidding

[jrh001]

Hi,

I've been following an eBay auction on a manual R30 (link)

It's been sitting below reserve for days after two previous listings with no bids. Same car was listed by a different seller last time.

Now all of a sudden, the bid history shows three bids from the same bidder, who has taken the price from $350 to $500.

e***f( 0 ) AU $500.00 26-Mar-10 13:17:30 AEDST

e***f( 0 ) AU $450.00 26-Mar-10 13:17:18 AEDST

e***f( 0 ) AU $400.00 26-Mar-10 13:16:51 AEDST

w***e( 0 ) AU $350.00 24-Mar-10 21:13:44 AEDST

I'm not bidding so this is just academic. But am I right to assume this is dodgy?

JohnH

[Birds]

Not necessarily dodgy. What it means is that e***f has entered a reasonably high maximum bid...of say $1000 (for example). They've become the highest bidder at $400, overtaking the previous high bid of $350. But then someone else came along and bid (for example) $440 on it, which was immediately and automatically overtaken by e***f because his maximum bid was higher than $440. Then ANOTHER user (or possibly the same one given the close timestamps) has come along and bit $490 (for example) on it, which was immediately and automatically taken over by e***f's maximum bid again.

Where it can be dodgy, is that the seller may be using another account to push e***f closer to his maximum bid. But e***f is not necessarily dodgy himself/herself.

[jrh001]

overtaking the previous high bid of $350. But then someone else came along and bid (for example) $440 on it, which was immediately and automatically overtaken by e***f because his maximum bid was higher than $440.

So the bidding system doesn't display the intervening bids?

[Munkyb0y]

no. thats perfectly normal. e***f will have to be outbid before the new highest bidder is displayed.

[jrh001]

Thanks for the replies... it's finally starting to make sense.

(BTW e***f won the auction at $580)

cheers,

JohnH

[Daewoo]

Seems legit...

If reserve is $500, which I think it was if it is the car I am think of, then the seller could have got a mate to bid up to $1 less than the reserve to push the price up, but probably it would have been one buy the buyer at $500 exactly... for it to have a reserve of $580 is unlikely, so it was probably 2 genuine buyers...

Cheers,

Darryl

[Factory 5]

Not a bad price either...

check these ones out too:

ebay R30 (1)

ebay r30 (2)

ebay r30 (3)

there are more for sale now than i have ever seen in my life...

pity none are quality though!

[jrh001]

check these ones out too:

..

ebay r30 (3)

there are more for sale now than i have ever seen in my life...

pity none are quality though!

I thought the hatch would catch your attention, with all those turbo bits and an anniversary badge! 

JH

[noddle]

I thought the hatch would catch your attention, with all those turbo bits and an anniversary badge! 

JH

I already asked the guy if he would sell the turbo bits if the car doesn't sell, he said no.

Nigel

[spiderclaw]

ebay is a crazy system

[Mr Camouflage]

Hi,

I've been following an eBay auction on a manual R30 (link)

It's been sitting below reserve for days after two previous listings with no bids. Same car was listed by a different seller last time.

Now all of a sudden, the bid history shows three bids from the same bidder, who has taken the price from $350 to $500.

e***f( 0 ) AU $500.00 26-Mar-10 13:17:30 AEDST

e***f( 0 ) AU $450.00 26-Mar-10 13:17:18 AEDST

e***f( 0 ) AU $400.00 26-Mar-10 13:16:51 AEDST

w***e( 0 ) AU $350.00 24-Mar-10 21:13:44 AEDST

I'm not bidding so this is just academic. But am I right to assume this is dodgy?

JohnH

It could also mean that the seller wanted at least $500 for it, so got a mate (w***e) to bid in small increments to up the bid to $500. It doesn't help that the seller can see (for example, not saying this happened here) that e***f put in an opening bid, then added another bid in the history. That's a green light for the seller to get some shill bidding going on.

The thing with ebay is, that you have to expect that the item will sit near its starting price right up till the last few hours before it ends.

If its is bid up alot before then, then the bidders are either stupid (new ebay bidders make this mistake) and must have it and bid early, or something dodgy is going on.

If you want to win something cheaply, you try not to bid until the last minutes, otherwise your just driving the price up in the days prior and end up paying more. And if your a seller, start the item off near what you want for it.

[jrh001]

The thing with ebay is, that you have to expect that the item will sit near its starting price right up till the last few hours before it ends.

If its is bid up alot before then, then the bidders are either stupid (new ebay bidders make this mistake) and must have it and bid early, or something dodgy is going on.

If you want to win something cheaply, you try not to bid until the last minutes, otherwise your just driving the price up in the days prior and end up paying more. And if your a seller, start the item off near what you want for it.

Hi,

Thanks very much for the info. I'd never heard the term 'shill bidding' and, being new to eBay (and also slightly stupid!), have bid way too early on items. A real life auction takes place in only a few minutes. These 5, 7 and 10 day auctions are a bit of a trap for beginners. (EBay has a help page on shill bidding here.)

JH