A SHORT GUIDE TO A COMMON eBay Con ...

SHILL BIDDING

 "Shill bidding is bidding that artificially increases an item's price or apparent desirability"

Many people do not actually realise that to prevent shill bidding eBay's rules prevent you bidding on items being sold by your friends, family and your work colleagues ! *

* With the exception of "Buy it Now" purchases or fixed price listings.

However, some people deliberately create additional shill bidding accounts and this is a criminal offence

(and hundreds of eBayers have been prosecuted to date)

SPOTTING SIGNS OF SHILL BIDDING !!!

In the past, eBay bidders' identities were hidden only when the bidding exceeded £100 GBP but from March 2008 all bidders' identities are hidden from the start of the listing ... this makes it difficult to assess if you are bidding against a genuine bidder or someone using the shill bidding technique !!!

There are, however, things to look out for ...

You can  use use the information provided in the drop down menu to assess the amount of activity between the seller and each bidder. Often shill bidders created multiple eBay accounts to bid on their own items to raise the price. Activity between shill bidder and seller will be unusually high !!!

You can also identify sellers who immediately relist  items which have been sold to a  potential shill bidder account - the non-paying winning bidder is quickly ignored and  relisting occurs straight away ... you may even get a second chance offer very quickly after the auction has ended !It may seem strange that the seller has quickly accepted that a winning bidder is not paying for an item and you are being sent an offer !!!

If you suspect shill bidding, do not place any more bids and keep eBay informed !!!

And remember ... if friends, family and work mates bid on your items then potentially you could be heading into trouble !!!

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