Question Re: A rather sneaky buyer move! in Selling on eBay DND

A rather sneaky buyer move!

brooky280 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 02:05:05 GMT

Found this rather sneaky move by a buyer to try and get items cheaper than what they bid. I sold an item for what I thought was a strange high price and the usual thing happens no contact from the buyer after sending messages etc to try and confirm the sale. On checking bidders I found that I had 6 bids from 4 users, 3 of them coming from the second highest bidder. They way it goes is they bid slightly higher to get the highest bid, they then bid another twice one slightly more and the other much higher. Once those bids are in they then come in with a second ID and place a stupidly high bid that is never going to be outbid, with no intention of paying they hope that you offer the second chance bid to their original bid which is away down in value. The reason I noticed it was that when checking the bids after the auction finished the winning and runner up had the same start to their post code, obviously I get to see the winning bids details, I then done a search for the second bidders ID and contacted the last person who left them feedback and surprise surprise it was the exact same address details. I don’t know if this is a new thing or something I have just happened to come across but all it does is waste it for everyone else, it’s not a big deal I’ll just relist them but definitely not needed. Anyone else seen this?

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

*knight-rider* — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 03:36:13 GMT

i don`t know why anyone would bid their own bids up useing other accounts, so that they end up paying more than they actually needed to, seems crazy to me, especially given they have`nt even paid!

Open an unpaid item dispute so they get a strike on their account, you get your fees back and make sure you add the i.d`s to your block bidders list.

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

roger_roger_over_and_nowt — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 03:48:54 GMT

How did you manage to get the address details of the under bidders when you didn't have any transaction with them or am i missing something ?.

I no longer sell on this site but when i did i stopped doing auctions over 14 years ago so i don't really know how it is now.

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

brooky280 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 03:52:15 GMT

Yes I’ve done all that, what they hope for is their first bid is low and the rest get higher once the second ID bids they have no intention to pay and hope that the second chance offer is given which would reduce the price to their original very low bid, no one else will bid because it has been bid so high. If they leave the low bid some one will come and win the item.

Sent from my iPhone

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

brooky280 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 04:02:15 GMT

The buyer who win the auction I get their details sent to me. The next bidder I searched their ID an checked their feedback. I then contacted the last person who left them feedback and they confirmed it was the same address as I had winning my listing, why would two people from the same address bid on the same item? I think it’s quite easy to see?

Sent from my iPhone

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

papso22 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 06:30:26 GMT

Just in case you are tempted to do the same, I am pretty sure that the other seller giving you their buyer's address is against the GDPR.

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

m25jet — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 12:47:52 GMT

@brooky280 wrote:
The buyer who win the auction I get their details sent to me. The next bidder I searched their ID an checked their feedback. I then contacted the last person who left them feedback and they confirmed it was the same address as I had winning my listing, why would two people from the same address bid on the same item? I think it’s quite easy to see?

In answer to the above question that I have highlighted, it may just be down to something such as two separate people both living at the same address, deliberately bidding against each other on the same listing to see who could "win" the auction, despite the fact that neither bidder had any intention of paying for the item in the event that he/she won the auction.

In order to prevent the winning bidder from doing this again open an Unpaid Item Dispute and close it at the first chance that you get if the winning bidder still hasn't made payment by the time that eBay offer you the chance to close the case. When you see the question which says "Did this bidder pay for the item?" click on the "No" box and your eBay Final Value Fees will be credited back to you, although you won't receive a refund of PayPal's cut of the sale. The non-paying bidder's account will then be hit with an Unpaid Item Strike - if he/she picks up a second one within the space of twelve months, or if the strike that you hit his/her account with turns out to be the second strike to hit his/her account within a twelve month period, then he/she will find it virtually impossible to purchase anything on eBay, as most sellers with an ounce of sense have their Selling Preferences set up to automatically block timewasters who have been hit with two or more Unpaid Item Strikes during the past twelve months.

Finally, if you have not already done so by the time you read this response, do as has already been advised and add both User IDs to your Blocked Bidders List. To access your Blocked Bidders List click on this link https://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin and add the User IDs of the timewasters to the white box that appears on the screen, separating each one with a comma. Once you've done that click on the Submit button and neither of these timewasters will be able to bid on your auctions again in the future, or purchase anything that you list using the Buy It Now format, in which case they won't be able to cause you any further aggravation in the future.

Re: A rather sneaky buyer move!

brooky280 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 13:24:08 GMT

Completely missing my point.