Bid not executed

[stee]

I just lost an auction and I'm not sure why.
My bid was more than 30 bucks higher than the selling price, yet gixen is showing "BID UNDER ASKING PRICE".

Looking at the bids, it seems a bit odd. The winning bid was put in about 1.5 hours before ending. The same bid was put in 8 times more until the end of the auction, without bids from other users in between.

Not sure what happened here, I can't really make sense of it.
Item ID: 361769902992

[stee]

I just realize there's another bid in there, which has been withdrawn the very same moment as the auction ended. That makes even less sense...

Is it possible to use a second account, bid way up with both accounts and then just pull out with one of the accounts?

Seems very fishy to me...

[stee]

Sorry for posting three times in a row, I can't edit my posts from before.

Just saw the guy withdrew 44(!) bids within the last six months...definitely fishy stuff going on here

[Cupid]

It is known as 'bid shielding' and is classed as 'auction manipulation' by Ebay and is thus against their rules.

You can report it to Ebay, they may investigate whether the rules have been broken and take action against the accounts involved if they find that they have broken Ebay rules... but Ebay will never let you know the result of their investigation in any case.
_________________
Mark

[Gixen]

[steee1]

Thanks for your reply, Mark.

I have forwarded the issue to ebay and also encouraged the seller to do the same. He should have even more interest in this than I do, since he lost a fair amount of money.

I'm rather suprised, that this guy is getting away with it for so long. I mean - 44 and 72 bids withdrawn within the last 6 months? That's probably more bids withdrawn than regular bidders put in during that time.

[Cupid]

I agree that Ebay appears to have become rather lax in policing issues such as this.

My guess is that, as long as Ebay make some money, they are not overly concerned with prices being lower than they otherwise would be, and prefer not to have to spend time on it that generally ends up with the sale being cancelled and Ebay making even less.

I also suspect Ebay know it is going on more and more, could easily detect it and do something more about it themselves, but choose to take no action unless someone actually notices and complains, as you have now done.
_________________
Mark

[stee]

Well, they sure do have horrible customer service and it's no secret that they do whatever they can to maximize profit.

I couldn't help but shake my head when I read their reply though.
"Thank you for advice. You have called our attention to the seller 'xxxxx', who possibly bids on his own auctions or has others bid on his auctions."



I was pretty clear in my email to them, explaining the situation.
Oh well...