Ebay shennanigans

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gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Once in a while, you buy from someone and straight away wonder if you've done the right thing...:biggrin:
Chainset for my Trek hybrid was damaged by my son. No biggie...£20 or so all in for a new Suntour chainset on ebay. Being a tightwad, i always look for, and wait for bargains :biggrin:
Bid on one two weeks ago...lost it in the last seconds to a higher bidder.
Would have got it for £18...saved a couple of quid maybe. No problem, the other guy obviously was prepared to pay more than me.

Comes back off holiday, resumes my search...finds the same item, same seller...SAME BIDDER showing again. Huh !!!!
Looks at the feedback for the original one, feedbacks been left. So why is the original bidder bidding again.....shill bidding i suspect.

But as the auction neared its end it was too good to miss. I won the item for £12 all in :biggrin: cheaper than the original listing.

Now...is this going to be a problem. Is the seller going to be awkward ? Will i ever get the chainset....i've got doubts.

Two emails to request an invoice from him...nothing.:biggrin:

So i reported him for possible shill bidding and lack of communication.

Within hours i got a reply..paid my money, got a reply stating its posted...and recieved the item within the next 2 days..all shiny and new.

I wonder if ebay contacted him re the complaint and it gave him a 'shove'.

I love ebay...its saved me a fortune. But once in a while, you take a gamble.

Any similar incidents out there ?
 

domtyler

Über Member
What's shill bidding?
 
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gbb

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Getting a friend (or doing it yourself on another account) to bid up your item. It inflates the price. Theres often a patterns to it, sellers get greedy and the same bidders appear on their items. Strictly against the rules.
If you know how to look for it..its reasonably easy to identify.
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
I have never used e-bay and being out here doubt I ever will, however last week I got an e-mail saying my bid had been accepted. Needless to say the e-mail was deleted without opening it, but what is that all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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gbb

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Keith Oates said:
I have never used e-bay and being out here doubt I ever will, however last week I got an e-mail saying my bid had been accepted. Needless to say the e-mail was deleted without opening it, but what is that all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ive been ebaying for 3 years, and only just had a similar email myself....;)
Like you Keith, i just deleted it. Dont even bother looking at it...its a ploy somewhere in there to get you to give account details.
There are so many fake ebay scams about it's unbelievable...there's just too many gullible people around. Someone, somewhere, will fall for it.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
never had a bad experience on ebay and I've picked some really nice stuff of all types and descriptions over the years

good to be a little bit careful naturally but all good
 
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gbb

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Like you Tynan...my experiences of ebay have been 99% good. 320 transactions and ony 2 or 3 gave a problem. 2 of those were resolved amicably..one is currently in a Paypal dispute for non delivery. Good job its only a £5 transaction.

Ebays brilliant...but tread carefully.
 

mondobongo

Über Member
Had mostly good experiences, there was the guy who won a pair of Hope wheels off me then when sent the invoice he claimed his 15 year old son had bid on them and didn't have the money. Sounded dodgy prob got carried away didn't chase him but left neutral feedback the stinky emails we had off him were a joke. One woman thought we were Blockbusters bought a video off us clearly marked in title as vhs video then wanted refund claiming it was missold ended up in paypal dispute for a £1 on that one which we won.
 

barq

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, UK
I've had mostly good experiences, but occasionally I buy stuff from someone who is very leisurely about posting stuff. That annoys me, especially if you have no communication from them. Recently I bought an SD card for a great price. Within hours the seller's account was suspended and I had an email from them explaining their account had been hacked and I would have to get in touch with them if my order was genuine. It had all the hallmarks of a con, but I actually did get my SD card after a few (anxious) days wait.

On the selling front I've only ever had one person want to return something because it wasn't what they wanted - to be honest that's fair enough and eBay business sellers should follow the OFTs distance selling regulations anyway. As for non-payment, I send two reminder invoices and then after a week or so start the non-payment dispute proceedings with eBay. Obviously if someone gets in touch with me we can sort it out amicably. The main point is to get back my sellers fees so I'm not out of pocket.

I think some ebayers assume that clicking to bid/buy is like adding things to a shopping cart at Amazon or Wiggle where you aren't then obligated to pay for them. The only time I have ever left some negative feedback was when a buyer bid on lots of identical items and then decided they only wanted the cheapest. I understand their line of thinking but they wrecked half a dozen auctions.
 
i started clearing my loft out of old pc games, dvd's and computer bits about 8 months ago, sold almost 100 items and only had one non-payer. opened a dispute on him. apart from that, some lazy payers who needed a push but i'd say 90-95% have paid within a day.

only bought a 4-5 things from ebay over the years and each one arrived within a couple of days.
 
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