Ebay - is he bumping the price?

[Daniel1]

im watching an item on ebay, not really cheap at over £400, but there is a bidder that is a new member with zero feedback bumping the price and outbidding everything. Is the seller bumping the price 'off the wall' so to speak. I dont really use ebay, you see....

[Chimpy Chompies]

Very likely. Best to wait till another item comes availiable.

Bidder with zero means they have no friends to bump it for them i.e. he/she is a tt, therefore bid no more on that item, simples

[mybrainhurts]

Somebody was prosecuted for doing that this week....

[Justayellowbadge]

Ebay are taking shill bidding a little more seriously now.

Someone went down for it a week or two ago.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Sounds like it. Steer clear. He may come back with a "second chance" offer moments after it ends. Then offer him less than you would otherwise have paid.

[Mr E Driver]

Use the report button on the item page and you will soon find out if it's hooky bidding or not.

[Daniel1]

what a git

[bonsai]

Nice, just read that article - you just know it's rampant, we've had member on here who have admitted it. There's probably an astonishingly high percentage of people who do it.

[SimonV8ster]

How could they prove it if it was a friend that was doing it, i.e. not from the same PC?

[K87]

It's pretty common to be honest, basically a way of creating a reserve price without having to pay the extra fees for the reserve, which can be pretty high.

[inman999]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Sounds like it. Steer clear. He may come back with a "second chance" offer moments after it ends. Then offer him less than you would otherwise have paid.

Do this if you're the second placed bidder. Offer £10-20 more than the price at which the 3rd placed bidder dropped out.

[K87]

I actually did this for a friend once, got me a very nice e36 325 for the huge some of £520.

[HereBeMonsters]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Sounds like it. Steer clear. He may come back with a "second chance" offer moments after it ends. Then offer him less than you would otherwise have paid.

Yep, had this happen to me many times. About ten minutes after the auction ends you get a second chance offer.