Ghost bidders on E-Bay

[Saturninus]

I'm sure this happens to people quite often - you put in a max bid, the price holds lower until the end, then an anonymous bidder comes in at the very minutes and beats your bid, then moments later you receive a second chance offer...

 

Just smells like the seller used a ghost account to push up to the max bid - technically I shouldn't mind since this is the price I was willing to pay, it just seems wrong. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 

Is there a list of known sellers who do this, and how does the community deal with them?

[Drumdawg]

that happened to me once

 

and ebay notifed me shortly thereafter that it was the buyer and not to contact them nor do business with them

 

(shrugs shoulders)

[ThaIwan]

I've had the same experiences. No activities for days, only in the last minutes. One time I missed information that the seller was not sending to Asia...though elsewhere it wrote worldwide... I was the highest bidder for days. In the last hour I got overbid and next my bidding was blocked without being notified. That also seemed very fishy to me.

[savarez]

and ebay notifed me shortly thereafter that it was the buyer and not to contact them nor do business with them

 

I don't understand.

"and ebay notifed me shortly thereafter that it [ebay?] was the buyer and not to contact them [the seller?] nor do business with them [the seller?]"

 

Clearly many second chance offers are fraudulent. I usually just steer clear of them.

[girlieg33k]

I'm sure this happens to people quite often - you put in a max bid, the price holds lower until the end, then an anonymous bidder comes in at the very minutes and beats your bid, then moments later you receive a second chance offer...

 

Just smells like the seller used a ghost account to push up to the max bid - technically I shouldn't mind since this is the price I was willing to pay, it just seems wrong. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 

Is there a list of known sellers who do this, and how does the community deal with them?

On eBay, it's very common for much of bidding activity to occur in the last few seconds of the auction. This is because many bidders use sniping software, and the activity is not necessarily due to shill bidding on the part of the seller.

[donwinn]

I'm sure this happens to people quite often - you put in a max bid, the price holds lower until the end, then an anonymous bidder comes in at the very minutes and beats your bid, then moments later you receive a second chance offer...

 

Just smells like the seller used a ghost account to push up to the max bid - technically I shouldn't mind since this is the price I was willing to pay, it just seems wrong. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 

Is there a list of known sellers who do this, and how does the community deal with them?

On eBay, it's very common for much of bidding activity to occur in the last few seconds of the auction. This is because many bidders use sniping software, and the activity is not necessarily due to shill bidding on the part of the seller.

 

I recently acquired a nice pen on a second chance offer, from a reputable seller. I have had a few second chance offers, when losing by a small amount in the last few seconds (I myself am a sniper, so I chalk it up to c'est la vie) but all from reputable sellers, with whom I had previously done business. Not all last minute losses are from the seller's ghost bids, but I am personally cautious about second chance offers, but will take them if I know the seller from previous transactions, and trust him/her.

 

Donnie

[Saturninus]

The funny thing is, the price is still very good, so I should be willing to pay. It's irks me that the second chance offer option was likely used, in effect, to make sure I paid my max bid. I'm almost positive I could have won this for $20 cheaper, but even so the price is outstanding, so I guess I should be...content with the price?....

[donwinn]

The funny thing is, the price is still very good, so I should be willing to pay. It's irks me that the second chance offer option was likely used, in effect, to make sure I paid my max bid. I'm almost positive I could have won this for $20 cheaper, but even so the price is outstanding, so I guess I should be...content with the price?....

 

On my recent second chance offer, several more examples of the same pen had sold for substantially more, so I was not concerned, especially since I know the seller so well from previous purchases on eBay and on FPN.

 

Donnie