Gnat the Beggar wrote:Does this look like a shill bid was made, hoping I would continue to bid against the shiller?

Security Measure

JUST ASKING!
So dont get mad if this is a member....

But you have to admit that after the winning bidder (ZERO feedback) failed to pay up and I got a second chance offer ... it does seem suspiscious....

At least it does to me.

I don't know the seller, but yes, it does seem like a shill bidder is involved.



This seller would have scared me off right away with his shipping price.  $15 for shipping?  How much does a flat rate priorty box cost?  I find that the shipping ripoff sellers also tend to be deceptive in other areas.



The shipping charge, the relatively low number of Ebay transactions and the zero feedback single bidder who backed out...seems suspicious.



If a bidder saw that you had already bid $20, then an extra 50 cents over that seems like a pretty small increment to cause second-thoughts.



Sure looks like he tried to shill you and got caught out.  You might consider reporting him.

deimos3428 wrote:The bid increment between $5.00 and $24.99 is $0.50, so all we know for certain is that the newbie bidder bid more than $20.49.  It could have been $100, there's no way to know.

Anyone who had bid significantly over the current price of $20 would have been glad to win at only $20.50.

The fact that the zero feedback bidder only went 50 cents over...yet still withdrew the bid....well....

Feedback of 0 and 50 cent bidder's regret....it screams shill.

This is why we snipe.

I was not really concerned with the SH costs (as stated above)  it was at least within reason for that type of shipping.
If I had a problem with the SH costs I would not have placed the minimum bid.
 SIDE THOUGHTS: (I would not ship it that way, but ... to each their own...)


If the listings "winning bidder" had not seemed so suspicious to me I would have hit the second chance offer and been fine with the shipping costs.
After all, it was what I had bid anway and I was easily willing to pay that SH costs when I bid.

But the thoughts of a seller (POSSIBLY; I still dont know if it was done) shilling this listing made me hesitate enough to ask about this situation here.
It was certainly not the price, or even the cost of shipping.... but to me shilling is just plain wrong...
I still dont know if that is what was done, but it does reek of bad vibes and since I already have copies of both items I will pass on this one.

Thanks folks, it is good to get thoughts from others with things like this.
That is why I love this site so much.

Grug Greyskin wrote:Can't say one way or another that it is definitely a shill, but it is suspicious enough and the item sufficiently common enough that I would not accept a second chance offer on that auction.  The seller can relist it.

Looking at the seller's other auctions, nothing stood out as similarly suspicious to me, for what it is worth.

Agree with every point you made.
The items would esily sell well enough without shilling and I did not think it any certainty that there was shilling here.
It could just be an asshat E-Bidder (Or even her ex-husband? (Look at the description in the listing for her only neg feedback)

And I too looked back at the sellers feedbacks and found one Neg (Broken Glass shipment, and those things happen I guess... BTW: read that listings description.... lol)

Just my two cents, I won an auction from this seller last week, and though haven't yet received the books, I didn't suspect any shenigans.

I did get a *very* high shipping invoice at first, but after politely requesting an alternate method, got what I wanted... so nothing bad to report.

I suspect the concerns are unfounded... though I might worry a touch until they arrive