Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

please do check my thread about buying on ebay. there are some interesting stories posted

will do

Okay folks, we all take a look at and sometimes bid on our favourite transforming robots now and then, but sometimes that bidding process just doesnt feel quite right?

I am talking about 'shill' bidding which as many of you may have encountered, its when an Ebay seller has multiple accounts or gets a friend to bid on the same item you are to fraudulently increase its sale price without winning it themselves!

Browsing these and other forums have turned up several names which I am familiar Ebay seller names which oddly enough are either 'no longer a registered member' or theres just a huge lack of account activity.

I would like to point out one particular seller who I am getting that familiar feeling about and would like to ask if any of my fellow Seibertronians have had dealings with?

Please look back at your Ebay buying history, not just for Transformers, and see if either of these names rings a bell?

2grandads

japanesefonz

The '2grandads' ID was changed to 'japanesefonz' around a week ago, so your history has probably changed with it to reflect that change.

I draw your attention to this completed listing I was watching until the dying moments...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transformers-Energon-Superlink-SPRUNG-SPRINGER-MIB-Takara-sc20-very-rare-/221173013813?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

If you check the bid history you will see the ID 'S***U' which has zero feedback rating and has 100% bid history with this seller, no one else, just this seller.

So I decided to look a little deeper, what else is this seller offering...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Worlds-Smallest-Transformers-SEALED-extremely-rare-item-/221173017914?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

More Transformers related stuff, so i kept an eye on that also until it ended and who should be seen in the bid history.. 'S***U'!

Coincidence maybe?

Lets look at their other item...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221176668065?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Totally uninterested in this item but thought I would test the waters for security purposes.
A buyer had already started the bidding with a £0.99p starting bid, so who should pop up but 'S***U' which is when i thought 'Yep this is a fraudulent seller generating shill bids which is totally against Ebays rules and policies.

I popped a bid in and was instantly outbid by the same "buyer" 'S***U', so I quickly retracted my bid and the listing returned to 'S***U's bid which I guess is waiting for the next poor buyer to come along?

Ife you take a look at the bid history of these other completed listing from the same seller that same "buyer" pops up these also, so much more than a coincidence I think.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/captain-power-moc-a-team-knight-rider-street-hawk-tmnt-/221173031570?nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

So if any of you Ebay buying public care to take a look back at your purchases from seller/s '2grandads' or more recently 'japanesefonz' just give the bidding history a quick check for any zero rated bidders which may be working with or be the same person, shill bidding your item up some!

Seller has been has had all the mentioned listings reported to Ebay for investigation.
I have popped the sellers ID on my favourite sellers list to see if they list more or their account gets deleted, either way I will lets y'all know!

Which is exactly why i very rarely use eBay these days

robotmel wrote::-?
Okay folks, we all take a look at and sometimes bid on our favourite transforming robots now and then, but sometimes that bidding process just doesnt feel quite right?

I am talking about 'shill' bidding which as many of you may have encountered, its when an Ebay seller has multiple accounts or gets a friend to bid on the same item you are to fraudulently increase its sale price without winning it themselves!

Browsing these and other forums have turned up several names which I am familiar Ebay seller names which oddly enough are either 'no longer a registered member' or theres just a huge lack of account activity.

I would like to point out one particular seller who I am getting that familiar feeling about and would like to ask if any of my fellow Seibertronians have had dealings with?

Please look back at your Ebay buying history, not just for Transformers, and see if either of these names rings a bell?

2grandads

japanesefonz

The '2grandads' ID was changed to 'japanesefonz' around a week ago, so your history has probably changed with it to reflect that change.

I draw your attention to this completed listing I was watching until the dying moments...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transformers-Energon-Superlink-SPRUNG-SPRINGER-MIB-Takara-sc20-very-rare-/221173013813?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

If you check the bid history you will see the ID 'S***U' which has zero feedback rating and has 100% bid history with this seller, no one else, just this seller.

So I decided to look a little deeper, what else is this seller offering...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Worlds-Smallest-Transformers-SEALED-extremely-rare-item-/221173017914?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

More Transformers related stuff, so i kept an eye on that also until it ended and who should be seen in the bid history.. 'S***U'!

Coincidence maybe?

Lets look at their other item...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221176668065?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Totally uninterested in this item but thought I would test the waters for security purposes.
A buyer had already started the bidding with a £0.99p starting bid, so who should pop up but 'S***U' which is when i thought 'Yep this is a fraudulent seller generating shill bids which is totally against Ebays rules and policies.

I popped a bid in and was instantly outbid by the same "buyer" 'S***U', so I quickly retracted my bid and the listing returned to 'S***U's bid which I guess is waiting for the next poor buyer to come along?

Ife you take a look at the bid history of these other completed listing from the same seller that same "buyer" pops up these also, so much more than a coincidence I think.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/captain-power-moc-a-team-knight-rider-street-hawk-tmnt-/221173031570?nma=true&si=T2xc6iliy%2F76wRa359BchrZOTEk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

So if any of you Ebay buying public care to take a look back at your purchases from seller/s '2grandads' or more recently 'japanesefonz' just give the bidding history a quick check for any zero rated bidders which may be working with or be the same person, shill bidding your item up some!

Seller has been has had all the mentioned listings reported to Ebay for investigation.
I have popped the sellers ID on my favourite sellers list to see if they list more or their account gets deleted, either way I will lets y'all know!

Hey! You hit it on the head! Something is indeed fishy! Iirc, I probably bid(and lost to this 2grandads before) I hope ebay bans this snake oil peddler!

Swindle01 wrote:sadly tons of chinese sellers on ebay do this all the time

theres 1 chinese person on ebay with 3 different accounts. If i remember right i think 1 of them is called D0tM or something like that while his others was riflescopezero.

You can tell its the same seller because whenever i bid on something almost straight away a bid would go higher than me...no matter what i was bidding on i would always be outbid by the same bidders time and time again

Hmmmmm, those account names sound very familiar, what a set of b******s!

I don't use ebay too much these days. Couldn't this all be avoided if you just wait until the end of the auction and bid once with whatever your max bid is that your comfortable with and then win it or not?

To be clear, I'm not at all justifying these practices. But if you are entering a max bid thats above what you are satisfied with spending, then thats a foul on you. Also, if you are putting in a max bid thats well above what the current bid is 3 days before the auction ends, then you should probably expect to be run up either by legit bidders or by foul accounts.

I usually don't bid on an auction until the final minute and I don't enter a max bid, I bid up in increments until I hit what I've deemed to be my max bid. Then I don't ever feel like I've been ripped off or run up.

Not blaming anybody here or making excuses for those that aren't being legit with their ebay account. Better ebay practices always keep you safe.

@joesaysso - One shouldn't be frightened away from bidding in advance just because there are a few jerks in the world, but they should be mindful.

This kind of crap goes on even at auction houses, big and small - sometimes the house bids against it's clientele (as their profits are higher if the item sells for more) and sometimes the owner of the object pays someone to sit there and milk the buyer (or to manipulate the auction records of certain collectible items - my dad actually knows someone who bought back the items he put up at auction, through a friend, just so he could raise their market value. The guy is a psychopathy. At least he's only the kind of phyco who's interested in robbing you, not killing you)

It's illegal, but that doesn't stop some people (or auction houses) from doing it.