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psichick78 Mar 22, 2007

Hey guys.

Just an ebay question that has been bothering me.

I have to admit, after our shill bidding discussion I’ve been more careful as to what I’m buying and what I’m comparing myself to in terms what my bears sell for.

Maybe it’s just me being paranoid but how can an item sell on ebay only to be re-listed a week or so later. I can understand sometimes you have a non-paying bidder I suppose, but let’s say this happens often with the same seller.
Would you buy from them? Am I just being too paranoid and assuming the worst in people?
What are the signs I should watch out for?
Maybe re-listing, only a few buyers listed in feedback, private auctions or are these all part of the normal ebay process?

I had never really thought of shill bidding before, but now it seems only appropriate to watch out for these types of sellers right?  Is this something that should be reported to ebay or just ignored?

Thanks for letting me rant and get my questions out. I really want to see if I’m just being paranoid or not.

nimbleknot Mar 22, 2007

So you are saying it was sold and now it is it offered a week later at the same price?

Very possible somebody didn't pay within the specified time.

K Pawz GuestMar 22, 2007

Hi Heather, very good question....With all that is happening with eBay regarding scams, phishing emails, and spoof emails all trying to obtain password and account information I feel that it has turned us into a very suspicious lot, so I think your question is a very valid one.

I would tend to be suspicious of an auction if the seller frequently listed high priced items and more than one ended up being relisted, if there was some type of pattern noticeable by watching these items or noted on bidders information when you click their feedback, if a bidder who has bid retractions on the same sellers items but then continues to bid on future items I would be very cautious about bidding...I hate the fact that all the scams have made us such a suspicious lot, but paranoia is nasty, and no matter how badly we want an item that we see there will always be a bit of doubt there as to the legitimacy of things....Especially if it was listed a week or less later, because as far as I know you need to wait 10 days before you can file an unpaid item strike with eBay, correct me if I am wrong as I get confused with all of the eBay terms and such.

I myself was concerned the other day when a new bidder signed up for eBay and started bidding on my puppy I had up, in my "trust no one" ways the first thing I thought of was SCAM, I was worried that it was someone trying to scam me, but the wonderful people here on TT helped me realize that we all have to start somewhere, it would be hard to get any feedback if no one let you bid on their items....so I just let it go in hopes that I may have brought somebody new into the bear/critter collection world...In the end they were outbid, so I will never know if they were a scam or legit, and probably will never know unless of course they have bought items since then and have gained some feed back...

So yes Heather, I know I am much more careful these days, and would be suspicious too of an item that was listed and sold, but a week later was re-listed, there may be a legitimate reason for it, but my suspicious mind would not let me get over the fact that it was re-listed, and I would not bid on it, and also would probably would be leery of bidding on items in the future from the same seller.

call me paranoid too, maybe we could start a new club "Paranoids Anonymous" :crackup:
Hugs,
Krista

psichick78 Mar 22, 2007

Krista, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed this. I guess I"m just going to have to be careful. Good tip on the bid retractions, I hadnt' thought of that one before.

As for your 0 feedback bidder, what I do is allow them to bid, but request an email 1st. That way I feel I can get a better 'sense' of what they are like, bec. you're right we all had to start somewhere on ebay.

Little Bear Guy Mar 23, 2007

well I would become suspicious if they are relisting the same item but not stating why.  I mean I understand that sometimes sales fall through, but if your going to relist it then state you are relisting the item because of a non paying bidder or something like that.  I have seen this done before and I would have no problem bidding on the item cause I know stuff like that happens , but I would stay clear of them if I see it happening over and over and there is no explanation as to why the item is being relisted.

Big hugs

Shane

matilda Mar 23, 2007

I had this happen to me Heather and I emailed the people to say this has happened were they aware of it. ?
The email inreturn said that it was their basic business practice because they have mulitples of the product and list only two in auction at any one time. So basicly they have two auctions finishing everyday on one product.
Since they have many products that they auction on a dayly basis they just relist the item. Saves time I gather.