Scam on e-bay!?!

[shellie]

I put a bid in for a coat on e-bay on saturday night. I was outbid in the last few seconds after a bit of a bidding war by someone bidding £28, my top bid had been £27. I thought fair enough, then thought no more of it.

The same night I bid on and won the same style, but nicer coat ,which was cheaper! It only cost me £14.99 and I was really happy.

Yesterday I had a message saying the seller of the first coat wanted to offer me a second chance at purchasing their coat. I thought it was a bit quick for a second chance offer. When I read the message attatched it said that they were giving me a second chance offer as they had been getting messed around with the auction winner for the past 2 weeks!!! The auction only ended on saturday night, so I dont know where they got 2 weeks from

To be honest I was a bit annoyed after reading this message, and even though I hadnt won still felt ripped off when I read this as they are obviously lying and have knowingly outbid me, I suspect thinking I was going to go up to £30 as the bidding war at the end was quite quick paced and pushed the price right up from what it had been.

Anyway, thats my little rant, it all worked out well in the end for me anyway as like I said I got a nicer coat and it was cheaper. I just wondered though if anyone else would feel the same as me as they obviously lied in my opinion. xxx

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Sounds like a scam. They may have been using a dummy account to upbid their item. I would message ebay with your concerns.

 

[lucy_x]

Sounds like a scam. They may have been using a dummy account to upbid their item. I would message ebay with your concerns.

This ^^. Iv lost a fair few items on eBay for what i expect to be the seller bidding on their own items. Seriously who can be bothered, just start it for what you want to sell it for if your that worried ....the exact same thing has happened to me, and i always refuse to take the offer and they can relist it and waste time if thats how they want to play it

 

[shellie]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it looks like a scam.

I also think people should just start the auction at the price they want for it, at least that way they will be as happy with the outcome as the buyer. xxx

 

[Red Rose]

Yeah, def sounds like a scam. I wouldn't reply and contact eBay instead.

 

[Liesje]

Seems like a lot of work to put in to get an extra £2... I doubt it's a scam, maybe they've tried to sell the item before?

 

[shellie]

I've been debating also messaging the seller to tell them that I know its a scam. My sister said not to though, just let ebay know. I think I just want to let them know that I know if that makes sense. xxx

 

[shellie]

The coat was under £15 before the end, thats when I was in the bidding war against whoever they said won. So it went up about £14 just before the end. xxx

 

[Mummy2B21]

Report the two accounts to ebay they will be able to tell if they are scamming, and what they are doing is against there rules and they will end up getting both there accounts shut down after a warning id imagine.
Please report though as it stops them scamming other people.

 

[Piggywinkle]

It sounds like the seller may have been 'shill' bidding, i.e. using a second account/asking a friend to bid to push up the final price. If this is what you suspect has happened, don't message the seller, just contact ebay with your suspicions. It's completely against the rules to do it but unfortunately, there are a lot of people at it.

Congrats on getting the nicer coat for a lower price

 

[Nats21]

It sounds like the seller may have been 'shill' bidding, i.e. using a second account/asking a friend to bid to push up the final price. If this is what you suspect has happened, don't message the seller, just contact ebay with your suspicions. It's completely against the rules to do it but unfortunately, there are a lot of people at it.

Congrats on getting the nicer coat for a lower price

Yeah I agree with this, sounds like they were pushing the bid to the maximum and just hoped that you'd go up and up before the bidding finished. Definitely report it hun xx

 

[2have4kids]

Yes, i've seen shill bidding before too. The only way to catch them is by notifying ebay so they can do a profile of their sales. There will be patterns they can see and the accounts will be closed. I think they'd have a good laugh if you emailed them directly knowing they were successful in getting a rise out of you.

 

[violet chase]

Seems like a lot of work to put in to get an extra £2... I doubt it's a scam, maybe they've tried to sell the item before?

I'd have to agree, it sounds like you've either been bid up or they are genuinely having problems with the other buyer. I'd have gone through ebay as opposed to telling the member themselves, if it is a con whats to stop them opening another account atleast ebay will have their IP address!

 

[Mummy May]

I've had this problem as a seller, and the times I have had the problem of someone upping the bids in the last few mins 9/10 times they can't even pay for the item and have messaged me to say so pretty much right away (or want me to wait a week etc etc). So it might not be a scam But you got a better coat anyways so even if it was, they lost out in the end xx

 

[marina294]

there is an actual scam that fraudsters use not the seller google it-i know some people shill bid but the fact it says 2 weeks makes me think its the other scam

 

[wilbz]

i've come across this before and it was a 2nd account they were using