In one of my previous articles I have explained how scammers open a fake paypal Account. eBay accounts can be exploited just the way paypal accounts are. Usually what you need is just some technical computer know-how, and a virtual credit card and you’re ready to open up a fake ebay ID, with the purpose of scamming a few people before you get caught. If the process is repeated, you can imagine that the sums of stolen cash just keep on increasing day after day. Once read about fake paypal accounts you will understand how easily is to do just the same on other websites where similar authentication of user accounts is used.
Shill Biding
Shill bidding is artificially increasing the price of an item by any means may it be a second eBay account or a “friend” bidding on your item. These methods are used by both sellers to sell an item higher as well as buyers to get an item for a lower price. We will look at both examples.
A seller has set up an auction for his car. His starting price was 5000$, but four days after he logs in to eBay and notices the price got up only to 5430$ and only 2 days are left to auction end. He gets scared because he was hoping to get 8000$ for the car. He creates another eBay account or calls his friend to bid on the item to raise the price. This is unfair to other buyers and also prohibited by eBay.
A buyer, we can safely call this buyer a scammer, looks for a new computer. Soon he finds what he is looking for. A brand new Toshiba laptop starting at 1$ while the retail price is 1500$. Naturally he wants the item to sell as low as possible, so to secure this price he uses a sneaky method. On this current account he places a bid of 400$, he then logs off eBay, signs in with another account and places a bid of 1600$. As you see he placed a bid higher than the price of the new item. This is done for a reason. When normal ebayers see this, they will not bid on the item since it is overpriced already. Minutes or seconds, before the auction end he will retrace the 1600$ bid which will automatically make his second account where he placed 400$ the winner. He was second in line and if the highest bidder retraces a bid, eBay system chooses the next in line as the current highest bidder. If you’re a seller and don’t want this to happen to you, use a buy it now price, or a starting price which you think is fair and acceptable for you.
Fake Auctions
To setup fake auctions thieves need multiple eBay accounts, because eBay is catching scammers and looking 24/7 for bogus auctions. There are two ways to obtain multiple eBay seller accounts:
a) Opening multiple accounts under a false ID
b) Phishing
c) Gaining Access to the Database (extremely rare)
Image Example of a False Auction
These scam auctions usually have these following points in common. Feedback of the seller doesn’t matter here, because these accounts were hijacked and are used by a different person, Scammers. Many times auctions are posted in a totally unrelated category, such as seen on the picture example above. The Auctions goes for a Travel Trailer and the category of the selling item is Music Cassettes! This is done by the scammers to lower the rate of being caught. Another thing by which you could recognize this auction as a scam is that the “seller” tries every possible way to contact him outside of eBay. One thing that can’t be seen in this example here is, the real auction description was clickable and directed you to a site out of eBay. Seller said to contact him through email to either negotiate a buy it now price or other questions. That is because he knows eBay is on his track and sooner or later his fraudulent auction will be put down, so he wants as soon as possible other means of contact for his targets, in this case email. A trick to fool you can also be a “Buy It Now” button or link inside the description. If you are about to click this link you will be forwarded to an eBay clone (an exact clone of eBay, of course a fake one, set up by the thief) where you can be scammed more easily, because the dupe eBay site is in direct control of the con artist. These thieves are in a hurry to scam you so they will often repeat sentences like “I ship fast” or “contact me fast, before it is too late”. The grammar also will be of very bad nature and contain more spelling mistakes than you can count on your fingers. Sometimes, duplicate auctions will be setup by scammer. This means that one is legit, from a real seller but the other one is a dupe from a scammer, a copy-paste. More then often these will be from China at ridiculous low prices and descriptions will contain more talk about their culture, how great their country is than from the selling item itself. Funny but True!
Fake auctions, sometimes, are placed by usually honest ebayers who are pulling a prank or trying out and idea on their minds. A great example happened about a year ago when xbox360 came out and there was a huge demand for it, they were selling like break. So in all this chaos, someone had the idea of selling an xbox BOX. Yes just a box, he clearly did write he is selling a box from xbox 360. In the description he added all the necessary information for xbox 360, but in the bottom of the post he mentioned he does not sell an actual xbox 360, but a regular cardboard box written xbox 360 on it. I had a pretty good laugh at it, since it was the lone fault of the buyer not reading the description in whole. Although the auction was deceptive, it is the buyers responsibility to read the whole page and inform himself properly before making a buy decision.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Thanks so much for your insight. I’m new to e-bay and have been suspecting all kinds of things. Now I know I’m right, but I hope that the honest sellers and buyers outnumber the bad guys ! I’ts a reflection of our world. Sad.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
A couple of things I don’t understand:
(1) I don’t think the “overbid, then cancel your bid” strategy can work. If the scammer bids $400 from one account, then $1600 from another account, the bid shown will only be about $410 (that is, $400 plus whatever the bid increment is at that level – which I think is about $5 or $10). eBay does not reveal the maximum bid the highest bidder puts in – it just increments the existing bid by the minimum amount. The active bid will never reach $1600 unless someone else also bids that high. Other bidders can try to beat the $410 offer by bidding $425 or $450 – their bids will then show up in second place, and the scammer’s active bid will jump to $435 or $460 (or whatever), but again they won’t be aware of the $1600 maximum. So this actually works out to a fair auction: if the scammer really wants the item, they can have it, but only by paying an amount greater than anyone else bid, just as if they were bidding sincerely; if the scammer pulls the high bid, then the second-place bidder gets the item, which sells at the highest price that a sincere bidder was willing to pay, just as it is supposed to. I really don’t see how anyone can get cheated this way.
(2) How does the scammer get a payoff by hijacking someone else’s login and listing nonexistent goods? Wouldn’t you need to be able to get both the victim’s eBay login AND their PayPal login to access the money from the bids? If you only had the eBay login, you could list fraudulent items, but the victim would get the money and the legal repercussions from the phony sales. What’s the point of creating fraudulent listings on someone else’s account?
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Good points. eBay’s auction system didn’t always work on increments. As much money you’ve bid, so much it has shown. So in a case where someone would place a $400 bid from one account, then $1600 from another account, the bid the bid would be $1600 and not $410 like it is today.
For ebay this point is no longer valid, but I left it in anyway, it may help with other similar auction systems.
As for your second point, there are many things one can do with a fraudulent account. He may sell it further as an old established account with positive feedback. An account will gain value the older the account and the higher the feedback is.
If a scammer keeps the account it’s not necessary that he sells with paypal. Many sellers have a good reason not to offer paypal. In our case however, it is fraud. So in this case, the scammer would try to push as many auctions as he can before all the negative feedback accumulates and lowers his feedback score. When this happens he simply moves on to another account.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:07 am
To me the points system is a waste of time as even neg feedback counts towards points and whats the point of having buyer feedback if that feedback can only be positive.
I got scammed buying a car on eBay and the seller had 8 other eBay accounts and eBay pretend they don’t know how to stop this by tracking IP addresees or checking bank details so i’ve openned a site at http://www.eBuster.co.uk that has access to eBay pages long after eBay have pulled the pages in an effort to hide the amount on fraud on eBay.
The tide is turning against eBay as can be seen from it’s own figures and for my money they must police themselves or they will be taken over by others and talking of take over i can see Paypal being sold off but i would not touch it with a parge pole because i can not see many of the millions of accounts being used very often.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:16 am
ebay scammer fraud seller motel268 is one to avoid, never buy from his store, half his clients never receive their products, his email ehomevisit@gmail.com this is what his selling http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/motel268_W0QQQ5ftrkparmsZ65Q253A15Q257C66Q253A2Q257C39Q253A1QQ_trksidZp3911Q2ec0Q2em14?_stpos=&_fcid=1&gbr=1 so many negative feedback it should be canceled
July 21st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
eBay is not a scam, people think they are smart, but eBay can catch hold of sellers who have multiple eBay accounts. They can trace you down by your computer cache and cookies, linked address, linked credit cards, similar PayPal account. So there is no way for a seller to cheat. However there is one drawback as eBay is just a venue it can’t personally get hold of the seller to punish him, but they do take very good care of their accounts by suspending them.
No matter what seller’s still complain, you know why? Because they don’t know how to sell or how to behave which is the right word. Let me give you an example. Suppose you have a physical shop you sell items to your buyers and if they don’t like it you refund the amount and get the item back. Some do lie to get their money back if they don’t like the item or if they feel that they don’t need the item. Now why shouldn’t sellers treat buyers the same way on eBay. Remember customer is the king. If you can’t please your buyers GET OUT!!. You don’t deserve to sell if you can’t do what your buyers say as you do in a physical shop.
Why do you think there are so many PowerSellers on eBay who depend on eBay and who still love eBay, because they know how it works. Remember you will always get complaints from sellers who have feedback of less than 80 or 70.
eBay is the most fun place and the most profitable site on the web. Sellers say eBay raised it’s fees. Why shouldn’t it raise it’s fees if there has been inflation all over the world. You expect them to charge you the same way they did 10 years back. If a person says eBay is a rip off, I will say you don’t know what you are TALKING about!.
Do it the right way and you will profit. eBay has live help, email support to help sellers. Reach them whenever you have doubts.
Kodi.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I also see some buyers saying the bid sometimes raises to $1600 if you bid that amount as your max bid. Remember a max bid you place will become the current bid price if it is close to the reserve price of the auction. So if there is a reserve price of $1600 on the item and if your max bid is $1580 or so and if the current bid amount is $410 then your bid will automatically reach to $1600 as it is close to the reserve.
If anyone reads this and has any doubt on how it works, they can contact me on this address saravanakodi@yahoo.com . I would be happy to resolve your concern. As for the false auctions and multiple accounts. Out of millions of items on eBay and members you will see one or two frauds which have not been spotted by eBay, but believe me such people don’t get away that easily. If you have any questions for me you are always welcome.
Kodi.
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Yes, I was bitten by the ‘get your cheap goods’ bug–then I was simply bitten. Some [honest] buyers have had their problems with eBay’s lazy oversight–I’m a buyer who got the shaft–I certainly didn’t get the goods.
Ebay’s approach is this–”Now now! Let’s be nice! Give the seller a little kiss on the cheek play nice! See if he really, relly, wants to send you the goods [that you paid for--and didn't get].”
Their (eBay’s) approach to fraud: just laugh it away. After all–they got theirs–right? Right.
I guess my story pales compared to some.
It’s a shame honest people have to be at the mercy of eBay’s shady management.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:05 am
I am not going to be a spokesman (stooge) for eBay, no matter how much they (eBay) attempt to persuade me. Neither will I be bribed or influenced in any way by eBay. Never will I offer up excuses for any group of thieves; or the management at eBay which encourages such thieving–activity, which of course, lines the pockets of that morally bankrupt management team at eBay.
Comrades! Fight the good fight–find another auction site–resist that great evil–eBay.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I agree, ebay seller motel268 is a scammer!
They never sent the item, when I complained, they said “we’ll send you a replacement” which never arrived.
You’ve been warned.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Give me a break. I have been scammed by three buyers in a row. eBay is all about the buyers. I have the PayPal claims, the confirmed deliveries, the refusal to provide proof of damage to the carrier, and the eBay correspondence to back up my claims. These are frauds …. and eBaY’S FALSE ONEWAY FEEDBACK system protects those frauds.
Without a true two way system, like has been in place and works, ie, a true Feedback System ..fed-back, then eBay will continue to lose good quality sellers, and especially will lose those Handmade in America goods, because we have to make our living in a real world NOT this Fairytale Land of Make Believe!
December 14th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I recently bought a book on ebay which was defective and unacceptable. The seller was rude and derogatory toward me in her reply to my request to return this book. When trying to leave negative feedback, I found that ebay has made negative or neutral feedback impossible. I was forced to leave positive feedback or no feedback at all. My only recourse was to leave the required positive feedback. However, in the comment section, I was able to write…defective merchandise, seller refused to take book back. I don’t know how many buyers actually look at those comments. Most just look at the number of positive feedbacks and start bidding. From now on I will read sellers’ feedback comments before I bid!
December 19th, 2009 at 9:11 am
After not recievving and item for several months, I fowarded a letter sent by thee seller to EBAY. It said “My girlfriend and I are crack heads and live in a tent outside my parents house. We make our money buy ripping-off people on EBAY.
EBAY still wanted me to pay for a mediator. Thanbk god I didn’t use PAY-PAL and after about a year my Credit Card Company returned my money.
EBAY and PAY-PAL are all about the Seller and buyer be damned.
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Seller: sceusa ( 13269) —-I bought a 400watt power supply from them earlier this month. I installed it and it killed my motherboard, rendering my PC —useless. So I sent it back to above seller. Waited for a refund….got none. Told them I will not leave negative feedback if they would just issue PayPal refund ($35). They did not issue refund, so I left negative feedback. Now they send me a blackmail email for me to get my refund:—
irdrive.com
to me
show details 12/29/09 (4 days ago)
Hi David,
Please remove the negative feedback and we will proceed and refund your paypal .
go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-removal.html
i will wait for your reply thanks.
From: Winston Smith
To: irdrive.com
Sent: Wed, December 23, 2009 6:00:17 PM
Subject: Re: RMA# 1903
- Show quoted text -
I HAVE OPENED A CASE WITH EBAY, AND SO FAR HAVE GOT NO HELP FROM THEM. I SHOULD GET MY REFUND REGARDLESS OF FEEDBACK LEFT—-EBAY SEEMS TO FAVOR SELLERS AND TO HELL WITH BUYERS! THIS IS NOT RIGHT! MAYBE EBAY SHOULD POST A SIGN : “BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK…AS YOU WILL GET NO HELP FROM US!” SIGNED EBAY!
ANYWAY, AFTER I GET THE THE OPERATING SYSTEM FOR MY NEW PC (REPLACE THE DEAD ONE) FROM ANOTHER SELLER ON EBAY—-I PLAN TO CLOSE MY ACCOUNT FOR GOOD!! AND POST THIS EXPERIENCE ON EVERY SITE I FIND!! —-DAVE.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:15 am
I sell movies on ebay.I have a no refund policy so buyers can’tbuy them ,copy them than get their money back.I do replace defective disc,however every time a buyer cries ebay takes my money and they keep the movie so I lose every time.I’m about to tell ebay to kiss my @$$
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Tom you are not alone in telling eBay to kiss your @$$.
Today i had a look on eBay motors and it’s empty to what it was a year ago and looking at the bid history that shows most bidders are new or only have yellow stars it’s easy to see they are bidding against themselves most the time.
Here in the UK we don’t get the 1***B alias names you get in the rest off the world so is it any wonder that shill bidding is rampant.
Good luck with the move Tom.