What's new

Suspicious eBay bidding?

Hey everyone,

Just had a look of the bid history on a Fatboy that I was watching on eBay.
EC927A70-75B6-457F-AF89-AF3E811671BC.png

Am I missing something, or is is that suspicious? Why would one person continue driving the price up when there are no other people bidding?
 
It looks ok. You have to look at the bid times to put it into sequence:

Start price is 70
R4 bids 71
N1 bids 88 or higher. Becomes the high bidder.
R4 bids up in $2-3 increments to see if he can beat N1, but gives up at $87
N1 winners for 88.
Ah thanks for clearing that up mate. I was confused as I thought that list was chronological.

So R4 started with 71 and N1 immediately followed with 88. In that case, what was the purpose of R4’s successive bids that were less than 88?
 
Ah thanks for clearing that up mate. I was confused as I thought that list was chronological.

So R4 started with 71 and N1 immediately followed with 88. In that case, what was the purpose of R4’s successive bids that were less than 88?
Good question. R4 doesn’t know how much N1 bid, because eBay would show $72 at first. It then increases N1’s bid enough to stay the high bidder up to the point he has reached his maximum bid. EBay calls this automatic bidding.

So maybe N1 had a max bid of $100, but nobody made him pay more than $88.
 
Good question. R4 doesn’t know how much N1 bid, because eBay would show $72 at first. It then increases N1’s bid enough to stay the high bidder up to the point he has reached his maximum bid. EBay calls this automatic bidding.

So maybe N1 had a max bid of $100, but nobody made him pay more than $88.
Mate you’re a legend, thanks a lot for taking the time to explain that to me. It all makes sense now 👍
 
I don’t know why anyone would bid $71 if there was a BIN price of $70. But once the bidding starts, the BIN option no longer applies.
I understood why these biddings were as they were but...

I did not know that if an option of BIN is available and someone starts bidding that option goes away?
Maybe this happens "only" if the BIN price is surpassed?
Otherwise, I see no reason for it to not stay as an option.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I too didn't know.
 
Pretty sure that once someone bids on an item, the Buy It Now option goes away.

This makes sure that someone's bid is still a valid offer even if the bid is less than the Buy It Now price.

Likewise, it also means that people may ultimately end up bidding higher than if they would have if they would have just bought it outright to begin with.

It's a way to entice bidding but also offer people an option to grab it now before a bid is made.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Pretty sure that once someone bids on an item, the Buy It Now option goes away.
In some categories, the Buy It Now option is available until bids reach or exceed 50% of the Buy It Now price:

Cell Phones & Accessories
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
Motors Parts & Accessories
Tickets
 
Pretty sure that once someone bids on an item, the Buy It Now option goes away.

This makes sure that someone's bid is still a valid offer even if the bid is less than the Buy It Now price.

Likewise, it also means that people may ultimately end up bidding higher than if they would have if they would have just bought it outright to begin with.

It's a way to entice bidding but also offer people an option to grab it now before a bid is made.
I know the " or best offer " disappears after 1st bid but I have used the buy it now in the past just to avoid having to deal with the hassles of bidding even after someone had bid ....
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
Well, Ebay used to make identification of the shill bidders easier than it is today .. but then the shills drive up their profits so now it isn't easy to spot the scammers.
 
Ok the real question, why do we buy shaving stuff on eBay? I’ve been on ebay for 22 years. I hate selling shaving stuff on it but I have to. Why, we need more of us on this form.

That being said, you got some great explanations and I applaud everyone’s effort to explain this for you.
 
Ok the real question, why do we buy shaving stuff on eBay? I’ve been on ebay for 22 years. I hate selling shaving stuff on it but I have to. Why, we need more of us on this form.

That being said, you got some great explanations and I applaud everyone’s effort to explain this for you.
There is a gentleman on another forum who has a hobby of buying straight razors and cleaning and fixing and honing them and he places them on that forums BST section for a couple of weeks first at a lower price because of Ebay fees and tries to sell them there first before he places them on eBay. He says he prefers to sell them to other members but if there is no interest in the current ones he has he will them put them on the bay. So that's one explanation of why some stuff is on the bay. I mean he does good work and only charges postage and a gallon of gas for his motorcycle because he just does it for fun. Well I also want to state that this wasn't a plug for anyone as I made sure not to mention his name or the forum he is on. I was just replying to the first part of your post....
 
I get it and I know what you mean. But literally, I’ll put a razor up that is well priced and beautiful no real takers.

In 1 day it’s sold on eBay for 20-25% more. Hate to do it but… as goes life.
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
Our BST once served to avoid the perils of the Bay .. but took too much moderator time (if I recall the explanation) so was choked down.
 
My analysis:
r***4 bid $71 which is $1 more! That means r***4 wasn't the first to bid!
That makes me think that the whole bidding history isn't shown in the picture.
Their must have been other bidders before him that bid lower amounts.
But then again, it says "starting price" $70. Weird!
1. If you are the first bidder when a BIN exists, you get it for that bin price & you can't go higher!
2. If someone bids lower than the BIN (upon opening), the BIN disappears and it becomes an auction till the end.
So in this case, either their never was a BIN price or if their was, other people bid before r***4.
 
Our BST once served to avoid the perils of the Bay .. but took too much moderator time (if I recall the explanation) so was choked down.
I know. I remember when there were the "problems" with the BST here... The guy I was talking about does it just for a hobby and he said he tries to keep the price low to help "bring in " new people to our little slice of the world.. He likes to sell on the BST section because he is able to keep the price low and not have all the eBay fees and also because usually the others on the forums are " usually " fairly trustworthy..
 
Top Bottom