yet ANOTHER eBay story!!!

[aion]

That does seem extremely suspicious. Shill bidding, plain and simple. They really don't need to place multiple bids to find it - just one big one that then gets retracted. Bid $100, find that they are the high bidder for $42.50, deduce that the next highest bidder is 41.50, retract bid, set up a snipe for $41.49.

I would think eBay would have had automated measures in place against this by now, but yeah, as others have said, it's not exactly in their business interests, so they wouldn't really have an incentive to do anything about it unless it became so widespread as to be a PR problem. Shill bidding has been against the rules since day 1, but I'm not sure how aggressive they are on fighting it. They tend to be pro-seller more than pro-buyer because the sellers are their customers, and shill bidding is an anti-buyer tactic that does benefit the seller.

I've been on eBay since '99 and learned within a few auctions that you shouldn't ever place bids early, despite what eBay tells you to the contrary. You've got to snipe to get anywhere. I've been using AuctionSniper exclusively for maybe 10 years now - really low fees so it's well worth the cost, I probably haven't paid them more than $30 in a decade. Before that, I was sniping manually by having my finger on the bid submit button while watching the countdown.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

UPDATE:

Just got off the phone (again) with eBay. Spoke with someone a bit more experienced this time. I was put on hold 3 separate times for a total of 12 minutes while they "investigated the auction."

The man referred several times to the fact that they cannot reveal results from other's accounts HOWEVER, he did tell me in very subtle ways that it looked like there was inappropriate activity. He told me to message the seller and request that my bid be cancelled and to include that "eBay has been notified about possible shill bidding." If they do not comply, I should pay for the item and immediately request a refund. (couldn't believe when he said this!!)

So, all in all, it looks like they actually did see some wrong doing and they are going to fully investigate it.

I think this officially brings an end to my eBay days. I had stopped selling all together a while ago but, now it looks like buying is a joke now too  So sad!

EDIT: And, exactly 4 minutes after sending the request to cancel with the reference to shill bidding, my order was cancelled. AMAZING!!

[EBK]

Awesome! 

[bcalla]

Early in my eBay buying days, I think I might have seen a shill bid on a bass I wanted.  Someone placed a last minute bid OVER my price, then immediately cancelled it without getting another bid before the auction ended.  I thought that the seller was probably trying to drive up my price but since he failed I didn't bother to take any action.  I now only buy things on eBay with buy-it-now prices.

And even though I have had quite a few successes as a seller, I'm reluctant to sell guitars there anymore.  I've heard too many horror stories from sellers.

[cajone5]

Annnnd I'm officially done with eBay except BIN stuff. 

[gordo]

So sad.  I've had a couple of really cool transactions but mostly because they flew under the radar.  Picked up my Variax 300 a long time ago for something crazy like $200 BIN just because I hit the bid about 30 seconds after he posted.

Outside of this place is there anything good on the Interwebz these days?

[lars]

This is exactly why everything I sell on Ebay is with "buy it now" and usually with the option of "best offer". I don't want a bidding war over nickels and dimes for an item, because that kind of buyer is more likely to be someone who will get buyer's remorse or have issues paying. I want to sell my item to somebody who is willing to pay what it's worth and actually wants the item, not just the thrill of beating somebody else at the last second. I think that aspect of Ebay bidding is an addiction that some people have, a lot like gambling. They just want to "win".
By the way, if you want to have "safe" browsing on Ebay, use the Seamonkey browser with it's great Adblocking plugin. Then in the settings, set it to "only allow pictures from the originating server" (then you get to see just how much stuff comes from who knows where). It's amazing how much garbage Ebay has linked all over the place. Seamonkey pops up with a warning message that Ebay is actually not secure and has code that can allow third-party ease dropping (through all those external items). So when somebody beats you by .01 or drives up your max bid, it could be that they are just watching what you are typing in. They don't even have to do shill bidding.
Interesting side point - even with all the adblocking and image rejection settings, madbeanpedals.com looks exactly the same. Just proof that this is an outstanding site, with nothing shady going on in the background.

[atreidesheir]

I have not bid on an item in 10 years.  Only BIN. 

Ebay and paypal have both been very professional in the rare instance I have dealt with them.  I do not believe for an instant ebay is willing to let you get snookered, ever.  The whole process is geared to favor the buyer over the seller.  Think about how ratings and feedback are pro-buyer the last few years.  Ebay and paypal both have great US customer service, and this is a fair example.

I know there are predatory businesses out there, and I have worked for a couple of evil corporations.  Ebay's present business model is committed to keeping the buyer happy and returning.  It is so one-sided in favor of buyers, I really hesitate to sell.  I have a big box of items I need to sell, but buyers gaming the system always stops me. 

I am glad the situation was simplified by ebay being straightforward and protecting you.     

[somnif]

I still buy stuff now and then. On the non-BIN stuff, I don't go too far over the current max bid. Then if I am not high enough, I go a bit higher, etc etc etc. I'll then go maybe 5-10% over the max bidder, and just keep an eye on things. If I get sniped in the last 30 seconds, so be it, I'm probably not super invested.

I also only buy from people with 100% good ratings, and typically from people who don't have like 10,000+ reviews (IE I prefer person-to-person sales, not folks who use Ebay as a business). If I'm really paranoid I'll also try to limit to North American folks.

I have had a few scam experiences, back when I had to buy textbooks. Thankfully between ebay and paypal they were always resolved quickly.

[Muadzin]

I too much prefer BIN items over auctions. And I didn't even know it was possible to retract a bid.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

One thing that I did not mention....

The bidder who came in last second and bid $0.01 less than my max bid had almost 19,000 ratings and was at 100% 

Whoever that is, they have been doing it for a LONG time! They also had almost 900 bids that month. All of which, I presume, were just a single bid. I am wondering now if this is a company in and of itself. You pay them a small portion of the sale price and they "ensure" that you get the most for your sale.

[lars]

You pay them a small portion of the sale price and they "ensure" that you get the most for your sale.

Seems like AlphaBay was a safer place to shop.