Buyer placed dozens of bids and now hasn't paid - what's that about?

[QuimReaper]

This has happened to me before and I can't work it out. One bidder placed about 17 bids on the trot on Sunday, my phone was just lighting up, and it ended up over £50. They weren't fighting another user, just bidding over and over again. I smelt a rat and suspected they may not pay, but I hoped they would as they have 60+ feedback and active listings of their own. I don't have much hope of her paying, but I'm just trying to fathom what on earth would make someone do that - they single handedly drove the price up from about £20 to about £50 all in one go over about a dozen bids, with one other user who had 0 feedback chipping in once. What's the game? Anyone know?

Your post does not make any sense, for the price of an auction to go up, two or more people have to bid against each other.

For an example if an item starts @99p and I bid £100, it will only but that if other people bid up to £100. If no one else bids I will get the item for 99p. If others bid up to £50, I will get the item for £50.

did the toddler nick someone's phone?

thisndoesnt make sense

That didn't happen. Bids only go up if 2 or more people are placing bids. One person alone can increase their maximum but the price would never rise further than their initial amount with no other bidders involved

Take a look!

They'd left a higher closing bid so as each new person bidded there's went up

Is this some kind of bug then? Look at the times of the bids as well, the bids were coming in thick and fast. I assumed it was a bidding war but when I clicked on the bid history it was all the same bidder, with two bids from a 0-feedbacker. What on earth?!

I think this may be the work of Wreck it Ralph and Venelope.

OH I see. I thought the bids were in order they'd been placed: so the 0-feedback user placed two large bids of £30 and £50, and then the other user kept bidding again and again to try and outbid them. That makes much more sense.

But what's in it for the 0-feedback user?! Just a bot I assume, but why?!

And then the "real" user has finally outbid the bot, and now not paid. Ideal.

Somebody put in a max bid of £50 and the other bidder increase until they passed that, so at £51 they became the highest bidder. They didn't bid against themselves. You actually have 3 bidders there and it's a perfectly normal scenario.

But what's in it for the 0-feedback user?! Just a bot I assume, but why?!

They wanted to buy your item but they didn't want to pay any more than £50

Why do you think eBay has planted a 'bit' in your bids? What you are seeing is how eBay works.

Bot

Thanks nasal I figured it out! I wasn't looking at the times properly, I thought the bids were listed in the order they were placed, not in the order of value (which makes a lot more sense). Since the "real" bidder seems to have REALLY wanted the shoes, maybe she'll still pay.

I still don't understand the ghost users placing huge bids though, what on earth is the point of that? Is it just a random trolly bot that goes around kiboshing people's listings?

I don't think eBay planted them, but they're clearly not a real bidder. Just wondering what the advantage is to anyone.

eBay has been hacked. Something to do with PayPal wanting to use Bitcoin, and eBay telling them they'd drop them if they did - so the internet hackers (they did playstation a little while back and some banks) have hacked eBay. There are more details, but I was only half listening to DH whittering about it last night as our car has been "bought" twice now by these bots.

Oh blimey Mama that's interesting, so maybe they've set a bunch of bots to sabotage loads of auctions?

I don't think eBay planted them, but they're clearly not a real bidder.

I don't understand why you think that? They have put in a max bid of £30, been outbid and decided to up the max bid to £50. That really is how eBay works.

Ok, they have zero feedback, but that doesn't mean they are not genuine. Nothing about the way they bid suggests they are not real

Has it heard about eBay being hacked, but....

so maybe they've set a bunch of bots to sabotage loads of auctions?

The bidder who you think is a 'bit' didn't sabotage your auction, they put in a max bid, for our is so increased their max bid. So if anything, had your winner actually paid, the other bidder helped because the final autumn prices reached £51 due to the max bit of £50

For our if - GOT OUTBID

nasal There's been a huge problem of fake accounts bidding on auctions for years now. They're always accounts with 0 feedback created within the last couple of days (the one on my auction was created on May 21st). There are several threads on eBay's message boards about it. I've always assumed they're automated, but I've never understood what the purpose is except to wreak havoc.

Oh nasalspray I know - if the "real" bidder actually pays I certainly won't be complaining However, if they don't, it's just bloody annoying - I had a load of watchers interested in the first couple of days of the listing and got two separate bids, and for a fake account to randomly drive the price up will have put them off. I'm extraordinarily lucky that a real bidder wanted the item badly enough to keep bidding! (If she pays...)

So if you already knew that why not just cancel their bid? Although that would have brought your lowest bid to £21

Even if it was a fake bidder it wasn't the fake that won the auction, all they did was put your price up.

Your thread was about not understanding the bidding system. Real or not all of your bids were absolutely normal in terms of placementZ. The reason you got notifications is because your winner kept adding a new bid time and time again until they outbid the others

Just cross posted

nasal Yes, I was confused by the bid history - I thought the bids were appearing chronologically, and thought this "em jade" character was managing to outbid themselves again and again and again (which as has been pointed out is impossible), but was doubly confused that they appeared to be a real user with listings of their own. I clocked my mistake quite early on!

If I've somehow managed to get myself a successful shill-bidder-bot I won't complain!