Ebay "ghost bids"

[Brian Watson]

So..have heard some disturbing accounts of people "ghost bidding" on Ebay auctions to push up the price....so ...someone who knows the person who lists an item asks them to place a/some bids to push the price up.. Is this common practice..(who will admit to it?)....What happens when the auction ends and ther is no "real" bidder...??

[paco]

I have often wondered about that.Knowing human nature I suppose it would go on.paul.

[Mike52]

Was watching a Ebay bike last week with 2 bids on it.
When the auction  finished it had none 

[Nathan S]

Happens all the time. There was a late model KDX200 on recently - average bike that was bid up to $2200. I haven't seen one go for over $1600 for about a year now...

People also do it to set a defacto reserve. This is particularly common when the seller expects strong bidding, but it doesn't happen for them.
I've done this in the past... but only once because I learned my lesson. 
The ghost bidding to drive the price up fails as often as not, but people are inherently greedy, so they'll keep trying. You get a feel for when you're bidding against a ghost. Best tactic I've discovered is to bail out early, and always bail out at the same point in subsequent auctions. Eventually they'll figure it out...

[KTMaico]

I had the experience when looking at buying a Maico 490, the seller had it listed elsewhere at $4500.00. I cantacted the seller who agreed then re-nigged as the bike was on EBay I bid the $4500.00 as maximum bid on Ebay as the bike was only at $2500.00 at that time. All the while I was emailing the seller that he has gone back on his word at the original advertised price. He eventually had a winning bid at $6500.00 on Ebay, but about 6 months later the bike was back on Ebay at the same location and with the same seller for sale again.

I hate the fact that EBay knows what goes on and they don't protect the buyers, I have had several bad transactions as a buyer and EBay does nothing except make it had to raise a complaint against bad sellers. EBay is a good idea that has been badly implemented and run. My 2c

[mx250]

No Name, one post. Oh dear

A little backbone please . If you are gunna shit stir or 'bag' a fellow forum member use your usual tag.

[TM BILL]

No name no balls FFS man up 

[mx250]

No Name, one post. Oh dear

A little backbone please . If you are gunna shit stir or 'bag' a fellow forum member use your usual tag.

I can see something brewing .    Where do you get those funny inserts from , MX 250? 

What funny inserts 








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[vandy010]

a while back i had my ebay account hacked into.
this dude from Romania advertised goods for sale from my account to which i was to be hit for all the advertising costs. said hacker had also placed bids on other items from my account. possibly had quite a few accounts hacked and was playing one against the other in order to drive prices up. this had gone on for about a week and i noticed nothing till i recieved a ph call from a supposed buyer that alerted me to the situation. luckilly, ebay corrected everything and all is good but it can be a playground for the hungry hackers.

[TeeBone]

Ghost bidding is alive and well - unfortunately. It doesn't take much to work out who's doing it, just take the time and look at the feedback section. Funny when the same user name gets "no hard feelings, I understand" feedback when the deal supposedly falls through - AGAIN!!!

I was used to put in dummy bids some time ago and lo and behold, turns out I was driving the price up on a close mate (whom I didn't know was into the vintage movement) who paid too much for the item. I feel ashamed and my mate knew after the fact. Being a close mate, it's been a great shit stir though....

[NR555]

My missus and her mates do it all the time.  Sometimes they catch themselves out by pushing it up a tad too far!

[MX?]

It would happen more than you'd like to think!
Have seen really blatant ones. ie: Bikes with over the top "buy it now" suddenly get a bid $1 under the "buy it now" or bidders that have done all their past bidding with the seller??

Like ANY auction it pays to know what an item is worth or the top amount you're prepared to pay for it and stick to it! Don't go bidding silly money....you can bet there will always be another for sale down the track.

[VMX247]

My missus and her mates do it all the time.  Sometimes they catch themselves out by pushing it up a tad too far!

Tupperware 50 years on and still catches ya everytime   
cheers Alison

mmmm Im looking at a few 70 mx posters ,,they get bids,sold.... now they are relisted and back on with a few bids and 3 days to go..I got caught bidding on a book last time...not again for this black duck...
Would this keep the sellers and buyers limited for ebay ??
cheers A