Ebay Seller Being Dishonest? Nah, Can't Be.

I saw an offer of a stock book with stamps, starting bid was 5 GBP plus shipment, I bid 9 GBP.
After we reached less than 12 hours to the auction end (the time I could still retract my bid), another single bid was made, exactly for 9 GBP. Can it be a divine coincidence, or the seller's, who could see how much I offered, used a second account to inflate the price to the maximum that I was willing to pay?

Unlike the big auction houses that have their own web sites, I don't believe that sellers on ebay have any way to see what you have bid. Most likely some other buyer estimated the value of the lot the same way you did. It happens. I have sometimes bid an odd value on a lot, like $9.18, and found the previous bidder had previously bid the exact same amount. Or better yet, they bid $9.17 and I bid $9.18 and win by a penny. Did I know the other seller's bid, no, just a coincidence.

Sure there are shill bidders that will but 6, 7, 8, 9, and then worst case retract their $9 bid to make sure that you win it. Doesn't seem like that is the case here.

Sellers cannot see your max bid. A shill can certainly enter a high number to force your max bid.

Agreed with above, the other bidder probably valued it the exact same as you and so bid 9gbp, thereby bumping up your bid to your max of 9gbp but since you bid it first you remain the winning bidder. If he had bid 9.01 I believe he would've become the high bidder

Twice in the past, I have managed to place a bid that was only a few cents above an existing bid (I think I previously posted about one of these times). If anyone looked at the bid history, it certainly looked fishy but it was 100% legitimate.
Don

There is a way to find out the highest bid, not sure if ebay is prepared for it: If you bid more than 12 hours before the end time, you can bid and retract, bid and retract, and no signs are left for your action.

Agreed, retractions are often used to determine the highest bid. But at least US ebay shows the number of retractions. I also think that ebay will notice if a user is constantly retracting bids and will eventually take action.
Don

Good to know, Don

Don, I wish I had an example to share at this moment, but I have seen bidders with hundreds of bid retractions, include some who have bid primarily with a single seller. It's been awhile since I bothered looking so perhaps ebay did crack down on this practice. I'll pay closer attention and see if I can find a good example.

My older understanding (from at least 3-4 years ago), was that they didn't actively hunt down 'chronic retractors' but if they got complaints, they would look into it.
Don

I saw on another site that they had been bidding against someone who had 25 retracted bids in the past twelve months on ebay.

Unfortunately, shill bidding on ebay is still a common occurence. What usually haopens is that a dishonest seller uses an alt account to make an extremely high bid on a lot. The highest bid is revealed and the shill retracts her/his bid and bids one increment below the highest bid. This ensures that the winning bid is at least as high as the current high bid.
ebay does absolutely nothing against shills/sellers of fake stamps unless a lot of, and I mean a lot of, complaints start coming in.

I buy a lot of stamps each month on ebay. I buy more than 100 lots per month. I bid on many more than that. It does seem that some fish or inflate the price on lots. I have noticed this with just a few sellers. It seems the same sellers most of the time. So yes I believe they do inflate prices at times.

I have notice that some sellers (a few not many) will list a lot for auction. Then say it was shipped with out tracking. Then after the time it should have arrived and I check when it was shipped. Low and behold it is posted the stamps are shipped (like two weeks after end of auction). In some cases I can see an order being over looked. This can happen when a seller has listed a large amount of multiple lots. I have came to believe that some just want more time for it to arrive. This is perfectly acceptable if that is the case. Then they are others that I believe wants to keep your money as long as they can before having to return it. Then others may hope you over look the sell if it was a small amount.

I have also had refunds issued after checking on a lot won but not received without asking for a refund. This has happened on lots won way below what it should have went for.

If a seller starts an auction lot out for a low starting price and then receives no bids. They should honor the sell or start it at the minimum they are willing to take. Most sellers do honor the sell and others will not.

If you buy like I do a number of lots each month you will see everything. Most sellers are honest. Then you will find a number are not, that is life. I have yet to find away to block a seller so I will not buy from or bid on their lots and wast my time.

We are all big boys and girls. If you place an lot up for auction. Then you should honor the sell regardless of the price the hammer comes down on.

I have found most sellers on ebay to be honest. Like others I have found a few that are not. I try very hard to pay for lots won immediately after close of the auction. Sellers should try and send lots won by their bidders as soon as possible. Most sellers do and I am more apt to buy from them more often.

I think a significant number of sellers on ebay have little or no business experience.

I also think that ebay has done a good job brain-washing people into thinking that buying used things 'sight unseen' from some unknown party who lives on the other side of the planet is just fine. And that there is no longer a need to do diligence on who you are buying from or building good business relationships. ebay wants everyone to believe that buying online is simple and easy.

That might be somewhat true if you are buying a new item like a book DVD; but buying decent philatelic material on ebay is neither simple or easy.
Don