Found shill bidding on eBay. What should I do?

I'd go to the dealer, tell them what you know and name your price. They either sell it to you at that (fair) price or you report and find a different RV.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting to blackmail / threaten, but instead let them know that are a real, serious potential buyer but you don't want to be jacked around.

Tell ebay cust support. They've seen this many time before.

Every car dealer does it. They're not going to give away a car to the highest bidder just because no one bid on it. They be out of business very quickly. Deal directly with the dealership if you really want to buy the RV. Unless it's a private seller, Ebay is just another way to advertise for the dealership. They know their price and you won't get it below that, regardless of the platform that you're attempting the purchase.

Hmmm..... wrote:

Every car dealer does it. They're not going to give away a car to the highest bidder just because no one bid on it. They be out of business very quickly. Deal directly with the dealership if you really want to buy the RV. Unless it's a private seller, Ebay is just another way to advertise for the dealership. They know their price and you won't get it below that, regardless of the platform that you're attempting the purchase.

Can't the seller set a minimum bid? If he is and then doing corrupt maneuvers to try and raise bids that's not cool.

It's possible to set a minimum starting bid and to set a reserve price. These particular vehicles are being sold as "no reserve," meaning high bid gets it. Also if you bid on an item with a reserve and don't meet it, eBay will respond with "You are the high bidder, but the reserve has not been met." That's not what happens here. I've been high bidder twice, once on the previous listing and once on this one.

Sleeeper wrote:

I'd go to the dealer, tell them what you know and name your price. They either sell it to you at that (fair) price or you report and find a different RV.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting to blackmail / threaten, but instead let them know that are a real, serious potential buyer but you don't want to be jacked around.

This is the best advice. Just tell the dealer you are willing to bid $X (of course say something below your real offer...) but you are concerned the ebay auction rigged. They'll either laugh you out of the office or begin negotiations.

sbeefyk1 wrote:

Sleeeper wrote:

I'd go to the dealer, tell them what you know and name your price. They either sell it to you at that (fair) price or you report and find a different RV.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting to blackmail / threaten, but instead let them know that are a real, serious potential buyer but you don't want to be jacked around.

This is the best advice. Just tell the dealer you are willing to bid $X (of course say something below your real offer...) but you are concerned the ebay auction rigged. They'll either laugh you out of the office or begin negotiations.

Sounds like the dealer is doing it on purpose. Maybe they don't want to set a reserve price because they believe they'll get more hits without one.

fisky, don't buy vehicles on Ebay. Its stupid. I've found you can only buy car parts, maybe a trailer. Anything larger than a dirt bike is a potential serious loss of money.

One of the oldest letsrunners wrote:

fisky, don't buy vehicles on Ebay. Its stupid. I've found you can only buy car parts, maybe a trailer. Anything larger than a dirt bike is a potential serious loss of money.

This is different. I've spent nearly an hour inspecting the RV and driving it. I just drove to the seller's location to check it out before bidding.

I stopped using ebay when they started padding their listings with search terms that were padded in un-highlighted hypertext.

fisky wrote:

One of the oldest letsrunners wrote:

fisky, don't buy vehicles on Ebay. Its stupid. I've found you can only buy car parts, maybe a trailer. Anything larger than a dirt bike is a potential serious loss of money.

This is different. I've spent nearly an hour inspecting the RV and driving it. I just drove to the seller's location to check it out before bidding.

Why didn't you just make an offer in person? They won't sell it any cheaper online than they would off the lot.

Complaining to ebay will not result in you obtaining the RV at a lower price.

I'd find another RV from another source. If they are shilling their bids and being deceptive, how do you know they aren't hiding serious flaws with the RV? If they are unscrupulous, why buy anything from them no matter how good the price is?

The seller is paying seller fees every time he "sells" an item. The system will take care of itself.

I have reported the seller. Now, I'm curious to see what eBay does...

The dealer would much rather sell to you directly than on Ebay. They have to pay seller fees that they would much rather put in their pocket. So maybe they push up the price on Ebay with a few fake bidders to cover those costs. If a real bidder gets it, great. If not, they relist for free.

Make an offer in real life. They'll take it or they won't. If they don't, they might keep your number and call you after it has sat on the their lot or a while, also costing them money.

You did the right thing reporting it. There is a lot of fake bidding to pump up prices on Ebay no matter how much they try to stop it. In general, you should not get involved in "auction win" mentality. Set the price you are willing to pay and bid.

Seems like you are good at bidding on eBay, can you explain to me how it works. I don't have a huge experience in auctions, but I would like to try it. I used to go to auctions organized by Taylor and Martin Company https://www.taylorandmartin.com because usually, I found their trucks at a good price. But now, as I don't work on trucks anymore I want to make money on bidding. So, I would be thankful if you could give me some hints and advice related to bidding on eBay. Thanks in advance.

jogncartman wrote:

Seems like you are good at bidding on eBay, can you explain to me how it works. I don't have a huge experience in auctions, but I would like to try it. I used to go to auctions organized by Taylor and Martin Company

https://www.taylorandmartin.com

because usually, I found their trucks at a good price. But now, as I don't work on trucks anymore I want to make money on bidding. So, I would be thankful if you could give me some hints and advice related to bidding on eBay. Thanks in advance.

Buy low, sell high. Anymore questions?

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