Anyone Here Sell Clocks on eBay?

[Joe Gargery]

Mods, if this is the wrong forum please feel free to move this thread to the appropriate arena.

I had an unusual experience on eBay and then I had the exact same experience again. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this strange behavior.
A couple months ago I listed a clock on eBay and it sold for approximately $175.00. I sent the invoice to the buyer and got a response of "Sorry, I thought I was bidding on a different clock..."
Anyway, I moved on and sent a second chance offer to the next bidder in line, who was on at a couple dollars less. This person responded that he would be on at $130, which seemed odd to me at the time... almost like the two top bidders were working together. I decided to ignore his offer and went to the third place bidder and made the deal at his last bid which I can't recall but was happy with.

A week ago I listed another clock, it sold for almost the exact same amount $172.50, I send the invoice, buyer flakes out again, I send second chance offer to next bidder in line and he says he will take it for $130. Hmmm? Deja vu. I declined his offer and went to the third place bidder just on principal.

It is very seldom that I sell a clock and usually it's a newer one that somebody has gifted me which doesn't really suit my taste (or theirs that's probably why they gave it away!). So I'm not really pressed to get every dime out of these clocks but I'd rather take a dollar or two less and deal with an honest individual. What's been happening almost feels like a planned scam that is somehow under eBay's radar.

Two high bidders working together could determine when they are they only two active bidders left and then, when the top bidder defaults, the second place bidder will know when he passed the third place bidder by one dollar and goes back to that figure. Simple.

Has anyone else here experienced anything along these lines or do you think this is just a strange coincidence?
I'm not particularly delusional or my wife would have pointed that out by now, I'm sure. I don't sleep in a tinfoil hat and I pray I'm not overly paranoid.
Skeptical regards, Joe

 

[Raymond101]

I don't sell on ebay but have bought quite a few good deals. But I have noticed that there are ebay buyers or reseller bidding. If you look on the regular site Not the mobile site the bidders have a number. That number is traceable. And it's easy to spot these guys it's not 2 bidders it's 1 with 2 accounts.. or they mark themselves as private these are resellers 90% .
But as a seller you can request the information from ebay & ban them from your auction..

 

[Dick C]

I gave up on Ebay a few years ago based upon their business practices.

Do a deep search of their reviews.

 

[Mike Mall]

Total BS anyway you look at it.
I would report this to Ebay - and let them look into it.
According to their policy ....

 

[tracerjack]

Bidding on an item is a binding contract. If the buyer does not pay within the time frame, the buyer can be reported to Ebay. Rather than going to a second place bidder, I would find out from Ebay how the sale can be canceled, then relist the auction.

 

[Joe Gargery]

Raymond, what you say makes perfect sense now. I hadn't thought of one buyer with two accounts.

Dick, I agree, eBay was much different and much more honor system friendly several years ago. Less fees and control too!

Mike, I think you're right as well. I will report and follow up with eBay. Like the police, I don't believe much in coincidence.

tracerjack, there doesn't seem to be much weight to their "binding contracts". I complained about the original deal going south, eBay just shrugged their shoulders and let the buyer back out with no negative effect. Then eBay suggested I give the 2nd chance offer.

Something about decay in Denmark.....

 

[Steve Neul]

Mods, if this is the wrong forum please feel free to move this thread to the appropriate arena.

I had an unusual experience on eBay and then I had the exact same experience again. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this strange behavior.
A couple months ago I listed a clock on eBay and it sold for approximately $175.00. I sent the invoice to the buyer and got a response of "Sorry, I thought I was bidding on a different clock..."
Anyway, I moved on and sent a second chance offer to the next bidder in line, who was on at a couple dollars less. This person responded that he would be on at $130, which seemed odd to me at the time... almost like the two top bidders were working together. I decided to ignore his offer and went to the third place bidder and made the deal at his last bid which I can't recall but was happy with.

A week ago I listed another clock, it sold for almost the exact same amount $172.50, I send the invoice, buyer flakes out again, I send second chance offer to next bidder in line and he says he will take it for $130. Hmmm? Deja vu. I declined his offer and went to the third place bidder just on principal.

It is very seldom that I sell a clock and usually it's a newer one that somebody has gifted me which doesn't really suit my taste (or theirs that's probably why they gave it away!). So I'm not really pressed to get every dime out of these clocks but I'd rather take a dollar or two less and deal with an honest individual. What's been happening almost feels like a planned scam that is somehow under eBay's radar.

Two high bidders working together could determine when they are they only two active bidders left and then, when the top bidder defaults, the second place bidder will know when he passed the third place bidder by one dollar and goes back to that figure. Simple.

Has anyone else here experienced anything along these lines or do you think this is just a strange coincidence?
I'm not particularly delusional or my wife would have pointed that out by now, I'm sure. I don't sleep in a tinfoil hat and I pray I'm not overly paranoid.
Skeptical regards, Joe

I would contact ebay and complain about those people.

 

[tracerjack]

Definitely something fishy. There is a learning curve with Ebay which has its share of sharks.

 

[demoman3955]

Total BS anyway you look at it.
I would report this to Ebay - and let them look into it.
According to their policy ....
View attachment 763562

Ebay dosent care. I showed them screen captures of 3 bidders/sellers, or at least accounts that were doing shady stuff, and nothing happened.

 

[demoman3955]

I was going to bid on a couple things from the same seller, and didnt win the bids. both were listed and shown as sold and yet the same seller was selling them as a new auction with the same photos and word for word discription. seller also had other auctions up so i started looking at his past sales, and the same "buyers" were the same ones that bought the original things i was bidding on.

 

[Mike Mall]

I was going to bid on a couple things from the same seller, and didnt win the bids. both were listed and shown as sold and yet the same seller was selling them as a new auction with the same photos and word for word discription. seller also had other auctions up so i started looking at his past sales, and the same "buyers" were the same ones that bought the original things i was bidding on.

There is some shady stuff going on all the time.
I've seen several listings for obviously, outrageously, overpriced items with something like "34 sold" showing in the listing.
Things that were selling for many times their obvious value.
I"ve always assumed that was a form of money laundering taking place.

 

[Raymond101]

Yup plenty. I saw a large bar of chocolate on one seller last year $2k .
Yup something told me it wasn't regular plain chocolate. Yes there is an old saying buy beware. .
I always contact the seller first and then it's easier to see if it's genuine or something else.. .
Happy hunting.

 

[Steve Neul]

Yup plenty. I saw a large bar of chocolate on one seller last year $2k .
Yup something told me it wasn't regular plain chocolate. Yes there is an old saying buy beware. .
I always contact the seller first and then it's easier to see if it's genuine or something else.. .
Happy hunting.

Sometimes a vendor if they are out of stock on something rather than taking the listing down they will raise the price so high nobody will bid on it and when they get the inventory correct the price. I've seen that often.

 

[JTD]

Sometimes a vendor if they are out of stock on something rather than taking the listing down they will raise the price so high nobody will bid on it and when they get the inventory correct the price. I've seen that often.

That is exactly what happens. Some time ago I saw an item at an absurdly high price and I, perhaps rather naively, asked the seller if he had made a mistake. The answer I got was that no, it was not a mistake, he was just out of stock of that particular item but wanted to keep the listing in the public eye. As soon as he had new stock, the listing went back to the normal price.

JTD