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I was bidding on a phone today and bid quite high at £330 (as I was trying to get a really nice one as a present) but I was still outbid. Fast forward 2 hours and the seller, who seems quite genuine based on their selling history, just clothes, household items etc (ie, not a bulk seller of phones) has contacted me with a second chance offer as the winner had no feedback and wasn't responding.
When I looked at the bid history, the last bidder with *ANY* purchase history was way down at £250, all the subsequent bids (around 15 of them) were from two profiles with zero history.
So what is the scam here? Is it the seller trying to artificially inflate the price to the highest possible then getting me to buy at the highest price I would go to? It all seems very odd.
If you were willing to pay £330 then, why not now?
Sure, there may have been a couple of chancers, sure they may have been shill bidding, but that doesn’t change YOUR max bid.
Accept or don’t.
If you were willing to pay £330 then, why not now?
Because why should I if the seller artificially inflated the value for their own gain. There are plenty of phones on Ebay (and on GiffGaff, CEX etc) so I am not exactly desperate to get this particular one if it's just someone trying to maximise their own gain.
BTW, I won't accept the Second Chance offer as I already have one in my possession that can be the present, otherwise it goes back to GiffGaff with their 'No Quibble Guarantee' if I do manage to find a better item. It just has a small mark on the case and I would have preferred to give a near perfect one (not that it will remain perfect for long)...
send them a message along the lines of:
"When I looked at the bid history, the last bidder with *ANY* purchase history was way down at £250, all the subsequent bids (around 15 of them) were from two profiles with zero history"
send them a message along the lines of:
“When I looked at the bid history, the last bidder with *ANY* purchase history was way down at £250, all the subsequent bids (around 15 of them) were from two profiles with zero history”
Yeah I have done that and I am seeing how it goes – I am happy to pay a fair price.
Sure, there may have been a couple of chancers, sure they may have been shill bidding,
Shill bidding isn't is the same league as being 'a chancer'. Its a flowery word we use for fraud - proper criminal court fraud - and shill bidders on ebay have received five figure fines and it can carry a jail sentence.
Accept or don’t.
What do yo consider acceptable?
I am happy to pay a fair price.
A fair price would be 1p more than the highest genuine bid - thats how auctions work - not the ceiling fake accounts bid you up to
I wouldn’t be risking even getting the actual item you bid on if the seller is prepared to use underhand tactics to inflate the price. He/she can’t possibly think that 2 hours is enough time to claim buyer isn’t responding - alarm bells already in my opinion… Walk away. Oh and report them to eBay to maybe prevent them doing it again…
Yeah I have done that and I am seeing how it goes – I am happy to pay a fair price.
You already agreed what you thought was a fair price.
There are plenty of phones on Ebay (and on GiffGaff, CEX etc) so I am not exactly desperate to get this particular one
Buy one of those instead then.
if it’s just someone trying to maximise their own gain.
That's how Sales works. "I'd like to sell this for the least amount possible" said no-one ever.
Look. Yes, there may have shill bidding. Or other weirdness. Or there may not. Who knows. But ultimately the thing is worth whatever you're prepared to pay for it. If you thought it was worth £330 - to you - then it still is. If not then you had a lucky escape from overpayment.
Cougar - read what I’ve already said.
I'm with Cougar and Daffy here...
Have a look at the sellers completed listings and the bid history on them. If theres any other zero feedback bidders it will show a pattern of dodgy doings.
There are plenty of phones on Ebay (and on GiffGaff, CEX etc) so I am not exactly desperate to get this particular one if it’s just someone trying to maximise their own gain.
Is the exact same phone £330 or is it lower or higher than that?
If it is lower then why would you have even bid £330 for this one?
If it is higher then but the one for £330.
How the bidding went is completely irrelevant, do you want the phone for £330 is the only question here.
Sounds like it's already taken up too much of your time sleuthing about trying to figure out the sellers motives and methods. If in doubt, turn down the offer and move on. Life's too short...
eBay is awash with scammers, it's not quite FB marketplace, but it's pretty much as bad as it's ever been...
There are loads of genuine sellers and buyers on eBay (I’m one of them). Don’t be scared of walking away, if a deal is too good to be true then…it’s too good to be true. And if it isn’t, you can get the same (or similar) elsewhere anyway. I’ve had hundreds of interactions with negligible problems, I do wonder what people are doing who have issues repeatedly.
It has to be said that if you were prepared to pay £330 for it then that is what it’s worth OP as others have said. TBh if you are now doing a bit of diy investigating to try and get a better deal then you are sort of guilty yourself of trying to change the price in your favour. You should just walk away if you smell a rat or just pay what you offered and accept the item. Or are you intent on getting this particular item for a lot less than you were prepared to pay originally now that the seller is on the back foot? 🤷♂️
*waits for the “I’ve been scammed” thread whereby the OP is sent a box of screws instead of a phone and the seller won’t refund….
It has to be said that if you were prepared to pay £330 for it then that is what it’s worth OP as others have said.
But I got sucked into the whole bidding excitement thing (my fault) and assumed that it must have been worth that much (I had expected it to go for no more than £300 TBF). But clearly it wasn't worth that much. I honestly don't think it was the seller doing it either - as I said earlier, pretty much all they have previously sold is low value clothing items so it is really odd behaviour.
Just reject the offer and buy from CEX. Not even sure why you are wasting time thinking about it!
Just reject the offer and buy from CEX. Not even sure why you are wasting time thinking about it!
I'm not really - I'm just chatting on here. I have a solution for the phone already sorted. The phone I was bidding on went back on Ebay with a £340 BIN, now reduced to £330.
2nd hand phones on ebay area a magnet for scam bidders as well as sellers, they also tend to attract a lot of younger buyers, the sort who have zero history.
If this was on a directional speaker cable I'd be more inclined to think dodgy seller. On a phone I'd have very little reason to think its anything beyond the status quo.
That said I wouldn't buy a second hand phone on ebay from anything other than a commercial seller because its a market which makes FB marketplace look like sotherbys.
I honestly don’t think it was the seller doing it either – as I said earlier, pretty much all they have previously sold is low value clothing items so it is really odd behaviour.
I wonder if it was a hacked account, i.e. a genuine scammer with a pinched password? Sounds like you dodged a bullet.