How to REALLY Check an eBay Seller (or Bidder) Before You Buy a Pin
I am sick of hearing that my DPF friends are getting scammed by unscrupulous eBay sellers to the point that people are afraid to buy pins, or can't trust themselves when looking at an auction. I have privately shared this information with a few friends, and now I am sharing it with all of you. This isn't by any means an end-all to the problem, but every little bit helps. I learned this trick from an 11 year eBay veteran with over 5000 purchases, and it is what I use (and my friend) to protect ourselves just a little more from jerks trying to sell fake pins or that try to jack around sincere bidders. And yes, I have successfully caught and reported sellers this way. The latest one I caught and got removed from eBay had to do with an auction I suspiciously lost; the seller and winning bidder had the same male name and similar set of numbers in the user ID, and I knew I had caught another shill bidder and reported it. The seller was suspended for 2 weeks and the buyer was deleted permanently.
I know this post is long, but read it all before you try using this info so you understand it all or it won't make much sense.
Ever wanted to really check out an eBay seller and see what they have been up to? Or check to see if you are getting taken for a ride? This is a little back door, fully legitimate trick I have divided into two parts that eBay isn't aware of that you can use to get the inside scoop:
1. Go to eBay and log in
2. Click "Advanced" (next to the topmost search bar)
3. Under the "Search including" header, check the "Completed Listings" box
4. A handful of lines lines down, under the "Sellers" heading, check the box next to "Only show items from:" and put in the seller's ID in the type box
5. Leave everything else blank
6. Hit search
7. On the next page, put in the Captcha number thing it asks for (if this comes up at all) and continue on
This is valuable for a couple reasons. First, you can look at what pins they have sold recently and for how much it sold (or didn't sell) for and not just look at feedback. You can see their selling trends and prices all on one page without having to click on an untold number of item numbers and see if there are any suspicious practices; have they sold 20 of an LE 100 recently? Are they price gouging? Do the auctions seem fixed? Are they selling suspicious lots of pins for unbelievable prices? This first part of the search might not look too fancy, and you might have seen this before, but keep reading. It is secondly (and most) valuable when combined with my next method but it needs an example as to why it is useful first...
Shill bidding is a bane to buyers on eBay. For those not familiar with the practice, here is how it works. We will make up 2 eBay IDs as an example and call them Account_A and Account_B. The seller, Account_A, puts a "New and Improved Widget" up for sale auction style. The seller then intends to ensure that he gets the maximum top dollar for his Widget, so he makes a second account or borrows one from a buddy, Account_B. He then uses Account_B to bid on his Widget he is selling under Account_A so that he can raise the price. He can find out what the max bid is that you left by bidding $10,000 with Account_B then retracting the bid, then rebid with Account_B to -just barely- under your top bid so you pay the max. Or he could then outbid you outright if he feels that your winning bid is too low. In this case, he is thinking that he might eat it on a dollar or two in seller fees if he does that, but he dodged the bullet in selling you his Widget for way too "cheap". Not only is shill bidding shady, it violates eBay policy and it is against the law.
If you are afraid you have been outbid via shill bidding or feel funny about how an auction is going or ended that you have bid on, do this:
1. Click on "Advanced" next to the topmost search bar
2. In the box on the left under "Items", click "By Bidder" and the screen will change
3. In the type box that comes up, put in your OWN eBay user ID (if you don't yet have a suspect) -OR- the user ID of someone you already suspect and have the full username for
4. select "Include completed listings (last 30 days)"
5. Pick your number of desired listings to view in the dropdown box (50-200)
6. Hit Search
You will be shown a very interesting and very different looking data table. 99.99% of all people on eBay have never seen this information, and practically no one knows it even exists. This gives you some very, very valuable information. If you use your own ID, you can actually see the real ID of the person that outbid you, either by their current bid or by the winning bid, as long as they outbid you. You see the real user ID and not that p****r nonsense you see when you look at the bid history. You can see if the names are remotely similar between buyer and seller, such as (completely fictional example, neither ID exists) I_Luv_Dizzzzney_Pins as the high bidder and Dizzzney_Pins_Rock as the seller. Now you have a suspect bidder ID. If you go back to step 3, you can put this suspect bidder ID in the box and see EVERYTHING THAT PERSON HAS BID ON. You can then click on the bidder name and see his/her entire history, or go by the info found in step 3. If they tend to bid on stuff from the same seller repeatedly but don't seem to win at all or very often, and/or the seller and bidder names are just too similar to sound coincidental, report it as shill bidding. Reporting shill bidding is a little tricky now since eBay doesn't call it shill bidding anymore. If you don't know what eBay calls it, you won't find it easily. You have to click on Report Item on the item page, then select the following: Report Category - Listing practices, Reason for Report - Fraudulent listing activities, Detailed Reason - Seller is using other accounts to inflate item price.
Now you have a couple of tools you can use to check up on suspect activity. You can:
- See exactly what the seller has been selling and at what price
- See who has been winning items you have been bidding on
- See if you have fallen victim to shill bidding
- Match what a winning bid was with the name of the winning bidder
- Protect yourself in an unscrupulous bidding world
- These are not the only things this info is useful for; work with it and use it to your advantage!
Important Notes:
- I know it looks messy and it can be quite confusing, but give it a couple of tries on things you bid on and lost, and on sellers you have done or tried to do business with to get the feel of it and get used to the info you will see.
- The first time you use the second part of this method to look up a bidder for any item, you must start by searching for your own ID or you will get no helpful information, and it will only help you in looking at items you have already bid on (of course if you are worried after looking, just retract your bid). Searching for yourself is the only way to see the ID of the person that outbid you.
- Keep in mind the second half of this method won't work if you are the high bidder; you will only get the info back on yourself in the search results if you are the high bidder/winner. The second method only works (usefully) if you have been outbid or lost.
- And please, please don't use this information in a way that could be seen as abusive, such as spamming the high bidder with nasty messages. USE IT ONLY TO PROTECT YOURSELF!!!
- And lastly, it might sound silly, but please keep this under your Mickey hat so to speak. For now, it is a very backdoor method, and my veteran friend that has used this for years told me that as of yet, even after the 2008 changes to "protect buyer information" eBay has yet to correct this method of looking up real bidder IDs. If it gets into their hands, it could disappear.
If you get lost or have any questions, let me know!
Good Luck and Safe and Happy Bidding!
~Geoff
Note to Moderator: I placed this thread in this section of the forum because this is where DPF members always go when they suspect an eBay seller of suspicious activity. Should you feel that the location is inappropriate, please feel free to move it to where you see fit.
I know this post is long, but read it all before you try using this info so you understand it all or it won't make much sense.
Ever wanted to really check out an eBay seller and see what they have been up to? Or check to see if you are getting taken for a ride? This is a little back door, fully legitimate trick I have divided into two parts that eBay isn't aware of that you can use to get the inside scoop:
1. Go to eBay and log in
2. Click "Advanced" (next to the topmost search bar)
3. Under the "Search including" header, check the "Completed Listings" box
4. A handful of lines lines down, under the "Sellers" heading, check the box next to "Only show items from:" and put in the seller's ID in the type box
5. Leave everything else blank
6. Hit search
7. On the next page, put in the Captcha number thing it asks for (if this comes up at all) and continue on
This is valuable for a couple reasons. First, you can look at what pins they have sold recently and for how much it sold (or didn't sell) for and not just look at feedback. You can see their selling trends and prices all on one page without having to click on an untold number of item numbers and see if there are any suspicious practices; have they sold 20 of an LE 100 recently? Are they price gouging? Do the auctions seem fixed? Are they selling suspicious lots of pins for unbelievable prices? This first part of the search might not look too fancy, and you might have seen this before, but keep reading. It is secondly (and most) valuable when combined with my next method but it needs an example as to why it is useful first...
Shill bidding is a bane to buyers on eBay. For those not familiar with the practice, here is how it works. We will make up 2 eBay IDs as an example and call them Account_A and Account_B. The seller, Account_A, puts a "New and Improved Widget" up for sale auction style. The seller then intends to ensure that he gets the maximum top dollar for his Widget, so he makes a second account or borrows one from a buddy, Account_B. He then uses Account_B to bid on his Widget he is selling under Account_A so that he can raise the price. He can find out what the max bid is that you left by bidding $10,000 with Account_B then retracting the bid, then rebid with Account_B to -just barely- under your top bid so you pay the max. Or he could then outbid you outright if he feels that your winning bid is too low. In this case, he is thinking that he might eat it on a dollar or two in seller fees if he does that, but he dodged the bullet in selling you his Widget for way too "cheap". Not only is shill bidding shady, it violates eBay policy and it is against the law.
If you are afraid you have been outbid via shill bidding or feel funny about how an auction is going or ended that you have bid on, do this:
1. Click on "Advanced" next to the topmost search bar
2. In the box on the left under "Items", click "By Bidder" and the screen will change
3. In the type box that comes up, put in your OWN eBay user ID (if you don't yet have a suspect) -OR- the user ID of someone you already suspect and have the full username for
4. select "Include completed listings (last 30 days)"
5. Pick your number of desired listings to view in the dropdown box (50-200)
6. Hit Search
You will be shown a very interesting and very different looking data table. 99.99% of all people on eBay have never seen this information, and practically no one knows it even exists. This gives you some very, very valuable information. If you use your own ID, you can actually see the real ID of the person that outbid you, either by their current bid or by the winning bid, as long as they outbid you. You see the real user ID and not that p****r nonsense you see when you look at the bid history. You can see if the names are remotely similar between buyer and seller, such as (completely fictional example, neither ID exists) I_Luv_Dizzzzney_Pins as the high bidder and Dizzzney_Pins_Rock as the seller. Now you have a suspect bidder ID. If you go back to step 3, you can put this suspect bidder ID in the box and see EVERYTHING THAT PERSON HAS BID ON. You can then click on the bidder name and see his/her entire history, or go by the info found in step 3. If they tend to bid on stuff from the same seller repeatedly but don't seem to win at all or very often, and/or the seller and bidder names are just too similar to sound coincidental, report it as shill bidding. Reporting shill bidding is a little tricky now since eBay doesn't call it shill bidding anymore. If you don't know what eBay calls it, you won't find it easily. You have to click on Report Item on the item page, then select the following: Report Category - Listing practices, Reason for Report - Fraudulent listing activities, Detailed Reason - Seller is using other accounts to inflate item price.
Now you have a couple of tools you can use to check up on suspect activity. You can:
- See exactly what the seller has been selling and at what price
- See who has been winning items you have been bidding on
- See if you have fallen victim to shill bidding
- Match what a winning bid was with the name of the winning bidder
- Protect yourself in an unscrupulous bidding world
- These are not the only things this info is useful for; work with it and use it to your advantage!
Important Notes:
- I know it looks messy and it can be quite confusing, but give it a couple of tries on things you bid on and lost, and on sellers you have done or tried to do business with to get the feel of it and get used to the info you will see.
- The first time you use the second part of this method to look up a bidder for any item, you must start by searching for your own ID or you will get no helpful information, and it will only help you in looking at items you have already bid on (of course if you are worried after looking, just retract your bid). Searching for yourself is the only way to see the ID of the person that outbid you.
- Keep in mind the second half of this method won't work if you are the high bidder; you will only get the info back on yourself in the search results if you are the high bidder/winner. The second method only works (usefully) if you have been outbid or lost.
- And please, please don't use this information in a way that could be seen as abusive, such as spamming the high bidder with nasty messages. USE IT ONLY TO PROTECT YOURSELF!!!
- And lastly, it might sound silly, but please keep this under your Mickey hat so to speak. For now, it is a very backdoor method, and my veteran friend that has used this for years told me that as of yet, even after the 2008 changes to "protect buyer information" eBay has yet to correct this method of looking up real bidder IDs. If it gets into their hands, it could disappear.
If you get lost or have any questions, let me know!
Good Luck and Safe and Happy Bidding!
~Geoff
Note to Moderator: I placed this thread in this section of the forum because this is where DPF members always go when they suspect an eBay seller of suspicious activity. Should you feel that the location is inappropriate, please feel free to move it to where you see fit.
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