How do you know your bids on eBay are not being messed with by the seller?

Question

I found some perfume on E bay that is going to quit being manufactured in about May, so I bid then they told me I was outbid again and again. How do I know the seller doesnt have a friend bidding against me to jack the price up?

Answer 1

if you bid and it tells you you are outbid it means another member has told ebay his maximum price. for example! If you are the first bidder on an item and you know that you do not want to spend more than $30, you can place a max offer of $30. your intial bid will be for the starting price which is usualy .99, then everytime someone else bids your 30 dollar bid will still be the winning bid until someone places a bid for more than $30. i hope this makes sense, so untile you place a bid that beats the other bidders max bid it will tell you, that you have been outbid. this is no scam at all.

Answer 2

You really dont.

I just put in the amount I am willing to pay, and if they go over that bid, then I keep looking elsewhere.

Dont get scammed!!!  I know people who used to do that c**p.  

Make sure you look at the shipping cost too, the usually jack that way higher than it needs to be.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 3

u dont!

Answer 4

I have to say, so many people do this on ebay, and i admit to it myself, the best way to avoid being ripped off by this is bidding up your item you want at the very end so they dont have a chance to log onto an account and bid the item up.

Answer 5

Unfortunately this does happen, its called shill bidding. If you suspect this is happening, report it to eBay, stop bidding on the product and do a search for the perfume again, but from another seller, and bid on that =]

Answer 6

Its always a risk you have to take.

It can be, and has been done..

If you suspect that this is being done you should report it to ebay as it is a suspendable offense..

It can often be clear if this is happening, if a lot of the feedback of the seller is from the same person, has the same sort of content (the same style of writing, same phrases etc) and has no relevance to the items being bought.

Just be careful.. If you place a bid of how much you are willing to pay, then they bid over that..then its their fault that they wont make any money. Just make sure you only bid what you are willing to pay, then if it goes over have a look for the same item from a different seller.

I must say though, perfume is a very popular item on ebay and often have many bids.  x

Answer 7

You don't, but that is the chance you take on Ebay.I've never had a problem though.It could be someone has a higher max bid then you put in.If it's near the end of the auction you could have been in a bidding war.I usually wait til the end to bid and there have been many times that it went back and forth between being the highest bidder and being outbid.

Answer 8

Well that would be kind of stupid to do because if you stopped bidding, his friend is stuck with the price and he makes nothing.

Answer 9

you never will know

cant you buy it before it quits being manufactured

Answer 10

That's why you decide what the most is that you will bid and stick to it. If the bid is $10 and some one bids $20 dollars and you bid $11 it will keep coming up that you were out bid till your  bid gets to $21. I doubt that they are having the bid messed with. It is a no no on eBay

Answer 11

You don't. Decide on your maximum bid and don't go above it. Happens to me all the time.