Ebay Schilling

yuppy · Oct 17, 2008

1) Goto ebay and make a low bid on an item that is under priced

2) Near the end of the auction or not, have a friend bid a rediculious amount.

3) Right before the end of auction retract the bid that was too high

4) The next highest bid wins.

Easy way to get stuff on the cheap, but I'd be careful about doing it too many times with the same account

The practice is not only prohibited by eBay regulations but also illegal in many countries. Despite this the practice continues and some believe is becoming more widespread.

Schilling, the practice of a seller placing phony bids on their own listing , thereby increasing the final value when sold(or by having others do it) is now absolutely rampant on ebay...On the last 4 high end items I have won on ebay, involving many thousands of dollars, newbies with absolutely NO feedback have come TOTALLY out of the blue and placed high bids near the end of the auction! New members RARELY bid 3-5 thousand dollars on their first auctions in my estimation, and this activity is highly suspicious to say the least! When I ask ebay to investigate, the answer is always the same- WE CAN FIND NO EVIDENCE!! Of course they cant because the only way they WOULD is if the bidder admitted to being a schill!!! This practice is getting so obvious now that I do not even want to bid anymore- And the way ebay now HIDES bidders identities from one another makes the problem even WORSE!!

Theres someone bitching about it on another forum

Anyway, anyone tried this? Or anyone had it done to you? I wouldn't risk it in the US more than once. Kuz if it works once you could just chaulk it up to dumb luck.

birdjuice · Oct 17, 2008

It's not worth it in my opinion. The way I look at it is it's difficult to scale volume-wise such that you're making decent money. You're going to have to assume each account you do this with is toast.

Best to find more automated ways of generating cash flow.

Saracin · Oct 18, 2008

Sounds interesting, but don't you have to retract your bid at least 24 hours before the end of an auction?

BlackBeret · Oct 18, 2008

I don't think your example would work. In order for a third party to see how high the schill's bid is, they have to keep increasing their bid. When the schill pulls their bid the lowball isn't the second highest bid, it's whatever the 3rd party bid up to. Would work great for the seller, but the lowball bid isn't going to win.

bape · Oct 18, 2008

lol, ive had many sellers who didnt sell me their product due to the fact that the price was too low.

IMO, this will not work anymore.

vapid2323 · Oct 18, 2008

This is a well known Scam, most people will see this and report the user.

seodeveloping · Oct 19, 2008

Whether or not you consider it a scam... if you have some other people involved, are bidding on something with no reserve, there is a great chance you can get it for next to nothing.

Ebay Schilling

yuppy

Regular Member

birdjuice

Registered Member

Saracin

Registered Member

BlackBeret

Regular Member

bape

BANNED

vapid2323

Newbie

seodeveloping

BANNED

Main Menu

Marketplace

Making Money

BlackHatWorld

Other