Cels Forum

Dear Friend,

Yes, there is something you can do.  I have been the victim
of a schill scam in the past plus I had a friend who was
also a victim as well, and here is what we did:

1. FIND AS MUCH EVIDENCE AS YOU CAN ABOUT THE SHILL SCAM.
   Look at the other auctions the seller is running.  Try
   and see if they are also pulling the same shill scam on
   those auctions as well.  Look at the bid history of those
   auctions or just the seller list.  In my case, the bid
   history of the other auctions run by that seller had the
   SAME person bid against me in EACH case.  In my friend's
   case, looking at the seller list, the same user was
   bidding (and "winning") EVERY auction the seller had
   listed (and the seller was listing over 100 items!).
   Afterwards, in my friend's and my case, the seller
   contacted me saying that the high bidder had "pulled out"
   so they could offer me the item for my high bid.  My
   friend caught on right away, but it took me 2 auctions
   from this seller to catch on (the same bidder pulled out
   twice!).

2. TRY CONTACTING THE OTHER AUCTION BIDDERS.
   Try e-mailing the seller's other auction "losers."  They
   too might have been approached with an "offer" from the
   seller saying that their high bidder has "pulled out" so
   they could offer them the item at their high bids.  In
   my friend's case, she found out (and she only had to e-
   mail a few of the "losers") that they too were approached
   by the seller saying that the winner had "pulled out."
   If you are a victim of shill bidding, chances are that
   the seller is trying to pull the same scam on everyone
   else!

3. USE THE USER QUERY TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
   THE "OTHER" FAKE BIDDER.
   Go to eBay's user query page to find out about the user
   you suspect of being an alias for the seller or friend:

http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?UserInformationRequest

   The above URL will e-mail YOU AND THE PERSON YOU ARE
   ASKING ABOUT your name, address, and phone number
   (basically all the stuff you filled out to register on
   eBay).  In my case, EACH (this seller had 3 eBay IDs!) of
   the users lived in the SAME PLACE PLUS THEY EACH HAD
   SIMILAR NAMES (and they were all AOL accounts and each
   eBay ID was created at the same time).  In my friend's
   case, they were also all AOL accounts with 0 feedback.

4. AFTER YOU HAVE GATHERED AS MUCH EVIDENCE AS YOU CAN THAT
   YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF SHILL BIDDING, CONTACT EBAY'S
   SAFEHARBOR.
   E-mail safeharbor@eBay.com about your suspicions and
   evidence.  HOPEFULLY, they will be able to confirm your
   suspicions as well at stop the shillers.  In both my
   friend's case and my case, Safeharbor agreed with our
   suspicions and the sellers were suspended from eBay and
   their fake IDs terminated!  On the first offense, a
   seller will be suspended for a month and all their fake
   IDs terminated.  On the second offense, the seller's ID
   will be terminated, BUT that does not prevent them from
   creating a new one and starting all over again =(.

Well, I hope this helps!  Good luck in your pursuit!


Sincerely,

Sonia