Has anyone yet noticed the eBay codeword “administrative cancellation” appearing on a Bid History page? That’s the one eBay now uses to cancel only the reported (and reluctantly accepted by eBay) shill bidding IDs on current listings while no longer taking down the shill bidding seller’s current listings or ultimately their selling account.
For example, take a look at the Bid History pages for this most naïve and blatant shill bidding seller’s current listings at
http://shop.ebay.com/loretta55555/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=and in particular the item nr 280539416798. Needless to say this seller was reported by another user for shill bidding.
This exercise again clearly demonstrates two things:
1. Contrary to their claims, eBay has no sophisticated nor proactive system for the detection of even such blatantly obvious shill bidding;
2. Things are becoming particularly desperate at eBay now. Clearly, the revenue from listing fees alone is not sufficient to keep the rusting old tub afloat. So, eBay apparently will no longer touch a seller’s current listings or selling account no matter how blatant is the shill bidding, and this effective lack of action against a shill bidding seller, by eBay, is now an even more deliberate and blatant criminal facilitation of such “wire fraud”.
Obviously, eBay now needs all the final valuation fees (FVF) it can get, and the potentially higher FVFs that may otherwise be obtainable from such a shill bidding seller are apparently no longer to be sacrificed even on eBay’s “pretend” altar of trust and safety for users.
Shill bidding is rampant on eBay nominal-start auctions, about which eBay does effectively nothing. eBay doesn’t care who pays the FVF—legitimate bidder or the unsuccessful shill—as long as eBay gets a FVF for every possible item.
You will notice that the same “administratively cancelled” bidding ID, along with one other ID, is shown as “NARU” on this seller’s completed listings. You will also notice that this “sanction” by eBay has not stopped this seller from again shill bidding on some of those same current listings with yet another new bidding ID.
eBay: a most unscrupulous—indeed criminal—organization.
