We've have been purchasing at on-line auctions sine the year 2000 and largely for the most part, we have always felt that these auction platforms are mostly fair and equitable to both the auction houses and bidders.
However, we have upon occasion have discovered or strongly suspected that there have been some auctions we attended where the prices were artificially bid up by inflated dummy or fake bids. These fake bids are from a seller who employs a fake buyer or pool of fake buyers out there in an effort to spark competition with a legitimate real buyer. The fake bidders will try to bid up an item against you in an effort to see how much you as the real buyer (and often the only real bidder) is willing to pay. Once they bid you up to where you stop bidding , they cease fire so to speak and often times will retract their bids at the last hour which makes your runner up bid the winner.
The tell on this when something like this seems suspicious, is when the same thing happens more than once when you bid on more than one item from the same seller. It is definitely a rarity to have a bid be retracted and then you be declared the winner. It virtually almost never ever happens. However, if it happens more than once with the same seller where a bid got retracted and you become a winner again, then you know you're being played by a fake bidding ring. It is too much of a co-incidence to have lightning strike twice in the same spot so to speak.
If you are okay with having been bid up and are still at price that you feel comfortable with, then technically no harm done. If you ever bid on items from that same seller again, you'll just have to be aware of their unscrupulous business practice and make sure you only bid what you feel is what you want to pay.
However, if you did get carried away in bidding in the heat of the moment and later on felt you probably bid more than you normally would had because of all the competing bids, then this is definitey a case where the seller and their fake bidders won one over you and it is not right. You can in this situation to take up the matter with Ebay, especially if you want to return an item and the seller is not co-operating with you.
Best of luck buying at auction and always stay alert and be aware of any potential set ups or rigged auctions out there. Likely 99.99% of the time things will be just fine, especially since Ebay is extremely protective of its buyers and always goes out of their way to prevent fraud and poor business practices.
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Greg Arbutine
Silver Museum Owner
The Silver Museum buys all sterling flatware and hollowware regardless if it is rare or not. We want it all!
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Excellent advice on bidding at on-line auctions!