So, there's an auction with multiple bidders, sometimes as many as 6 bidders. It gets "sold" to bidder A. Everything fine so far. But then a few days later, the identical item (and they are all one-of-a-kind) shows up again for auction. This may go several times, with bidder A buying the item again.

So, yes, either bidder A is the same as the seller or a good friend.

It might not be as it appears. Months ago my husband put an item on EBay. The bidding was fast and furious at the end, Sold. The buyer just disappeared, the second highest bidder was no longer interested, he put the exact item went back up for sale again. The second time it did sell.

there are people out there who gets their kicks bidding to n stuff they have no interest in actually buying. And not just on EBay, happens often when he lists things on Craigslist too.

what if the one-of-a-kind item, was really something that was mass produced someplace and seller is describing as one of a kind b/c he can. I look at plants and I'm always amazed at how a plant that is practically a weed might be called "rare" by a seller. I don't really understand how manipulated bidding works, but I would report it. Ive heard it widespread when it comes to vehicles.

DH ran into something like this once. He was bidding on a couple of high school yearbooks from a VERY small town nearby. One would presume there would be a very small pool of buyers for these yearbooks. One was from 1973 and the other from 1974, same seller on both. DH won the bid for the 1973 book, but someone kept overbidding him for the 1974 book. So he quit bidding on that one.

It turned out the seller of both books lived in our same town. To be expected, I guess, considering the merchandise offered. When DH went to pick up the 1973 book that he won, the seller said, "While you're here, I have a 1974 book too. Would you like to buy it too?"

Hmmmm. DH is thinking that the seller was bidding against him the whole time, driving the prices up on both.

I was looking at area rugs on eBay earlier this year and found the same thing. A seller (with several selling accounts--I recognized the merchandise and sales pitch) would list for .99 starting price, but never sold anything for less than his other Buy-it-now prices. I became suspicious and checked the bidders' histories. Several had histories with only that seller, and multiple bid retractions.

Even though eBay warns against shilling, I don't think they care, or have the manpower to check all the suspicious activity.

I agree with all that's been said, and it's one reason I don't buy much on eBay any longer. I suspected, back when you could still look at the bidder's names and bidding history, that there were shill bidders on a couple of things I was looking at. I think it was either a friend, the seller, or both driving the price up. I usually would go in and bid while it was low and then just watch what happened. When it came close to closing, there was always a bidding 'war', in hopes someone would jump back in, then the item would suddenly be re-listed a few days later. Same thing would happen again. I finally just quit. I had some favorite sellers at the time and would occasionally go to those sellers.

Craigslist has been a nightmare. DH had something to sell & that process turned into us reporting a fraud. They sent him a funny-looking check and then wanted him to wire money to a shipper to have the item 'picked up and shipped'. He took the check to our bank and they immediately pointed out several flags wrt the check and reported it to their fraud department. Funny but the shipping charges were more than the item was worth. They could have driven to our city and picked it up for less. He finally re-listed it & sold it locally for cash.

I will very rarely bid on something on eBay that I can't just use "Buy It Now" to get. I don't have the stomach for bidding wars, and the possibility of shill bidding makes me want to engage in the actual auctions even less.

Report it....they may not do much if anything, but if enough people report a seller, eventually may Even!

Back in 2004 when we'd only been buying on eBay for a few months we found a piece of furniture for auction that we fell in love with. Those were the days when bidders' ids were visible and we were naive when it came to online auctions. There were multiple bids (literally dozens) from a handful of different bidders within the first couple of days - it was a ten day auction - and you could tell by checking the bidders' ids that some were dealers.

Instead of doing what we'd do now - wait till the last few seconds before placing a bid - we placed loads......every time someone else bid so did we, more like a bricks and mortar auction. During the course of the auction we were contacted by someone in France who said they had an identical piece, found in a barn (highly unlikely as this was most likely a one-off, specially commissioned item) that they could sell us for a certain price. Not being that stupid we asked to see pics - unsurprisingly we never heard back. Nonetheless we weren't deterred from trying to win the auction and ended up paying way over the odds - several thousand £££ - by the time the auction ended, over 150 bids later with us as highest bidder :-(

I'm convinced that there were shill bidders pushing the price up, especially knowing that they could see just how keen we were. We did get the piece valued a few years later and were told it was worth twice what we paid, which is some consolation!

These days we have an eBay business ourselves and do find that on the whole buyers are shifting away from auctions to the 'buy it now' method, although some items do still achieve better prices when auctioned - I think it's the mentality of thinking you're going to get a bargain, but before you know it the price has shot up!

My experience of reporting violations etc to eBay is that they rarely act upon it, but I'd still report it, particularly something like shill bidding.

Oh, I think eBay is very serious. I met an antique dealer who had great wares in his booth. I made a comment about eBay. Well, he ends up confessing to me that he once had an eBay account, and there was a complaint about something he sold. And even though he was trying to rectify it, eBay froze his account. He was told not to sell anything until the investigation was completed. In the interim, he tried to set up another account to sell and was busted due to the IP address he was using. He told me that eBay suspended him from doing business on their site. His complaint was they made a decision and didn't even try to hear his side, even though he had been a successful eBay seller for years. I don't know if what he was telling me was true, but it sure seemed like it.

Lizzierobin - same thing happened to a friend of mine. She had a very successful business buying clothes from the local thrift stores and reselling them online. She'd go on dollar day, buy up all kinds of designer clothes for $1 and sell them for $10-15. Buyers got a bargain, she made 10x her investment. Til one day a buyer filed a dispute saying the item of clothing she had described as royal blue was actually navy. She had had another similarly stupid complaint about a week before that one and had refunded both buyers but ebay shut her down and will not let her open another account. She called and wrote to them multiple times but apparently they are judge and jury and once they banish you you are gone for good. She was a stay at home mom and this was a very nice source of side income for her -- poof. Gone.

I rarely bid on anything on ebay. I use the buy it now or nothing. I got so sick of the sellers obviously trying to raise the price by bidding on it themselves. I am always amused when outbid by the seller, then i get an email saying i lost the auction, and then another email announcing that guess what?!?!?!? That item you lost is magically relisted by the same seller! Dont you wanna come try again? Nope. Also, I get REALLY irritated when I'm outbid in the last 10 seconds or so. Is it really that serious that people are waiting until the last few seconds to screw someone out of something? I always put in my max bid, and it's truly my max. I'm not gonna go one penny over what I think it's worth to me. So if someone out bids me,fine. But it's the fact that some idiot with nothing better to do with their life is glued to their computer waiting for the last second to outbid me on something that makes me wanna go find the troll and administer the most painful wedgie I can muster. The last time this happened to me, it was a pink kitchenaid cooking utensil set. ( I have a thing for pink kitchen stuff you see,and it's getting harder to find it at a reasonable price) I was the only bidder for the whole frickin auction. The last time I checked it was about 4 hours before the auction ended. I went to pay for it, and I realized I was about 2 minutes too early, and then poof,outbid. So annoying. I hate people like that. And I hate that ebay won't give up the buyers info so I can send them a simple email on proper etiquette in a civilized society. Maybe I can find them out lurking on black friday, tripping old ladies who are on the way to the same sales rack. Or at the goodwill,stealing the goodsout of the donation bins at night.

There are websites that will place last minute bids for you. They are called snipers. I haven't used one--I have actually only ever bought via buy it now on eBay. But those last minute bids are not coming from people following the auction personally.

It's still annoying. And the offending bidders still deserve a wedgie....

You know, it somehow never crossed my mind that the seller would create an account and bid the item up or have friends do the same. Probably because I'm not a crook. Geez.

As to the bidding wars at the end. I usually prefer buy it now options but I've been known many times to wait until the last few seconds and bid. I was also going to mention the sniper sites that I've used a few times. I have a life, but can and will make a point to carve time out of my schedule if I want something. I know that if I don't there's a good chance that someone else will. I also don't see the point in driving the price up days in advance and it's quite an adrenaline rush. I wouldn't do well at live auctions! I can never understand why people bid an item up when it has days left to go and you know, depending on the item, it's likely to keep going higher. I guess at times it could have something to do with my first paragraph.

I'm sitting here dumbfounded that I never thought about people driving the price up on ebay.

I don't understand why people just don't put in their max price their willing to pay the first time and be done with it. Let the highest bidder win. It's not "driving the price up" if one person is willing to pay more than someone else. It's only "driving the price up" if the seller is behind it. That's the only thing that irks me. I'm okay with losing an auction. If you're willing to pay more than me,great. It's not losing that bothers me. It's having some cyber skulker sneaking around the finish line. Like a thief in the night. It reminds me of those people in casinos that just sit and wait for someone to get off a slot machine because they think they can win if they take over while the chair still has my butt print in it. Or eait for people to win so they can rob them in the patking lot. Bottom feeders. Well deserved wedgies all around!!!

"Let the highest bidder win" is just what people are doing, whether they bid days in advance or at the last second. I too have bid in the last seconds, but I have never paid one of those sniper sites. Don't really see why it matters when I place my bid. It you have already bid at the highest you are going to bid, why would it matter if I placed a higher bid days before the auction ended or seconds before it ended?

I agree. Amylou, your words are quite harsh and insulting, particularly since you don't know who here are "bottom feeders". I always bid at the last few seconds and never show my hand days before if it's an item I really want. Otherwise, I give the shill bidders an opportunity to drive up the bid, and also risk losing the item. If you choose to do otherwise, that's your right, but I won't call you names.

OK, look at the link below. If you missed it or were outbid, you have a second chance --- starting at double the originally "won" price. There were 9 different bidders, with buyer o...u for the win.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262186301629?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

second chance for same rug

And then we have

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262180838788?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Same winner, and here you have again a second chance --- for a price.

second chance

That is a dishonest seller, nosoccermom, but I would have knocked his items out of the running just based on his appallingly low approval rating. And, the reporting of dishonest tactics in the buyers giving negative feedback reveals his crookedness.

It's 95.5% positives, and while some of the feedback seems to support my charges, others don't seem bad (like, shipping took 12 days or shipping charge is too high).

95.5% is very low because of the way ebay handles disputes.

I don't generally bid on any item whose seller has less than about 98.5, and that's if the negatives are shipping or some other benign reason. I also consider the number of sales the seller has. This one has 175, with 8 negatives in 12 months. That's a lot, when some sellers have thousands of sales over years with 100% feedback.

Edited to add: The reputable sellers go out of their way to avoid negative feedback because their eBay fees are less with greater buyer satisfaction, and they're in it for the long haul. The less reputable sellers are making so much from their buyers compared to their investment, they don't care. The proliferation of these types of sellers, along with the "Buy it now" (often with many of the same item, where the seller buys items from close out sites, and charges unsuspecting buyers up to double the price, when googling would reveal this), are the reasons I now seldom buy from eBay.

Bottom feeders? Oh, please. Last-second bidding, or even using a sniping tool, is in no way disruptive to civilized society and people who employ these methods don't need a lesson in any kind of "etiquette." It's a commonly accepted and fair way to play the game, and if you're upset about that, then don't play. Simple.

I wonder why it's called "sniping." That word brings up all sorts images of fair play doesn't it? Auntjen, I generally don't "play the game" as you phrase it anymore since I think this behavior is distasteful and sneaky. To me it shows bad character when someone gets their jollies snatching something away at the last second. To those of you who like to do that, i hope that item bring you extra joy for all the trouble it took to get it away from someone else. I don't recall ever getting angry that I didn't win an item. It's just stuff,after all. Even now,if I have to bid on an item it doesn't make me as angry when someone pulls this stunt. It makes me roll my eyes,sigh and accept that there is no escaping it. As with many other things in this world,just because it's commonly accepted doesn't mean it's right. I do apologize to any of you who I have personally offended with my opinions, but they are what they are I'm afraid.

It's nothing to take personally.

From Wikipedia:

Uses of bid sniping[edit]

Strategy[edit]

Experienced bidders on online auctions with fixed ending-times often prefer entering bids late in the auction to avoid bidding wars (multiple rounds of bidders each increasing their maximum bid to temporarily regain "current highest bid" status) or bid chasing (where the presence of an existing bid encourages others to bid on the same item).

Economic analysis of sniping (Roth and Ockenfels, 2000[3]) suggests that sniping is a rational gain-maximizing (i.e., price-minimizing) strategy for bidders in auctions which fulfill two criteria:

1. the end time is rigidly fixed
2. it is possible to gain additional information about the "true" value of the item by inspecting previous bids

For example, a novice antiques buyer may prefer to bid in auctions which already have bids placed by more experienced antiques buyers, on the grounds that the items which the experienced buyers are interested in are more likely to be valuable. In this case, more-informed buyers may delay bidding until the last minutes of the auction to avoid creating competition for their bids, leading to a lower winning bid. The highest bid 10 minutes before the end of a contested auction is often not at all representative of the eventual selling price.[citation needed]

Analysis of actual winning bids on eBay (Yang and Kahng, 2006[4]) suggests that winning bidders are more likely to have placed a single bid late in the auction, rather than to have placed multiple incremental bids as the auction progresses.

Avoidance of maximum bid fishing[edit]

Many online auctions use proxy bidding, an iterative sealed bid auction where winners pay a fixed increment over the second highest bid. The auctioner does not disclose the current maximum bid, but the second highest bid is always public.

In proxy bidding, the wise bidder must know in advance the "true" value of an item as a basis for their secret bidding limit. The fact that the maximum bid is revealed when it is outbid introduces the possibility of maximum bid fishing. Bidders unsure of the value of an item may incrementally increase their bid until they narrowly exceed the previously hidden maximum, thus placing themselves in a winning position without placing a very high bid.

Sniping eliminates this possibility and effectively converts the auction to a Vickrey auction, the same as a proxy bidding auction except that all bids are kept secret until the close of bidding.

Shill avoidance[edit]

Sniping closes a loop-hole to fraudulent practice by a shill which allows an agent for the seller, which may be another account of the seller, to raise the bid to the maximum. They then hope the original bidder will increase their maximum bid even by a small amount to win the auction. The danger to the seller in this case is that the original bidder may not choose to increase their bid, leaving the seller with a futile transaction (selling the item to themselves) which will often still incur a fee from the auction service. Bidding at the last moment prevents a shill bidder from pushing the auction higher, as they have no time to make the incremental bids required.

Objections[edit]

Non-sniping bidders object to sniping, claiming that it is unfair to place bids at a point when it is impossible or unfeasible for other bidders to evaluate and possibly counter the bid, causing them to lose auctions even though they would have been willing to meet the winning bid amount. Bidders sometimes object to sniping when multiple identical items are listed as a separate lot, or on breakup auctions, where items that constitute a set are broken down and sold separately, as they must wait to find whether their maximum bid on one lot has been exceeded before being in a position to decide whether to bid on another.[citation needed]

However, online auction sites, unlike live auctions, usually have an automatic bidding system which allows a bidder to enter their maximum acceptable bid. This is a hidden or proxy bid, known to the system, but not any other bidders; during the auction the actual bid is incremented only enough to beat the existing highest bid. For example, if an item's current maximum high bid is 57 and someone is prepared to pay 100 and bids accordingly, the displayed bid will be 58, with the hidden maximum of 100.[5]

The failure of a maximum acceptable bid beaten by a sniper prepared to pay more is not due to the act of sniping, unless the original bidder would have bid higher on seeing their bid exceeded. For this reason, opposition to sniping can be analyzed as more of a subjective reaction to losing an auction for the usual reason of not bidding enough, than a reaction to a "dirty trick".[6] The beaten bidder would have beaten the sniper if their maximum bid had been more than the sniper was willing to offer.

However, if the minimum bid increment is very low, the Sorites paradox can come into play, and make it difficult for a person to establish a single maximum bid.[7] For example, if the minimum bid increment on an auction is 10 cents, it can be difficult or impossible for a person to identify a price which they would be willing to pay to win the item, but they would not pay 10 cents more.

Who takes losing an auction personally? If you're willing to pay more,fine. Good for you and the seller.The distaste comes from the "dirty tricks" and sneakiness. I didn't need a copied and pasted definition of bid sniping. How about looking up what just plain "sniping" is and what "snipers" do in a non bidding situation? Then ask yourself why the word was adopted to describe this "commonly accepted and fair" practice.

Amylou, I thought it sounded like you took losing an auction to sniping personally. Calling others "bottom feeders", saying they deserved "wedgies" and comparing them to thugs who rob people in parking lots ... that's just how it came across. My apologies if I misjudged.

I didn't copy and paste from Wikipedia solely for you. I found the entry interesting, and thought others who have been participating in this thread might too.

FWIW, I believe the term "sniping" was coined because bids that arrive in the last seconds of an auction are a bit like a gun being fired from a concealed location that takes someone out. That's neither good nor bad. It just is. An auction is an appropriate place for the element of surprise. It's the nature of the game.

If this practice is the nature of the game,then so is a seller trying to get as much as they can get, whether it be through fair and honest practices,or by shill bidding. Everyone here seems to agree that THIS is dishonest an appaling and sneaky and wrong. I would certainly agree. However, I would wager that the sellers who engage in this would argue that it's business and part of the game. To me, they both have the same sneaky elements,though they are manifested differently. Both are icky.

I also interpreted amylou's words, such as, "someone gets their jollies snatching something away at the last second" and attributing "bad character" to the winner as taking the online auction process too personally, .

If I am in a race, and am beaten by someone who ran faster than me,I do not take it personally. If I am about to cross the finish line and the other racer grabs me or trips me or hires someone else to do so at the last second in order to win,I still do not take it personally. It does, however show that the other racer is a cheat. Tripping is a risk you take in the game right?

Unless someone insults my dogs, I don't not take anything personally, and if people who engage in these practices feel they are doing nothing wrong, they should not be offended by my opiniono of their behavior

Shilling and Sniping ...

One is allowed ...

One is not.

Quite frankly, it is not your opinion I find offensive, it is your persistence in labeling others cheats, even after some of us in this online community have told you that your name calling is personally insulting, I have never seen your name here before, so I assume you are new. Most of us, many whom have been here many, many years, would quickly apologize if inadvertently insulting another member. You choose not to. That's your right, but it doesn't buy much good will in a community designed for advice.

I believe I did apologize earlier. However, I will do it again. I do apologize if I personally offended anyone here. I am sure you are all lovely people who do not maliciously engage in behavior that is meant to cause harm anyone else. I won't apologize for what I think and feel though. I call it like I see it. Perhaps it would be better to not express differing views and true thoughts in this forum. It is not pc. I am not new here. I have been a member for years, but only post when I feel I have something to add, or want to start an open and honest conversation among intelligent people. Again I am sorry for my nature. I have been called names that I feel don't apply and are not accurate to the person I am, and therefore I do not get offended or even care. I sometimes forget that others have more sensitive nature. I apologize for that. The name calling was uncalled for, whether or not I judge them to be accurate. I will keep those particular opions, those in the form of name calling that is, to myself and my own mind from now on,at least in this forum. I truly do not wish to offend,merely converse honestly.

4boys2, just because it is allowed does not mean it is RIGHT.

Ah, the "pc" devil...meant to deflect responsibility onto others' "sensitivity". I'm not sure what names you think you were called, since I see none, but I know you referred to "cheats" right above your post saying you had apologized. I'm done.

How is that? The act of apologizing acknowledges a wrong,thus taking responsibility and expressing remorse for it. If it is sincere that is. My apology was entirely sincere. The fact that way to many people get their feelings hurt way to easily if the conversation is not pc is just fact. If i feel the shilling sellers are dishonest crooks,it's how i feel. If i feel the snipers are sneaky,that's how i feel. If I feel someone is a cheat,or a creep or freeloading mooch or a bad parent/child/sibling/neighbor or a bad person in general or anything else NOT NICE based on their behavior I just feel that way, but it was neither right nor pc to express that theory here. It was off the original topic of this post,and it hurt feelings. For that I am sorry.

I was not referring to any names I was called here. I have not been called any here. Just life in general, which is not always nice and neat. So glad youre done. You wanted an apology, got a sincere one, and still you are offended. Can't appease everyone I have hurt. I can only try and leave the rest up to the offended to forgive,or not.

Another way to think of this using your race analogy: if I pace my running and hang back just behind you and when in sight of the finish line I push myself all out and cross ahead of you, am I cheating? Don't watch the olympics.

I don't like bidding wars either and choose not to participate. But that is my option and not a requirement of the other bidders.

If you KNOW you are faster than I am, why not just run ahead and win, so I can stop running and go get ready for another race? In a live auction,you bid until you get a high bidder. I'd the auctioneer say going twice..and someone else bids higher, the others are still allowed to continue bidding until no one else is WILLING to go higher. In an online auction, a time limit is absolutely necessary or they would never end. Don't get me wrong, I have no sympathy for people who don't put in their max bid at the start and lose that way,especially if they were willing to pay more. I just think it's more honest if people put in what they are willing to pay,not the price they hope they get it at. I just don't like the sneak factor of sniping. If someone is willing to shell out more than I wanna pay, I want to move on and try to find the item at another time at the price I am comfortable with. Why do I keep repeating myself??? No one is understanding me.

Experienced bidders snipe. They do not engage in those silly bidding wars that go on for days between inexperienced bidders until the price is jacked way up. Those people are really annoying. If you want to pay the highest price possible for something, or lose, put your bid in early or get lured into a bidding war. It benefits only the seller and ebay, so of course they like to tell people that is the way they should bid. If you really want an item, place your highest bid in the last few seconds. There is nothing dishonest about timing a bid effectively.

A seller who bids on their own merchandise under a different id or who has their friends do so to raise the sales price artificially is clearly a crook who is transacting, in any auction, anywhere, illegally.

There is a huge difference between shilling and sniping or they would ban the snipers and reverse those sales.

Wouldn't Ebay just be another antique store or flea market if not for the bidding wars ?

You see-I don't want you to know what my top dollar is-What, so you can go that 1 dollar more ? And yes- I want that item for the least amount of money.

If you are a seller that doesn't want to run that risk list it as "Buy It Now" or put a minimum amount .Better yet sell at a flea mkt.

Don't shill..

amylou123, I think we all understand you just fine. We just disagree. Your views are not the commonly understood ways in which eBay auctions work. People who use snipers are not being mean or rude or anything else negative, they are following the rules and bidding in an effective and commonly accepted way. That's just how it works. You don't have to participate if you don't like how it works.

I don't worry about it anymore. If it's not a "buy-it-now' at a price+shipping I want, I don't even look at it. The same item WILL come up again with a buy it now. I have quit bidding. I will not get in a bidding or reselling war!

I only scanned through most of the recent stuff. Just wanted to add as far as bidding at the last min. that is my max bid I'm just not plugging it in the box for all to see days in advance. I figure out what I want to spend before the end comes. I don't view that as cheating or dishonest. Sometimes the items will go more than I want to spend before it gets down to those last few min. and I'll pass. I see nothing wrong with not wanting to pay more for an item. I'm not doing it to be a jerk. I think the motive behind why we do something is important and defines our character.

Ebay is highly automated. When you enter an item there are prompts that tell you about description, initial pricing and other elements of the listing. The seller can go with those or not. "Buy It Now" is an option eBay touts.

If there is an issue with certain sellers as described by the OP then I would email ebay and ask them to investigate.

As someone who has bought and sold on ebay for many years, I can tell you it has changed a great deal. There are as many deadbeat buyers as sellers. Buyers will bid up an item, win it and then decide they don't want it. Or simply not respond.

That could be an explanation for the reappearance of an item. It happened to me. The high bidder wrote to me and just said she had changed her mind and wouldn't be taking it -- two days before the end of the auction. Not a thing either ebay or I could do. So it looked sold but it wasnt. I had to relist it. Relisting can be automatic.

So if a seller is demented enough to bid up an item and buy it back, then relist it to get a price that would be an explanation for what's being described. People do all kinds of weird things to look successful.

It's important to check out a buyer before buying from them. The feedback system is tricky -- I look at the enthusiasm of the comments. I also check the shipping very carefully as it's also been skewed. Sellers want signatures or proof of delivery because scammers were claiming they didn't receive things they purchased.

As for bidding, that's an art. I don't use a sniping program. But experienced buyers who actually want an item know how to get it and it doesn't involve leaving a high bid early on. That can work but it also cam be a path to disappointment.

Quick follow-up:

Looks like the seller's shop has been closed down. Now, of course, it may be just a question of time before he pops up under a new name.

"So if a seller is demented enough to bid up an item and buy it back, then relist it to get a price that would be an explanation for what's being described. People do all kinds of weird things to look successful."

I think it's a failed shilling attempt They bid to drive the price up to where they want but end up winning the item themselves so have to relist it, looking for another sucker.

Actually, in many cases, it worked for this particular seller.

In other cases, it's a way of not selling the rug for less than he is willing to let it go without setting a minimum price ahead of time. The way this seller worked was to relist some of the rugs he "won" as Buy it now for a higher price, so the initial bidding was a way to gauge a price.

It's too bad because I still really like the rugs.

I've been on e-bay for years because it's the only place I can find genuine antique Chinese porcelain (along with lots and lots of fakes) and this practice is endemic there. Other collectors have complained about this to e-bay numerous times and I think they couldn't care less because it doesn't affect their profits. They allow shamelessly fake sellers from China to sell there (all items from China are now fake), some items selling for thousands of dollars, and inexperienced people buy them. To me that's criminal, but these sellers are always very careful in their language, never precisely claiming an object is from a particular era or dynasty, but managing to make it sound as though it were. E-bay is big business, and the bottom line is their profit margin, I'm afraid.

That's why I'm surprised they closed that shop after I submitted numerous complaints