Is it against eBay rules to have a friend bid on your auction with no intention to actually buy it?

Question

For example, if you forgot to set a reserve and your auction is going for less than you wanted, is it against eBay rules to have a friend put a large bid down and then you pay him back?

Answer 1

Favourite answer

It is fraud, so yes against Ebay policy

Answer 2

I doubt if they care who buys anything. They take their 10% whether it’s your friend or Joe Bloggs. If it forces the price up they collect more, why would get object?

Answer 3

 yes - (its called "shill" buying) its also illegal

(what "david" says is neither against the rules, nor illegal - its called "snipe" buying

In my early days of auctions on ebay I quickly realised that the auction was more of a con than an auction cos they all had a time limit

 So for even an "auction" lasting several hours - 6 hours 59 minutes of it were irrelevant cos the only thing that mattered was the last minute cos the highest bid at 7 hours won the auction

   This is contrary to a normal auction cos this continues until there are no more bids

  The ONLY purpose of the 6 hours 59 mins was to induce potential buyers to increase their bids so THEY became the new "highest bidder" thus ratcheting up the winning price and encourage them to keep bidding

NOW I just wait until the last say 10 seconds and put in MY highest bid

 If I win I win , and most of the time I get it for far less than I was prepared to pay

If I lose at least I know it went for MORE than I was happy to pay

EITHER way I "win"

Answer 4

no, are you going to pay the fees as well

Answer 5

eBay would not care. They just want their transaction fee. If you put something up for auction and it is worth $10 and have your friend bid $20 eBay would get their standard 10% of the final bid plus the Insertion fees etc.

Answer 6

eBay has probably developed algorithms to detect that sort of fraudulent behaviour. I used to suspect that bids were being pushed up like that a few years ago but not recently.

Answer 7

while it certainly is sneaky and likely against the rules -- i'm also sure it happens all the time.  Of course, the failed seller [you] still has to pay eBay's fees

Answer 8

It's fraud..  and ebay can suspend both accounts if it's discovered

Answer 9

Of course it happens, but it's unethical.   Not sure what ebay would do if they were aware, but I would just wait to see active bidding,  There are A LOT of people who bid within the last few hours, sometimes in the last few seconds.  

Answer 10

Why not just the the auction early for the reason that it's inaccurate description and then repost it in a couple weeks?