>On another auction I placed several bids but none of
>them was high enough to be the winning bid. The
>auction closed late at night and there was a winning
>bidder. By looking at the winning bidders feedback I
>could see he had recently purchased from the same
>seller and received positive feedback.
>The next morning I get an email from the seller saying
>that he hasn't heard from the winning bidder and he
>would like to sell the item to me. Incidently his
>auction listing specifified 48 hours for the winning
>bidder to pay. He further goes on to state that I
>should withdraw my bid if I don't intend to purchase
>the item so I don't get negative feedback. Keep in
>mind I'm not the winning bidder and under no
>obligation to buy per Ebay rules.
>I'm pretty sure these guys are using shills to drive
>up the price and then going after whoever the highest
>legitimate bidder was to try and close the deal.

Sure sounds like it.

>I'm rapidly losing faith in the Ebay community. I'll
>still buy a few items and deal with some of the
>reputable vendors like 47th st photo but it's just
>getting a bit too weird.

I have had two scamsters respond to my eBay bids for digital cameras
(none of which I won), offering me the same item cheaply... through
the eBay e-mail! I forwarded their communications to eBay but never
received any confirmation; looks like eBay dinna care.

Beware that too... avoid any such offer.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut