Shill bidder on Ebay prosecuted
Discussion
Paul Barrett shill bidding may cost him a £50k fine.
Trading standards has issued a warning after an eBay seller from County Durham became the first in the UK to be prosecuted for online auction fixing.
Paul Barrett is facing a fine of up to £50,000 after using two separate eBay accounts to bid against himself.
North Yorkshire Trading Standards said those who bid on their own items, or who get friends and family to do it for them, are breaking the law.
The 39-year-old minibus hire firm boss will be sentenced on 21 May.
Jo Boutflower, from North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: "I think people do it either themselves or by getting friends and family to bid on their items and don't think they're doing anything wrong but actually they are breaking the law.
"We certainly hope this case is a bit of a wake-up call to people who do trade on Ebay, or other auction sites."
'Shill bidding'
Barrett was investigated after a complaint that he had advertised and sold a minibus on Ebay with false low mileage.
Officers found he was 'shill bidding', selling goods on the auction website under one username and bidding on them with another.
He told Skipton Magistrates' Court that he did not know it was a criminal offence to do so.
Barrett admitted 10 breaches of recent fair trading regulations, with each offence carrying a maximum fine of £5,000.
His case was adjourned for sentencing at Bradford Crown Court
A couple of years ago there was a company selling leather sofas they manufactured themselves.
They started them at .99p and they attracted lots of bids from different sellers with similar names along the lines of joanna1234 that had registered several years ago etc with no f/b.
Every night there was a new bidder with lots of f/b being bid up by one one of these with none. They didn't bid on any others the following day if they didn't win. Once or twice the 'no f/b bidder' won it but never left any f/b.
I reported this to Ebay several times and they did nothing about it, probably with sales of £400 to £500 every night it was earning them a fair wedge and maybe had a fair bit to do with their lack of interest in my complaints.
Trading standards has issued a warning after an eBay seller from County Durham became the first in the UK to be prosecuted for online auction fixing.
Paul Barrett is facing a fine of up to £50,000 after using two separate eBay accounts to bid against himself.
North Yorkshire Trading Standards said those who bid on their own items, or who get friends and family to do it for them, are breaking the law.
The 39-year-old minibus hire firm boss will be sentenced on 21 May.
Jo Boutflower, from North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: "I think people do it either themselves or by getting friends and family to bid on their items and don't think they're doing anything wrong but actually they are breaking the law.
"We certainly hope this case is a bit of a wake-up call to people who do trade on Ebay, or other auction sites."
'Shill bidding'
Barrett was investigated after a complaint that he had advertised and sold a minibus on Ebay with false low mileage.
Officers found he was 'shill bidding', selling goods on the auction website under one username and bidding on them with another.
He told Skipton Magistrates' Court that he did not know it was a criminal offence to do so.
Barrett admitted 10 breaches of recent fair trading regulations, with each offence carrying a maximum fine of £5,000.
His case was adjourned for sentencing at Bradford Crown Court
A couple of years ago there was a company selling leather sofas they manufactured themselves.
They started them at .99p and they attracted lots of bids from different sellers with similar names along the lines of joanna1234 that had registered several years ago etc with no f/b.
Every night there was a new bidder with lots of f/b being bid up by one one of these with none. They didn't bid on any others the following day if they didn't win. Once or twice the 'no f/b bidder' won it but never left any f/b.
I reported this to Ebay several times and they did nothing about it, probably with sales of £400 to £500 every night it was earning them a fair wedge and maybe had a fair bit to do with their lack of interest in my complaints.
I have stopped selling on FleeceBay and I offer to pay to a sellers bank so they can avoid the payscam fees now
Edited by Mr E Driver on Tuesday 20th April 16:18
"Barrett was investigated after a complaint that he had advertised and sold a minibus on Ebay with false low mileage. "
This is the reason they were interested, most likely they couldn't get him on it but were able to get him for the shill bidding instead, they wanted a result, simple as that.
Ebay don't care about the consumer (or the sellers for that matter) as long as they make money, utterly terrible and morally bankrupt company if ever there was one.
This is the reason they were interested, most likely they couldn't get him on it but were able to get him for the shill bidding instead, they wanted a result, simple as that.
Ebay don't care about the consumer (or the sellers for that matter) as long as they make money, utterly terrible and morally bankrupt company if ever there was one.
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