I rest my case your honour.

I just looked and for me it is still showing £7863.00????

Terry

Like a yo-yo this Terry, back up as you say to £7,800 odd

I think I've figured out what has happened.

u***b withdrew his highest bid and this resulted in the bid going to the lowest bid c***a (the other person who has registered high bids) made before the bidding war between the two of them started.

The previous highest bid was £185 from e***7 (which was made 4 days ago) and, as c***a still had bids registered, the bidding went to £5 higher than this bid.

u***b has then, as he is required to do so by eBay rules, has then made a further bid and is now winning the auction at £7863.

I can only feel sorry for the seller who must have had kittens when he saw the bidding drop so dramatically.

The original high bidder was a private feedback account, 3***0 (private), see my screenshot post #10.

It does appear as you say all bids by that private bidder were withdrawn taking it back down to £190.

The new highest bidder u***b (768) appears to have only placed one bid and waded straight in with £7,863(+) whereas originally 3***0 (private) had placed numerous bids.

If the underbidder was the mark and target it makes no sense in a shill going back to high bid. As gas man said the underbidder c***a (1282) has had their high bid smoked out so could be targeted easily.

All very irregular now.

It certainly seems so, especially with a new bidder coming in with just under 4 days to go, when he could have swooped in the last few seconds in order to win the auction.

Something definitely seems amiss.

I'd like to think that in fact, eBay choose to force the high bidder, 3***0 (private) into revealing himself or his alias, c***a (1282) somewhat due to the attention and high price this lot is eliciting. It begs the long debate about why they allow "private" bidders in the first case which just raise suspicion among other bidders. At the prices we're talking about here, I think many would like to see more transparency and eBay preemptively obliged.

Unfortunately, I somehow doubt the buyer will eventually be posting the title for discussion on the Forum! :)

Private feedback is a function facilitated by eBay, so eBay would not need to ‘reveal’ the bidder as they know who he/she is.

It is possible to track bidders / buyers via their feedback score… I’m sure everyone on this forum has been sniped by an account currently with a feedback score of (36098) and knows who it is. Private feedback prevents this.

Another reason for choosing private feedback may be the type of items you buy, if personal etc.

This bidder twice placed a massive bid which was withdrawn shortly after.

Luc - when you say 'seller' do you actually mean the seller, or a different 'bidder'? please. It has all got me very confused. It certainly does not look like a straight forward transaction whoever is involved.
Mike

I meant bidder, not seller, sorry. Post now edited.

Indeed it appears that u***b (768) who was the high bidder last night on £7,863 has retracted their top bid only so they are now the underbidder.

c***a (1282) who would have been the suspected target of a shill bid is now, lo and behold, the high bidder at £7,690.

If this is shill bidding, as it certainly appears, it’s been carried out by dumb and dumber.

I have messaged the seller to ask what is going on.

Many thanks for the clarification Luke and Luc - any insight would be very much appreciated please - as a PM or publicly - whichever you feel comfortable with.
Regards
Mike

Yo-Yo
 

Will do Mike. No reply from the seller as yet.

Struggling to keep up with this, it’s now down to £215.

It appears that c***a (1282) has (wisely) got out of there.

Bidding is now propped up by u***b (768) and our old friend 3***0 (private) has put in another appearance as underbidder? Beyond confusing.

What a mess.

It seems that 3***0 (1282) and e***e (1552) are two different people as they bid on items listed in totally different categories, and 3***0 (1282) also frequently bids on ebay France and Germany.