Just another scam.... The vehicle is in Australia, but the seller is in the US? What the fig? This is a hijacked user ID. The scammer is hiding the bidder's identities so you can't warn the other bidders and/or check for schill bidding.

Go to ebay's "Reviews and Guides" and do a search for scams. In particular, look at the Kubota tractor posting. The first thing you should do if you see a fishy listing, is report it to ebay. I'm not sure if it will work on this listing because of how it is set up.


Below is something I copied from another car forum by a seasoned ebayer. Longish, but interesting.

Gil
73 02

Stage 1...

- You look at All the Bids for any particular eBay Item X - that's the start
(easily done by clicking on "Bid History" right below Price for any eBay Item)
- You note Each eBay Bidders who placed Bids' for Item X.
- You then look at each Bidder's Bidding History via Advanced Search
(make sure you select "Completed" Auctions and "Even if Not Winning Bidder"
and "Last 30 Days" for each Bidder on Item X)
- You Look to See If Any of those Bidders have Bid on Any other Auctions of
Item X's Seller.

Now, when you find the 1 (sometimes 2) eBay User ID's that repeat bid on other
Items of a particular Seller (the Seller of your Item X)...

You keep Cross-Referencing (or just cross-reference cuz stage 1 bore no fruit).

Stage 2... (go to Stage 3 If your Item's X Bidders do not turn out to have
placed any Bids on your Item X's Seller in the past 30 days)

- You look at all the Feedback for Any Bidder who bid on Multiple Items of the
Seller of Item X in the past 30 Days (eBay completed Search only does 30 days)
(click on the Feedback Number behind eBay User Name... e.g., fiatbimbo (69)...)

What you look for...

- Bidders who only tickle the Auction's Final Ending price... cuz Sellers who
Schill Bid on their Own Items (or employ a "Buddy" to Schill Bid for them)
will rarely ever win one of their own items, happens, but its rare
- Schill bidders have patterns of bidding... you will usually see a Schill
Bidder bidding Only when the Schilling Seller is offering items for Sale...
that is, a bidder who only bids plus or minus a few days before and after the
eBay Auction run duration of the Schilling Seller's items

Stage 3... You go to potentially Schilling Seller's eBay Feedback History...
(Cross-Referencing Confirmation of Schill Bidding Sellers and their agents)

- eBay Feedback History will only show items (highlighted in blue) as a
clickable link for up to 90 days after Auction End
- But ! eBay usually shows eBay items on the eBay Database for at least 150
days to 180 days... thus, you can cut and paste eBay Auction Numbers
referenced in your Schilling Sellers eBay Feedback History and Search those
eBay Auction Numbers

Stage 4...

- You look for repeat Bidding by eBay Bidders (who never win the item) on that
Schilling Seller's Items for the past 150 days on that Seller's eBay
Feedback...
by checking Each Item that Seller has Sold (and gets Feedback) in the past 150
to 180 days via that Seller's eBay Feedback History...
you must check each item in the Hopes of finding Any of the Bidders on your
Item X showing up as repeat Bidders on Item X's Sellers other eBay items...

- When you Find (after thorough digging and cross-referencing) a True Pattern
of Bidding by 1 or 2 or a handful of eBay Bidders for any particular Seller...
and those Bidders rarely, if ever, win one of that Seller's Items...
Then, you look at that Bidder's Location in relation to Seller's Location.
(Is not always the Tell - as Schilling Sellers have become very sophisticated
the past year or so and will open up a P.O. Box cross country in order to
conceal their Location(s) to avoid the eBay Schill Bidding Search Spiders).
Same State Location of Seller and Repeat Bidders (and/or towns close to each
other) is a Schilling Seller's "Tell".

- Then, You look at the Items those Bidders actually win or Bid On Outside the
Category(ies) that the potentially Schilling Seller offers their eBay Items.

- If you see a Bidder that bids upon and buys children's clothing, Star War
items, inflatable love dolls - as well as Fiat Parts (or whatever Item X is)...
and... that Bidder is consistently bidding on a regular basis... across the
board of eBay items... Probably Not a Schill Bidder - highly unlikely.

If you see a Bidder that only Bids upon (and rarely wins) Items that are close
to your Item X' Category (e.g., Item X is Automotive and your cross-referenced
and Identified repeat Bidder(s) bid primarily on Fiat Parts, Camaro Parts, and
Car Covers Only)... Probably, is a Schill Bidder - highly likely.


Basic eBay Seller Schilling Pattern... is to place bids at either the very
start of the Auction (to put item in play and create interest) or at the very
end of the Auction (to jack up final auction price when Seller, having done
their own Cross-Referencing of their Items Bidders, has determined that the
Highest Bidder can easily be Goosed on the Bidding Price without the risk of
the Schilling Seller ending up winning their own Item)

Unfortunately... Quite a Few (and I gots proof from long periods of Research
on particular Sellers that sell what I sell, including a couple of Fiat
Sellers) eBay Sellers have alternate eBay User Buyer ID's that they employ for
bidding and purchasing across the board on eBay Items... they alternate,
efficiently, between their eBay Buyer ID's whenever they bid upon their eBay
Seller ID's Items.
That is, they rotate between, let's say, 4 eBay Buyer ID's that only buy
things that the Seller actually wants - using 1 eBay Buyer ID to Schill a
handful of their Seller ID's items, then, next Schilling go round, use their
Next eBay Buyer ID... so that...
the eBay Schilling Search Spiders never find any established pattern... cuz...
the eBay Schilling Search Spiders only cover the past 30 to 60 days of bidding
thus, If a Schilling Seller rotates between their eBay Buyer ID's every week
or two and Only bids upon their own items that have any Value... and...
cleverly disguises their Schill Bidding...
they cannot be found by the eBay Schilling Search Spiders.

I wonder if Private Dick aka Blunt will hire me as his assistant.
_________________
"It's what you feel, not what you ought to. Reasonable and sensible."

'75 Golf Yellow Automatic 2002 with Weber 32/36 DGAV - "Karl"

I reported that listing to ebay, and voila! It has been pulled. Way to go ebay!

I defer on comments re: Bigus Dickus...

Gil
73 02

Thanks for handling that, Gil. I was going to do that later but not until tonight. I tell you what, that was the crappiest eBay scam I have ever witnessed!
_________________
"It's what you feel, not what you ought to. Reasonable and sensible."

'75 Golf Yellow Automatic 2002 with Weber 32/36 DGAV - "Karl"