Shill Bidding Notice??? MC038 Kind of scared....advice?
Hi guys, I am new here, but relieved to have found these forums.
I just got a notice from ebay that they removed my listings (only 2 of them, I don't sell much on ebay) due to shill bidding on some other listings that ended already (I sold 4 pieces of jewelry and 1 dress).
Basically what happened was I listed four pieces of jewelry. This listings were up and had bids already. I was telling my grandmother about it, and she said "Oh why didn't you tell me about the jewelry, I would have bought it from you". So I told her to create a profile (well I did it for her) and bid on the items. I had NO IDEA that this wasn't allowed. I don't sell much at all on ebay, just purchase a lot.
She didn't end up winning any of the auctions anyway, but she did try.
So I get this notice saying that they suspected shill bidding and they removed the other two listings I had up. I had to take a tutorial and it seems my account is fine now, but I think I can only sell at a fixed price for a short time.
What really concerned me was that it said in the tutorial that they could pursue "criminal" action if they choose to! Is this for real? Could I get in serious trouble for this?? I wrote to them and explained my situation, but haven't heard back yet.
I would appreciate any advice/info you have.
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