eBay seller to pay out £5,000 for shill bidding

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A County Durham man has been fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,456 for eBay shill bidding, placing offers on his own sale items in order to boost the price.

Paul Barrett, the head of a minibus hire business, has become the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for the offence after admitting to using two eBay logins to make the additional bids.

Barrett was found to have used the name “shanconpaul” for selling items and then bid on them through his other username “paulthebusman”, according to the BBC.

He was investigated by North Yorkshire Trading Standards after a complaint was lodged alleging Barrett had sold one of his vehicles over eBay with spurious low mileage claims.

The 39-year-old, who also posted positive feedback with the accounts, claimed that he was unaware shill bidding was against the law.

Barrett has also been told to do 250 hours of unpaid work.

At the time of publication, eBay had not responded to an IT PRO request for a response to the decision made at Bradford Crown Court but it has been widely reported that the online auction firm has welcomed the sentence.

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