Stanley cheat is spared jail after faking eBay bids

Jul 6 2010 by Michael Wood, The Journal

A NORTH East man who became the first person to be prosecuted for bidding in his own online auctions has escaped jail.

Minibus firm owner Paul Barrett, from Lenin Terrace in Stanley, County Durham, was told by a judge at Bradford Crown Court he would have been facing a prison sentence if it had not been for his lack of previous convictions and the relatively small sums involved.

He was ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work by a judge who also told him to pay £5,000 in fines and costs.

The court was told how the case, involving so-called “shill bidding” on eBay, was the first of its kind in the UK following the introduction of new legislation. The judge was told trading standards investigators discovered the 39-year-old used two logins – paulthebusman and shanconpaul. He would advertise under one but put bids in using the other to boost the price.

The court heard his two eBay identities were set up using the same contact details and Internet Protocol (IP) address. The items involved included two Mercedes vehicles, a pie and pasty warmer, a cash register, a refrigerated display counter, three mobile phones, a Land Rover and a digital camera.

The judge was told how, in some cases, Barrett ended up winning the auctions and he would often then leave positive feedback on himself. In relation to a vacuum cleaner he left the comment: “Thanks very much. Item is great,” the court heard.

Harvey Murray, prosecuting, gave the example of how Barrett fixed the price of a pie and pasty warmer. He said the defendant put the item up for auction under the username shanconpaul with the sale due to close at 1.28pm on May 30, 2008.

Mr Murray said Barrett logged on as paulthebusman and placed five bids in the run-up to the deadline between 12.53pm and 1.23pm on the date. The bidding was at £74 just 35 minutes before the deadline, the prosecutor said. It sold for £127.

Trading standards officers uncovered Barrett’s eBay practices when a complaint was made about him by a customer who claimed he had been sold a “clocked“ 16-seater minibus which was advertised on the site.

The court heard the buyer found the minibus was advertised with a mileage of 55,013 miles but had actually done 132,401 miles. The complaint sparked a trawl of Barrett’s eBay dealings.

Judge Peter Benson imposed a community order involving 250 hours of unpaid work. He also fined Barrett £3,500 and ordered him to pay costs of £1,456.89.

Barrett admitted 11 charges under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Vanessa Canzini, eBay’s head of corporate communications in Europe, said the company welcomed the ruling.

She said: “While this case was not solely about shill bidding, we hope that it highlights how seriously we consider the practice of artificially increasing prices.

“This practice is not only prohibited on eBay as it damages the integrity and fairness of trading on our site, but it is also illegal.”