Belt Auction

What are the tell tale signs that someone is "shill bidding"?

NOTHING ticks me off more than a dishonest seller on ebay! i know i've been the victim of it several dozen times. i hear ebay has a pretty sophisticated way of catching shill bidders. has anyone else been a victim? and if you do shill bid, why are you so greedy and dishonest? why not just start with the minimum you'll take and let it play out? LifeLong, Shill bidding is the act of bidding on your own auction against other bidders in order to raise the price at which your item will eventually sell. It is a violation of both eBay rules and federal law.

Public Comments

1. Back when it was easier to detect, shill bidding didn't happen all that much. When I reported it, the seller and bidder were quickly de-registered. I had to report one seller several times because he'd register under a different name. Now that eBay masks bidder IDs, it's harder to detect. Sure, if you see a bidder bid high, expose your bid, get cancelled, rebid just *below* your bid, yeah, you can tell. Buy if you get a nibbler with a low feedback count, it's impossible to distinguish between a new member and a shiller.
2. The other way is to put in your bid for the highest price that you are willing to pay, and refusing to re-bid, even if it's just $.50 more than what the current bid is. You may not win all your auctions, but more than likely, you'll be able to get what you want from another seller at the price you are willing to pay.
3. I'm not familiar with the term.
4. I don't think I have ever run it to this myself. I think I would go with the suggestion to go as high as I was willing to bid and no further. Sometimes it's difficult to do if i is something you really want.