Shill bidding

[glassfusemuse]

Even though I reported a seller for shill bidding on all the items they listed, they are still selling and at worst getting their own ' feedback ' artificially inflated as well as prices. I give up on EBay but dont buy from

[red_magpie]

EBay no longer wants reports of suspected shill bidding. If you read their guidance, it says that they now have their own procedures to identify and prevent it.

I think most of us will be a bit skeptical about this, but it's also true that bidders often suspect shill bidding where it doesn't exist. A repeat customer can easily look the same as a shill bidder. For privacy reasons, eBay has long ago removed the ability for members to check out other members fully enough to prove shill bidding. The best "give-away" today is frequent retraction of winning bids.

The best protection against shill bidding is to bid once only, and in the last few seconds before the auction ends. The seller won't risk shill bidding then as they might end up winning their own item!