Pretty obvious that sort of thing goes on – if you use e-bay properly then it shouldn’t affect you.
Eh… how do you work that out ?
If your bidding on something, and Mr Shiller bids it up so you have to bid higher, surely your out of pocket more than you need to ?
Even if you snipe it at the end, your still paying a higher price (dictated by the shill bidder) than the oridinary bidders would have bid for it.
I did notice this contradiction though….
Last November eBay changed its rules to conceal bidders’ identity — making it even more difficult for customers to see whether sellers are bidding on their own lots…….
[and]…..Anyone caught shill bidding risks a permanent ban….
[and]…..The spokesman added: “The change to the way bidder IDs are shown has already resulted in a safer environment for users.”
Actually, i summise that shill bidding is actually not so frowned upon by eBay. In a well known recent example involving an aircraft gauge, the vendor only received a 2 week slap on the wrist.
Now any item over £100 does not reveal the bidder ID’s (except the winner) this is good for eBay, and people can’t report it so much on high value items, therefore by default, eBay make even more money in final sale fee’s. 😡
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