As most of us are aware, eBay bidding activity can be suspicious, and canno t be relied upon as adding credibility to a seller's item and/or item descr iption. It's easy enough to enlist a bunch of your "friends" to bid up a n item just below the reserve to make the item seem more desirable. I ha ve seen this occur on many occasions in the eBay antiques category.
Shill bidding often occurs to drive up a price to make an item appear to be legitimate, and unfortunately eBay's new hidden bidder ID policy prevents others from seeing who is behind the bidding activity. They also s eem to turn a blind eye to reports of shill bidding, even though it is agai nst their rules.
This type of bidding activity not only occurs on eBay, but at live auctions also (i.e., the consignor is in the audience bidding on his/her own item t o assure the price they want is realized).
Recall some discussion not too long ago about an eBay seller who was shill bidding his own set of tires.
For what it's worth.
Kevin Kruger - Grantville, PA