Ebay and Shill Bidding

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I won the auction with a snipe bid. The underbidder (shill) put in a bid that was designed to set up an artificial reserve. When I bid, the price for the auction was $200 less than what I ended up paying for the card. I was unaware at the time the auction was going on that the underbidder was a shill (I don't normally check the bona fides of each bidder on an auction); however, after the auction was over I was surprised at the final price and grew suspicious. Obviously I put in too high of a snipe (arguably) but that shouldn't cause me to be stuck with a final sales price influenced solely by a single shill bidder.