My (super unpopular) opinion is shilling should always just be considered fair and legal and explicitly allowed in all auction platform terms of service. If everyone knows the rules of engagement then we can deal with it and adjust our buying strategies and price thresholds accordingly. Shilling is obviously endemic to the hobby and this won't change anytime soon; why pretend that it can or will be prevented? Edit - to be clear, I believe that a winning 'shilled' bid should always require payment/fees/taxes/shipping/re-insertion fees, even if the buyer and seller are the same party.
A seller bidding to bring a price higher functions the same as buyers having a hidden 'max reserve bid' and last-minute sniping (both designed to depress the price). Early on Ebay decided to forbid shilling while programmatically favouring the buyer's side; this was likely because it still wanted to charge for failed auctions when seller's reserves are set.
Last edited by slightlyrounded; Yesterday at 02:31 PM.
Reason: clarity
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