I was the victim of shill bidding on ebay!

[steve B]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

If the underbids that you "outsnipe" have been driven up prior by a shill doesn't it still affect the final price you pay in a negative way?

Not always.

If I place a snipe for say $100 set for 5 seconds from the item ending, and you have a max of $80 that you bid 3 days before I'll still win for one increment over $80 even if someone shills you to exactly $80. In that sort of scenario there's essentially no difference shilled or unshilled. (The shilling still happened, and was still wrong, but had no effect on the final price.)

It could affect the final price if for instance I have the same snipe for $100 you bid $80 two days earlier and the shiller bids say $85. In that case yes, shilling happened and affected the final price for the buyer.

It might also happen if I'm basing my bid on the current bids- In other words a more competetive bidding method
Sensible bidding =You figure a price you'd pay for the card based on the card itself, bid that price and no higher.
Competetive bidding= Figure that since it;s already $80 and I want it so I'll bid $100 even though $80 is retail or above.

The first combined with sniping limits the potential for shilling.
The second leaves a lot of room for the shiller to work.

Steve B