The "auction" (for lack of a better word) is over. Look at what happened.

[T206Collector]

The concern of a market artificially inflated by shilling is a red herring, in my view. It is an argument used solely to respond to the shilling-indifferent in an effort to point out a tangible cost of shilling. However, if ebay eliminated all auctions and went solely with a BIN feature, where shilling would be impossible, you would be left with the same potential for market inflation as you have today as a result of false sales of items.

To me it's simple: people hate shilling because they perceive that they overpaid for an item. My response is (1) don't pay more than you want to pay for something, and (2) there is no parallel market where shilling is eliminated and things become cheaper as a result. The elimination of shilling just means higher BINs for everyone.

But, finally, of course it is good to out the auctioneers who engage in shilling. Smart consumers do well to be alert to such pricing fraud. I do not think that being alert to shilling is antithetical to my views on this matter.