The good old days on eBay

[nolemmings]

but deliberately laying off an item so that someone else can win is indeed a form of bid rigging. More particularly it is bid suppression, and can also be called bid rotation, but these latter terms are just forms of bid rigging. It might be hard to prove and I wouldn't expect law enforcement to come down on you for a few instances of it in collectibles auctions of modest dollar items, but it is what it is. Just as a buyer should expect to pay only a truly competitive price for an item, a seller should expect to receive a truly competitive price also.

It's a difficult issue you face Leon, as to whether/how to show bids, but I like the idea of posting all actual bids and bidders only AFTER the auction is complete.

Best of luck on the venture, by the way.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

but deliberately laying off an item so that someone else can win is indeed a form of bid rigging. More particularly it is bid suppression, and can also be called bid rotation, but these latter terms are just forms of bid rigging. It might be hard to prove and I wouldn't expect law enforcement to come down on you for a few instances of it in collectibles auctions of modest dollar items, but it is what it is. Just as a buyer should expect to pay only a truly competitive price for an item, a seller should expect to receive a truly competitive price also.

It's a difficult issue you face Leon, as to whether/how to show bids, but I like the idea of posting all actual bids and bidders only AFTER the auction is complete.

Best of luck on the venture, by the way.

Todd- of course it is what it is, but like I said, those terms sound so harsh . Thanks for the well wishes.