Do you guys consider this a shill?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

If your point is that its within ebays rules, then yes you are correct. This is still shilling, dishonest, BS or whatever bow you want to put on it...protect your investment with a BIN, high opening bid or a reserve...use the tools that were established within the rules to accomplish the same goals in an honest fashion. The definition of "dishonest" covers an awful lot of territory...

I think he's just mapping out the scenario, in asking whether it's shilling or not.

I agree with you though. Whether Ebay says it's shilling (and unfortunately it's a loophole Ebay would have a tough time doing anything about) or not is besides the point.

It's a shill bid, and it's too bad some sellers have to resort to this.

As somebody who often handles Ebay consignments (mostly lower end stuff), I can assure you I would be handling many more consignments if I agreed to let the consignor bid on their own stuff to set a secret Reserve, while still keeping the illusion of a straight auction.

I do think one of the biggest problems in the auction game is auction sellers caving into consignors expectations of what they expect to receive in return for their items, and then doing what they have to, to try and meet those expectations, instead of letting the actual market determine what their items are worth.