Beating the Online Auction Shills

Recent articles in the media have highlighted the practice of shill bidding (e.g. Sunday Times, 28/1/07.

Not only is the practice cheating buyers out of a fair deal, but its growing prevalence is eroding user faith in online auctions. The practice is illegal in many countries and prohibited by eBay, Amazon etc.

Find out how the Southampton team plans to stop shill bidding using a simple tweak to the auctioneers’ pricing structure here.

4 thoughts on “Beating the Online Auction Shills”

    1. Figure out how much you’re willing to pay for an item
    2. Bid that as your maximum bid
    3. Walk away and don’t look at it until the auction is over

    Basically, don’t keep bidding. Stick to your maximum price and you won’t get hosed.

  2. I guess that’s also my approach, but it does mean that you might not get the bargain of bargains you hoped for

    db

Comments are closed.