I'm not here to defend anybody or argue that shill bidders don't exist and aren't bad. I don't disagree with you about the auction you've described costing you extra money. But, the simple fact is that you can never know when a shill bidder will be involved. So, as I said, never bid more than you think the chip is worth.

You can always go back and look at ANY auction that you won and question whether the other bidders were shills, and whether the outcome was "fair". The universe of chip collectors is small enough that you'll see the same names over and over bidding against you. Does this mean it's a conspiracy? Or just a coincidence? Can you prove it one way or the other? Doubtful.