Too funny, the names were indeed named (not by me).....and it was effectively ignored LMAO!!!!! Well glad to know I was not just being paranoid! How odd that the argument changed as soon as the names were named!!!!!

I want to thank all of you who participated, it has been of great help in forming some concept of who to trust and who not to! In fact I have been busy making a new list, the ones who think shill bidding is okay (or is some weird hidden reserve auction) since I didn't pay more than I was willing...and those who recognize that it is illegal and a scam to cheat bidders out of their money.

In closing, there is indeed a bottom line to this story. Yes, these are auctions. Yes, there are bids, sometimes people snipe, it's the nature of the beast. However....shill bidding is both against eBay (and other auction) policies and illegal. You cannot hold an estate auction for your deceased relative and sit in the bidding aisles, bidding an item up and then wear a disguse and wig and dark sunglasses, put it back up on the auction block if you are unfortunate enough to outbid the person who honestly wanted it. Shill bidding is not a reserve, eBay has an option on the auction for you to place a reserve, which many do.

Why would you wish to tarnish a great hobby and a wonderful way for people all over the world to collect chips and what a shame that a few greedy people feel a need to defraud honest collectors by bidding up (or having friends bid up) items which they themselves offer at a low price? It is fraud when you shill bid. That, dear friends and fellow collectors, is the true bottom line in this discussion. It damages the hobby and those involved, because it can cause price manipulation, which in turn takes away liegitimacy from price guides, which in turn chases away collectors who have no issue legitimately paying book value or higher for chips. If the writer of the price guide gets kicked off eBay for shill bidding or other auction related issues/infractions that eBay sees as a negative impact on their members...how safe can the hobby be?

Besides, Angela started this thread because she was trying to Christmas shop for me....now she's so suspicious, I don't think I'll have any chips under the tree.....gee....thanks!

Robert