Shill bidding is a fact of life anytime you choose to participate in any kind of auction be it live, internet, mail, etc. There are only a couple of lines of defense to combat this unscroupulas tactic. Try to deal with only reputable firms or individuals, which is very dificult online since you usually don't know who you are dealing with. Or the best auction advice anyone will ever give you, about auctions, decide the max you will pay for an item, bid up to that max and STOP win or lose. Jim