I think the following is close to what happens with a shill bidder:

I am willing to pay 4x for milk at my grocery store. I arrive and find it is on sale at 1x. When I bring it to the counter, the clerk says, "since someone wants to buy this milk, the price is now 3X. The price is still less than I was willing to pay originally, but now, I would be angry and consider the behavior of the grocery store to be completely improper, if not crooked.

What I was willing to pay does not mean I don't care about unethical and illegal price increases. Do you agree?

Michael Siskin