Hi Jim, From the auctioneers podium its really quite easy to tell who's bidding. I don't like to use spotters for a small auction like ours, but people volunteer to act in that capacity, I don't want to hurt their feelings so I let them but I still know who's on the money. The protection bid vs shilling is also a lot easier than you think it is, (example) lot dies at $150, I make the call all finished, suddenly someone hollars five hundred dollars! At this point unless your a little slow, everyone in the room knows we've just heard from the seller, , I now go back to the high bidder($150) and say something along the line " I think $510 will get the lot bought" Nine times out of ten he will decline, but occasionally a buyer will go ahead and pay the sellers price. This was a protection bid. Shill bidding is a little tougher, if someone is bidding on his own lot it is almost always a new bidder starting after everyone drops out but one bidder, if I know it's in bad faith which all shill bidding is, I can sometimes ignore the bid, this action sometimes will make the seller rethink his strategy and take the top bid. There are way to many situations to go into in this post but beleive me I seen most of them and I know how to handle them. Unfortunatly there our no perfect auctions or easy answers, we offer our time and expertise and try very hard to please the vast majority of our membership. Other than that I don't know what else I can tell you except if someone thinks they can do better I'd be more than happy to give them this auction along with all the money I make from it<g>. Regards Jim Kruse