Seeing private bidding... is it possible that upping the price to rise up the price can be going on

[jan7331yahoocom2012]

I bid on several rings that are gold with man made diamonds, and seems that most bidding is being done to up the sale price.  please check these private bidders to see of they are doing this to up the price.  thank you

[momcqueen]

This is a member-to-member board. We can't do anything except offer advice so my advice to you is as follows: go to each listing where you think this is happening and use the Report link halfway down the page to submit your suspicions. You will find drop-down menus to choose from. The term for what you're looking for is 'shill' bidding and it is prohibited. 

[reallynicestamps]

You can see your own ID on the bids list, but mine will appear as something like r**s842 to everyone but me and the seller.Those are not 'private' bidders.

You do understand that most experienced bidders bid only once and that eBay has a program that executes those bids as newer bids arrive?

For example.

An item opens at $10.

I really want it so I bid $100, a reasonable price in my experience.

The auction opens to me at $10-- the minimum bid.

You come along and bid $11.

The auction now shows me as the high bidder at $12.

You keep bidding a dollar at a time, but until you bid $101, I will continue to be the high bidder.

Bid once, bid your maximum. (Check the shipping cost before you decide what your maximum will be, of course.)

If a seller is 'shilling' his bids, that is bidding on his own items, you will notice that he never wins. He doesn't want to win. He wants you to win at the highest price you will pay.

The 'tell' on this is many retracted bids especially if that bidder does not rebid.

You can defeat this tactic by 'sniping', that is bidding your maximum at the very last second.

You don't even have to be around to do this, you can have a service do it for you. Esnipe dot com is one.