When it comes to bidding on your own item, I am sitting on the fence, but here's a prime example of how to get caught out. This is the guy who I sold the Lin Green 23/25 card to, then later asked me for a refund because he may not be able to sell it for the same value he bought it for.
As you can see, he has been trying to offload this card for a while, and he has been bidding on his own item obviously. He should have sold it to the guy who offered the $122. The point is, if ebay really cared about stopping shill bidding, activities like this would have been easily caught out.
they dont care
I bidded on an item and had bid beaten on the bid .. only to have the lead again on the item after a bid retraction.
the person that over bidded me had 22 retractions in the last 6 months and when i did some research i had come to the assumption that I found the bidder based on the retractions and the items only ever purchased were from the seller ( 84 items at the time.) ebay told me there was no connection.... i won the item paying $23 dollars more than i feel i should have and ebay not really caring and as i was the only bidder.. what annoys me is that i had purchased an item already from that person previously with no problems.
It is annoying when you are trying to get something for a bargain. But I guess it is also in the seller's best interest to push you to the maximum amount that you have entered. I know we all feel ripped off when someone pull tricks like these, but eBay is the ultimate criminal for allowing this to happen, turning a blind eye.