Yes, it does happen ("bid sheltering") and the seller can chose not to sell
the item if it does in fact happen.   So no loss.  Also no bad feedback
either because the item gets removed as a cancelled sale after the fact.  I
have seen this happen.  I think the actual term is "bid shielding".
-Dave
  -----Original Message-----
 From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org]On
 Behalf Of William Donzelli
 Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 6:14 PM
 To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
 Cc: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
 Subject: Re: What am I missing here?
  A semi-common tactic (from what I have heard) is
to 'bomb' and 
 auction,
  by placing a huge bid, like $1000 on it, and
nobody will be able to
 beat you. Of course, if two people try this tactic on the same 
 auction,
  one of them is screwed. 
 You need two folks to do this - one a real bidder, and one fake. Run up
 the price to something outrageous, then towards the end of the auction,
 retract the fake bid. In the meantime, many people are scared away. This
 is called "bid sheltering", and is expressly forbidden by Ebay rules.
 I must say that I have never actually seen this happen, but I
 know it does.
 William Donzelli
 aw288(a)osfn.org