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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Hobo, post: 323286, member: 11521&quot;]Be very careful discussing agreements not to bid against one another on a public forum like this. This may be considered collusion. (Ask any baseball owner if he has ever heard of collusion.) These kinds of discussions are best done in private. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Collusion to not bid against one another lowers the price a seller&#039;s item sells for and reduces the fees collected by eBay (boo hoo). I would imagine collusion (aka bid rigging) is against eBay&#039;s user policy.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>From the <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E7DD1F31F932A35753C1A9609C8B63" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E7DD1F31F932A35753C1A9609C8B63" rel="nofollow">New York Times</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><b>Bad Bidness</b> </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the Sept. 3 column, the Ethicist told an art collector that accepting a proposal from a fellow collector to agree not to bid on the same prints in eBay auctions would be unethical. I agree. The Ethicist also reported a lawyer&#039;s advice that &#039;&#039;collusive bidding is illegal in the auction world,&#039;&#039; adding that it &#039;&#039;may not be illegal online -- Internet auctions are largely unregulated.&#039;&#039; But the federal antitrust laws apply to competition on Internet auctions as much as to physical auctions. Agreements between bidders not to bid against one another or to bid at certain prices are criminal violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. </p><p><br /></p><p>Scott D. Hammond </p><p>Deputy Assistant Attorney General Antitrust Division </p><p>Department of Justice </p><p>Washington[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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