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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;benhur767, post: 3713046, member: 36818&quot;]I don&#039;t think you would need airtight proof to get the Department of Commerce to start looking into a company&#039;s behavior. If you have a suspicion that something shady is going on, then there must be a reason. Several of your maximum bids maxed out, for example. Take screen images of your max bids. Collect documentation such as invoices or email correspondence with the company. Contact the Department of Commerce and get the company on their radar screen. Tell them you suspect this behavior is going on and explain why. Send screen images, invoices, emails, whatever you have to support your claim.</p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t accept euphemisms or excuses for shill bidding from an auction house, such as buyers bidding their own items up as a method of establishing a &quot;reserve.&quot; It isn&#039;t. It&#039;s fraud and market manipulation, and it&#039;s unethical and illegal. A reserve is an amount established before an auction begins below which an item will not be sold. It is not established during an auction by shill bids.</p><p><br /></p><p>The company I worked for used Liveauctioneers, and Liveauctioneers was aware that shill bidding was possible through their system. They&#039;ve since modified their software to make it difficult for auction houses who use their software to engage in dishonest behavior. Again, it&#039;s been a decade since this happened, but as I recall Liveauctioneers has since made bidders&#039; max bids confidential, so that the auction house doesn&#039;t know the amount. We used to know exactly what each bidder&#039;s max bid was, and the owner knew never to shill beyond it. And yes, there were calls from buyers who suspected that something fishy was going on.</p><p><br /></p><p>Companies that use their own proprietary bidding system, such as CNG, well... I don&#039;t know that the max bids are confidential. My advice is, bid with caution and never place a max bid higher than you are truly willing to pay.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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