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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JTF, post: 22819, member: 1378&quot;]ALBANY, N.Y. — Eight eBay sellers were ordered to pay nearly $90,000 (all figures U.S.) in restitution and fines after admitting they bid up products online to inflate the prices.</p><p><br /></p><p>New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said more than 120 people will receive restitution in the settlement of the three cases, which wrapped up last week in state courts.</p><p><br /></p><p>Spokesperson Darren Dopp said the cases stemmed from specific complaints, but the office has not conducted a broad investigation of the online auction industry and doesn&#039;t know how widespread the practice of phoney bidding is.</p><p><br /></p><p>One buyer, Brad Clarke, 48, of Peachtree City, Ga., already has received a cheque for $3,089 after overpaying for a 1999 Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicle he bought on eBay from a New York seller in 2002.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;I&#039;d always been suspicious because it seems like an easy thing to do, to just keep bidding up,&quot; Clarke said. &quot;But I was still just completely shocked and very surprised.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Three sellers were accused of making 610 bids on 106 of their car auctions under the user name Mother&#039;s Custom Automotive NY Dealer. They are paying more than $28,000 in penalties and restitution, Spitzer said. Their lawyers declined to comment.</p><p><br /></p><p>In another case, the operator of an art auction house and two former employees were accused of bidding on more than 1,100 of each others&#039; eBay items for more than five years to drive up the prices. Some paintings sold for thousands more than they were worth.</p><p><br /></p><p>Spitzer said one of the sellers pleaded guilty to a felony charge, the other two to misdemeanours. They were ordered to pay more than $50,000 in restitution and fines.</p><p><br /></p><p>The other two defendants were accused of making 170 phoney bids on their sports memorabilia items. They agreed to pay $10,000 in penalties and restitution.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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