[Turbo_pro]

Shill bidding can effect the way you view a seller.

I had a chance to identify a shill bid scheme when I was buying jewelry a few years back.

The scheme worked like this.
The seller offered for sell high end diamond items at no or very low reserves. They were always sold at what appeared to be a wholesale relative price. They also sold some lower priced items. The lower priced item were some of the Hong Kong mass produced junk you will quite often find at the flea markets.
The high end jewelry gave the seller what looked like credibility and misrepresented his connection to the legitimate jewelry industry.
I recognized the junk and bid on the quality items. I began to notice that the same three bidders were winning all the "good" items. Then I noticed that the "good" items were being relisted.
The scam was simple, have shill bidders bid on items you don't even have giving you credibility you don't deserve. Then the phony bidders would leave incredible feedback. Harmful ? not terribly. Dishonest? of course.