Editing Shill (section)

== Auctions ==
{{Main|Bid rigging#Phantom bid}}
People who drive prices in favor of the seller or auctioneer with fake bids in an auction are called ''shills'' or ''potted plants'' and seek to provoke a [[bidding]] war among other participants.<ref name=shills>{{cite journal |last1=Grether |first1=David |last2=Porter |first2=David |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Cyber-Shilling in Automobile Auctions: Evidence from a Field Experiment |journal=American Economic Journal: Microeconomics |date=2015 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=85–103 |doi=10.1257/mic.20120085 |s2cid=19667170 |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mic.20120085 |language=en |issn=1945-7669}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Talbott |first1=Marti |title=Marblestone Mansion, Book 7 |date=2014 |publisher=MT Creations Corporation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pvbvBQAAQBAJ |access-date=24 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Timothy |first1=Jason |title=mpo slot |url=https://www.jhp-design.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020525204604/http://www.jhp-design.com/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 25, 2002 |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> Often they are told by the seller precisely how high to bid, as the seller does not lose money if the item does not sell, paying only the auction fees. Shilling has a substantially higher rate of occurrence in [[online auction]]s, where any user with multiple accounts can bid on their own items. One detailed example of this has been documented in online [[auto auction]]s.<ref name=shills/> The online auction site [[EBay#Auction-style listings|eBay]] forbids shilling; its rules do not allow friends or employees of a person selling an item to bid on the item,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_10500000/newsid_10508900/10508913.stm |title=Man fined over fake eBay auctions |first=Dan |last=Whitworth |publisher=BBC |date=July 5, 2010}}</ref> even though eBay has no means to detect if a bidder is related to a seller or is in fact the seller.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shill Bidding Policy|url=https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-shill-bidding.html|website=Ebay|access-date=2018-02-14}}</ref>

In his book ''Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay'', [[Kenneth Walton (writer)|Kenneth Walton]] describes how he and his accomplices placed shill bids on hundreds of eBay auctions over the course of a year. Walton and his associates were charged and convicted of fraud by federal authorities for their eBay shill bidding.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1835157,00.html |title=A brush with the law |last=Glaister |first=Dan |date=August 1, 2006 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>

With the proliferation of live online auctions in recent years, shill bidding has become commonplace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Engelberg |first=Joseph |last2=Williams |first2=Jared |date=2009-10-01 |title=eBay’s proxy bidding: A license to shill |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0167268109001504 |journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=509–526 |doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2009.05.023 |issn=0167-2681}}</ref> Some websites allow shill bidding by participating auctioneers. These auctioneers are able to see bids placed in real time and can then place counter bids to increase the amount. One Proxibid auctioneers' website states, "At the request of the auction company, this auction permits bids to be placed by the seller or on the seller's behalf, even if such bids are placed solely for the purpose of increasing the bid."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primestarauctions.com/tos |title=General Terms And Conditions |website=Prime Star Auctions |access-date=2014-07-30 |archive-date=2014-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810035454/http://primestarauctions.com/tos |url-status=dead }}</ref>