We are absolutely thankful to the newspaper and eBay that this has been stopped. All this shill bidding made me use http://www.oltiby.com revese auction where I decide who to invite to my own auctions.

bidding, Sarasota, USA

Yes I do agree that the world does not revolve around Ebay - again Free listing auctions such as Tazbar.com started up by a former powerseller on Ebay are definately competition for Ebay. They hold very tight policies with shill bidding and counterfeit items... they are not just interested in the listings fees.

Tracey-ann Edwards, Mijas Costa, Spain

Everyone remembers the very few bad stories about Ebay and forget about the happy and successful millions of transactions that happen.

Guess that is human nature. But for every horror story about Ebay there are thousands and thousands of good ones.

Which hardly ever make the headlines. There are con artists everywhere, even knocking on your own front door. Why tar every seller /buyer with the same brush?

There are other auctions sites that never get any attention, such as Ebid and Tazbar. Why is it always Ebay who hits the lime light?
Time to show some common sense and realize that Ebay is just like anyone else, and can make mistakes. But they do get put right, once they have been informed about it.

Steph, Coalville, Leics

Yes, i've have noticed items that have small starting bids of say 4.99, and then suddenly the first bid will be 15pounds. no person in their right minds would put an immediate bid that high. I think its used to warn of f the competition also. Then the bids go silly from the same 2 people. Not an equal footing for the honest ebayers.

michelle, liverpool, uk

If Ebay can do these checks on Paraskevaides why dont they run similar electronic searches on all of the top sellers to identify shill bidding. This would weed out any rougue traders and make the site a fairer place to do business. Ebay should know who these traders are as a matter of good business practice.

Ron, Durham, England

Ebay are not interested in ensuring their market place is fair. I am new to ebay and have reported what I now realise is shill bidding by a 'power seller'. Because I did not use the term shill bidding they emailed me to say my complaint did not fall into a specific area and so could not be investigated. Perhaps, had I been backed up by the Times they may have acted

T Tighe, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

Ebay have made it so much easier for shill bidding to take place, they have made high priced items had no name to the outside bidder, so where before a bidder could see if items were being bid on by the same person, now we cant. I belive ebay has done this to keep the number of reports down, therefore keeping the workload down. Since I joined ebay 4 years ago, I have found they are no longer interested in the members, only making money. So shill bidding does make ebay more money, therefore it pays them to make it harder to detect.
Ebay used to be a great place to trade, it used to be friendy, the staff cared about members and the comments we made, now we are treated like we don't matter.
Ebay has got greedy, they were making plenty of money as they were, but now I feel they will probibly loose quite a lot of thier traders to other online auctions, with a growing number of competitiors on the market, ebay will soon fall flat on thier bum.
Since ebay brought in the new rule of hiding bidders names on high value items, I find it untrustworthy, anyone can now push thier items up by shill bidding and we as members won't know.
I have now stopped using ebay altogether, I much prefer the friendly alternative of Tazbar. I always get a response to my comments/questions within 24 hours, I have waited more than 2 weeks with ebay before now

Lesley, DONCASTER, uk

I have bought and sold on e-bay and had no trouble at all. With larger items, such as furniture and a stone fireplace, I met the seller before I handed over the cash, and viewed the items concerned. You need to us your discretion and common sense with large amounts of money and would never send cash for a car I had not seen.

Debby, wellingborough, england

There will always be greedy people who will take advantage other greedy people on Ebay. The desire to buy high value goods at cheap prices is very strong, so strong that people just don't stop to think "why is this item so cheap" or "is this item for real." Greed all to often blocks out common sense on Ebay, leaving people open to exploitation. That said, this should not detract from the overall success of Ebay, I, as a model maker and designer, have found ebay is both a major source of sales, but also global marketing tool, that as enabled me to build up a global customer base, that would have been beyond me in terms of cost, if i have had to use tradtional marketing tools.

Andrew Birch, Medway, UK

Yes there are scammers and fraudsters on E-Bay but you will also find them in car and antique auctions as well, this problem is not just isolated to E-Bay and at least they have employed some systems to get rid of counterfeit goods unlike some other auction sites. If you see a £25,000 Mercedes being advertised for £6,000 common sense says that it can't be real and the Nigerian prince offering £10,000 for an ipod if you post it to his brother in Holland, anyone who expects to get this money deserves to loose it.
If you are bidding on an item, you know how much you are prepared to pay so don't get carried away in a bid to win it, there is sure to be another item exactly the same just round the corner. Also if in doubt if an item is genuine, just ask the seller to confirm in an e-mail that the item is real, not fake, this way you will have some standing if a dispute occurs and you go to arbitration. Also if you pay via Paypal they have a refund guarantee in place for monies lost. Common sense prevails.
I have emptied two wardrobes and half a garage and turned it into over £2,000. These are items that would have eventually been thrown out or never used, also I have bought some brilliant bargains and saved a small fortune.
So, to anyone that knocks E-Bay without trying it....well, it's your loss. Be safe.

Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire

******' cheaters ruin something for everyone else who participates.

Juan, Los Angeles, California