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

I have to agree that ebay is really best for small value items, antiques and cars are really best left to the old fashioned way of doing things. There's also a glaring hole in the way ebay collects feedback from buyers and sellers because you're usually worried about leaving negative feedback against someone because they'll just leave negative feedback about you in revenge! It would be better if the seller had to leave feedback first and then the buyer could be honest.

Chris Allen, London, UK

I have bought many things from ebay, only been disappointed with a couple of things, but they didn't cost much so I can cope.

However, I have had about three months of not looking at ebay. Then I went into the site, saw something that I rather liked so watched it for a couple of days. I had a rough idea of the true value, so was prepared to go to that price. But, the price kept going up and up and it was the same two people bidding, the item finally went for an amazingly stupid price. I had a gut feeling that this was shill bidding. I am now steering clear of ebay again.

Frenchcountrygirl, London, England

The other scam EBay is notorious for is people claiming to be from Nigeria (which may or may not be true) winning the bid, and then asking to pay by wiring the money or some other method that allows them to scam the seller. This is *really* annoying as I have lost good genuine bids, had to readvertise the item, and try to claim back my fees from EBay (unsuccessfully sometimes). The "Nigerian Scams" are so prevalent that many bidders specifically state in listings that they will not accept bids from Nigeria or from people with little positive feedback.

Alex Kerr, London, UK

Well Done Sunday Times.

Unfortunately, Ebay's problem with shill bidding and other fraud is far more prevalent than I think any of us imagine. You did well to actually find anyone at Ebay who would listen to your complaint, as they try to remain anonymous (try and find a phone number for them) and in my experience aren't interested in policing their own site. Their only concern is the money they rake in. Their whole operation and practices should be thoroughly investigated by the authorities.

H, Leeds,

In reference to Marmaduke Macdougal, I think you are basing your opinions on a small minority of ebay sellers. Ebay is a fantastic tool allowing you to advertise your unwanted items to potentially millions of people worldwide. With this kind of coverage, it is obvious that some unscrupulous members will try to take advantage of the site.

Let us also not forget that its much easier to criticise something than it is to praise something. Of the hundreds of thousands of trades each day completed each, we never hear of the successfull ones - only the ones that went wrong.

Remember, if something is too good to be true it normally is. People seem to forget that and get sucked in making the role of a scammer that much easier. Educate yourself and stay away from items that look potentially untrustworthy. I am a keen ebay user and despite a few problem trades (mostly when I am selling), eBay has allowed me to sell my unwanted items at a very good price.

Adam Hatcliff, Essex, England

I agree and a lot of the scumbags are from England and their former prison Australia. Perhaps ebay can monitor the activities on these two sites more rigorously and nail these rotten eggs.

Jason, Sommerville, New Jersey

Ebay is full of scammers, con artists and scum bags, this really is the tip of the iceberg. I have only ever bid on about a dozen or so items (cars and cherished registration numbers), and was subjected to 'second chance offers' because the 'winning bidder' had 'pulled out', however mysteriously no negative feedback was posted against them. Another occasion I was asked to send the money for a car, however when I asked for a 'scanned' copy of the registration document, there was no further contact, it turned out that the car didn't belong to the advertiser. I think there is a huge risk with doing business on ebay, especially for big ticket items.

Marmaduke Macdougal, Taipei, Taiwan

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

Juan, Los Angeles, California