I tried an experiment over the last week, after getting sick of having what I suspected were shill bidders turn up on most things that I put on my Ebay watch list. Instead of ‘watching’ items, I bookmarked them instead. Two, in fact, and I watchlisted some other items as a comparison.

The result? The watchlisted item attracted 23 bids, and sold for £128.50. The bookmarked only item (so the seller had no indication that I was watching it) attracted no bids and remained unsold at its starting price of £39.99.

My suspicion of seller-related shill bidding just gained some more proof.