you can report what you like to ebay but they sadly not ever seem to do anything about it!

My tactic with ebay is to bid as late as you dare, the way I see it, its about not giving rivals time to respond to my bid.

Shill bidding is as you say illegal, however it is becoming more and more common. I even suspect a well known UK based N gauge retailer/seller to be involved in this, however all it needs is two people with different accounts then bang! dodgy shill bidding galore!. This is very hard for e-Bay to prove (Though all ways report suspect goings on as I have done in the past)

The best advice to give about buying on E-Bay is to place your maximum bid (how much the item means to you), early or late, it matters not then walk away until after the auction. You will won some and lose some but thats life!!!! At least you wont get sucked in to that Human Emotion that makes you want at whatever cost!

I have been on E_bay along time now and I have seen it go from a good bargain hunters paradise, to a very retail lead place where infrequent/casual sellers like me will always struggle to make a good profit with silly pay-pal and insertion fee's plus the usual 10% e-bay winning bid fee and buyers can afford to be very picky.

The only people whom make big money on E-Bay these days are:
a) E-Bay/Pay-Pal and

b): these big registered business power sellers, whom sell quantity and of course N gauge fans whom are lucky to have GWR GraFar 4 wheel coaches in bulk under the matress!!

You've got it spot on there, Owl, Ebay of old was a wonderful place, full of lovely bargains, now it's a whole other world that is becoming increasingly corporate.

I've given up selling entirely (laptop spare parts) due to the daft levels of fees.