I searched the forum but couldn't find any reference. This has happened to me a few times with different sellers. I place my maximum bid for a item, then someone bids up past my max bid. They then retract their last bid so that my max bid is whats left. It seems like the seller has either someone else bid up the item, or they have a second account. In one case the bidder had been a ebay member for 2 years but had never bought or sold anything. I make a point of not doing business with sellers that I suspect of using a shill, but I can't prove it, and ebay is useless. I won't post the sellers names as I don't want to accuse someone without proof, and it was what I was willing to pay. Has anyone else experienced this?