When I started my account I took all the tutorials that I could find. I am a thorough person, and I wanted to know EVERYTHING!! Then I started listing items right away. I am, after all, trying to turn this into a business. I got some contacts with some wholesale suppliers, and I was in business.

Then, I had a friend that really wanted something that I had listed. She was willing to bid on it and wait for the auction to end. So, that’s what she did. Unfortunately, I allowed her to do her bidding from my computer. Ebay flagged me as Shill Bidding and suspended my acount for 2 weeks. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but they also ended ALL of my listings and I still had to pay all of the fees. Not to mention, some of my auction listings had bids on them. So, to those people it appeared as though I had just disappeared!! Not a good way to get started.

So, what is Shill Bidding? It is bidding on an auction by any family, friends, or employees of your company that can be mistaken as a bid to drive the price up or make an item seem more desirable. This is against rules and regulations, and in some instances can become a criminal offense.

I learned this lesson the hard way, and paid for it in more ways than one. So, I wanted to write this guide so that others can learn from my mistake. Don’t make this mistake. It can be VERY costly.