Ebay sued

A bid too far


By Nick Farrell: Thursday 24 February 2005, 07:19

A PENNSYLVANIA man has started a class action claiming eBay raised his bid by $1.50 after he responded to an e-mail from the auction site that said he was the highest bidder for an item.
Glenn Block claims Ebay illegally forces up prices when certain high bidders raise their maximum bid to guard against last-minute offers. However EBay, which has yet to see the law suit, said that it appeared Block completely misunderstands how the Ebay bidding system works.

A spokesman said that Ebay only notifies winning bidders that they could be outbid when they have hit their preset maximum bid. Increasing a maximum bid is voluntary and is disclosed on its Web site.

However Block's brief, Reed Kathrein told Reuters that Ebay's actions were "shill bidding," and said it forces bidders to bid against themselves.

More info here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=5&u=/nm/20050224/tc_nm/tech_ebay_dc