I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but sometimes when an item is listed the first 5 bids or so are usually from someone who have less than 10 stars. More often they have less than five. Then near the end of the auction they show up again. This can easily be done if a friend of the seller or a household member of the seller has an account and is used to drive up the price. Does anyone know if EBAY tries to control this?

Does Ebay monitor/restrict sellers from bogus bids? | Ask a Mentor

Does Ebay monitor/restrict sellers from bogus bids? | Ask a Mentor | eBay Community