I'm sorry, dpatten, that you took offense at my message. Everything I said was as much to help you as it was to present a differing point of view. I'll word the following comments carefully so that we can avoid a big flame war, as I certainly am not trying to tell you what you can and can't do.
As to the collusion issue, it is very difficult to prove and to prosecute, but I do believe that what you initially proposed COULD TECHNICALLY be considered to be collusion (notice the 2 capitalized words). However, you are welcome to ignore my definition of the word, as it is simply my opinion. If you ask another person not to bid for the purpose of keeping the price down, that could be interpreted as such. But, you changed the parameters of the situation in your reply to my message. I agree that it is not collusion if you and a friend happen to be at the same auction, and you decide, without discussing it with your friend, not to bid on an item. There's obviously nothing wrong with that.
I think your opinion of ebay sellers is a bit lopsided. I have found the huge majority of ebayers to be honest people. As an honest seller myself, I can assure you that we're not all crooks, and I would advise you to report shill bids and other shenanigans to ebay whenever you spot them. That's what I do. Contrary to what you said, sellers DO have a right to maximize profits, as long as it's done fairly and legally, just as buyers have a right to restrict their bid amounts, as long as it's done in a fair and legal way. That's the true spirit of capitalism. If you, as a bidder, don't like the high bids on an item, whether they're shill bids or legitimate, then you always have the option of just walking away. You must remember that no one is forcing you to bid, and the seller only receives the money that you're willing to give him.
We aren't in complete disagreement. Your second-to-last sentence more or less rephrases what I said and makes my point: If an item is rare (meaning, I assume, that you really want it), you wouldn't want to attract attention to it, so you wouldn't advertise that you're bidding on it. That makes sense to me. Your last sentence is a statement of obvious common sense: Don't pay more than what it's worth. I'll not argue with either of those statements.
Anyway, I will certainly not object if you want to post a list of the items on which you're bidding- it certainly won't affect my bidding one way or the other, but I firmly believe that it will disadvantage you. To make it a bit simpler, may I suggest that you just make your ebay name public? Those who want to avoid stepping on your toes could simply go to ebay and see which items you're bidding on. No separate list required on this site. Likewise, other people could give their ebay IDs to you for the same purpose of mutual non-competition. I wish you the best of luck with ebay. Enough said.
dpatten said:
...withholding a bid on an online auction is no different than not bidding on an in-person auction when you see your friend across the room is already bidding. ...
... I'll feel sorry for Ebay sellers when they stop bidding on their own items with newly opened screennames. Simply stated the market determines the worth of an Item. If I withhold a bid because I know a fellow collector is bidding on that item, that is a valid market force. Sellers don't have a right to maximum profits. Caveat Vendor. Capitalism 101
... If an item is really rare and prime, you might not want to advertise it's existence. If its something common, like a commodore datasette then there is no sense paying more for it than it is otherwise worth.