This is why I don't use E-bay

I agree. I use EZSniper and put in my maximum bid and walk away. I get an email that lets me know if I won. If not, oh well, I should have bid higher.

You CAN get a pretty good idea of what something is worth by looking at SOLD items on eBay and comparing prices. They are usually pretty consistent. If you see something that ended higher, it might have been shill bid but look at the other ten examples and average their price.

In the auction above, it looks like there were two bidders going back and forth at the end and with six seconds left, a third bidder used a sniper app to place his bid and win the auction. Completely legal and if it was his buddy driving the price up, eBay is still gonna charge the seller for their percentage of the final sale price whether he collects the money or not.