The very FIRST sign of an auction that's going to be "boosted" for the seller is to list a very valuable item at a low entry bid without a Reserve price.
This should immediately throw up a "flag", as there is NO way the seller would/could be guarenteed to get a fair price, unless he had an "ace in the hole" someplace.
Reserve auctions are another story entirely. They shouldn't even be allowed. In most cases they simply insult the intelligence of the educated customer. Who has the time or energy to follow an auction for a week or more wondering what rediculous price the seller wants for their item?
A seller who really wants to sell something, will start the bidding at the lowest price they can live with, and let the auction run it's course. This entry price should be at the lower end of the fair market value for the item in question, or the whole auction is a complete waste of everyones time.
These are simply my opinion(s), and the guidelines we use and follow for buying and selling. LOTS of other folks will not even mess with Reserve auctions either, and anyone buying from most "power sellers", can pretty much assume that they will have "things" in place to make sure they get a good price for their items.
A couple of other things to watch out for are the sellers NOT listing their location or the location of the item for sale. These auctions will most likely have bidders with little to any purchases also NOT listing their location either. Since their aren't any "negatives" from listing the City and State where you are located, it makes one wonder why anyone would list their location as "United States"? The most likely reason is to keep anyone from making an association between the seller and bidder(s).
We used to also be able to make associations from log on names, as some folks are so stupid that they use very similiar "trends" for their screen name(s).
With all this said, there are still a few "deals" to be had on E-Bay, most of them are from private sellers who have saws that they simply let sit WAY too long and the entire fuel system in comprimised with sludge, dirt, debri, dry rotten gasket(s), varnish, etc. We have made several EXCELLENT purchases of really nice saws, but all in all, the amount of time/energy to sort through all the CRAP, hasn't really made them that much of a bargain.....FWIW.....Cliff