bogus auction for Altair system on eBay

Few people who were with eBay back in the early days (I've been with them for about 8 years) realize how drastically the environment has changed. I recently asked a question on one of their discussion fora and was deried as being hopelessly naive. The general attitude was that eBay was a shark tank and that it wasn't for everyone, particularly the warm-blooded (wonder how that squares with eBay's current advertising?). What would have been called abuses now seem to be the normal way of operation. For example, I was told that I was a pollyanna because I'd only had one user ID. Some of these guys go through user IDs like jellybeans. Shill bidding? It's not shill bidding if a group of folks have an "understanding"--such collusion is nearly impossible to prove. AND THESE FRANK ADMISSIONS WERE BEING MADE ON AN EBAY-MODERATED FORUM! Bottom line: treat eBay as if it were a fly-by-night flea market run by thieves where you aren't actually allowed to inspect merchandise, only photos of it. Ask lots of questions and never show your hand. Bid what you're willing to pay and not a penny more. Trust no one. Cheers, Chuck