The auction format is protected by rules to prevent abuses. Shill bidding is illegal in every auction since it is unfair to the honest bidder that is being manipulated to pay more without the knowledge of this artificial competition. A reserve is to protect the seller from an item being sold lower than it's true value. A standard auction tool. It seems many folks wish a retail sales format rather than an auction. Even ebay has clouded this issue with the introduction of the BIN ( Buy it now ) pricing. Personally the BIN strikes me as a circumvention of the auction system. Perhaps the auction format is waning to give way to straight sales. One thing about a fixed price sales presentation is it eliminates all the auction abuses. No competition. No shilling. No selling outside the listing. One price for one and all. I've noticed many more listings on ebay with the opening bid the same price as the BIN. So the direct fixed sales are possible within the auction listings.

Tom