<i>In other words, if someone all of a sudden bids $1000 on a domain, will a domain company decide to snatch it up themselves or “shill bid” against you on it?</i><p>I have no doubt this "shill bidding" goes on all the time. When the .asia TLD was opening up, you had to "register your interest" in acquiring any domain, and there was always, <i>always</i> another bidder. Some of the time they seemed real but other times I was highly suspicious that anyone would be interested in that domain. And sometimes the fake bids would seem to go against each other, often for ridiculous, obviously valueless domains like "americaneaglerjregionaljet.asia" etc (that is a real example).<p>That was pool.com too. I have no doubt whatsoever that the auctions were (deliberately) compromised then and I have no reason to believe anything has changed.<p>That said, with ICAAN fast asleep, what choice do we have ...