(If you aren't a frequent shopper in metaphysical categories, please read my other guide "How to tell a legitimate paranormal seller"  first.)

UPDATE:  Read this section of a Wikipedia article about "The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation#The_One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge -- it relates to this guide.

A group of metaphysical sellers on eBay formed after members were suspended for shill bidding. Unable to shill bid from their own home computers, they enlisted the aid of the group and started the biggest shill bidding scam going. Virtually undetected and spread across the USA, the the group beat the system. The group cried eBay black plague after the members were suspended for shill bidding. This group is constantly changing their name. They once were ESPC, then UAMD, and now are trying to change their name to "S.P.I.R.I.T.S."  The group's leader first founded ESPC and has been the leader of the group each time they changed their name. These are just fake organizations. Since I can't disclose who any of the shill bidders are or what their group's constantly changing names stand for, this guide will point out characteristics only.

This shill-bidding group typically tries to hide their presence so here are signs you can spot them:

* A group of metaphysical sellers that claim to rank all sellers in their category by if someone is legitimate.
* A group of sellers that claim they are the oldest sellers in the metaphysical categories on eBay.  (In actuality, the oldest sellers have not joined their group.)  The group's leader posts a big list on her website when each of their competitor's accounts were created but leaves off some of the oldest sellers.
* Claims they are the original seller of items bound to a commonly sold spirit that everyone in the category sells like djinn, dragons, faeries, etc. even though the leader of the group wrote that all djinn were evil up until 2007 and then changed her tune when she found out the bids were huge. Many buyers remember her original story.
* The group says they are the most trusted, most reliable, etc. on eBay.
* The group formed to bully the other sellers.  They go and tell all the buyers in the metaphysical category that those who aren't part of the group are frauds. Any real paranormal association doesn’t recognize them and you should ask around.
* The group is always picking fights with other sellers.
* Whenever karma hits the group as a result of them picking fights with other sellers, they cry foul, play innocent, say they "are not going to take it anymore", then pick a scapegoat to blame for their problems and then harass the scapegoat.
* The group likes to scapegoat those they have previously ganged up and bullied.
* People are always having to write stuff to defend themselves from their attacks. Here's another guide by someone else defending a seller the group attacked: http://reviews.ebay.com/Djinns-and-Sahires-The-Truth_W0QQugidZ10000000005713430
* The group also will buy items from wholesalers and then claim that they recovered the items from Atlantis or a lost gypsy cave.  Honest metaphysical sellers will say they did the spell-work on the items themselves.
* The group are most or all high level powersellers.  They have account managers who work to keep them immune to bad feedback and violations.
* This group sometimes (though mostly just their leader does this) will list their competitors' userIDs and personal information in their auctions, store pages, about pages and adds libelous remarks about the members all copying them, being the same person, being frauds, etc.  The group's account managers make them immune to any violations.  The group also may put the attacks in pictures or deviously and demeaningly disguise it by claiming to thank their victims.
* The group members as a whole like to say everyone is copying from them.  If anyone copied word for word, eBay would take it down, but selling items with the same spirits bound or spells and not the text and eBay won't so the group will for years claim someone has copied even when in most cases the group members were the ones who copied.
* Anyone who reports a group member for violation or votes one of their guides (e.g. the group occasionally has guides where they give a member's real name and bashed that person) as unhelpful, the shill bidding group will post to their forum how their account manager gave them the personal information on who didn't like them.
* The group has forums run by their leader that went from two free hosting sites to the leader's own website.  The group begs all their customers to join their group and keeps everyone else out with an iron fist.  The forums are heavily moderated and they are praisings of the shill bidding group and pure attacks on the group's competitors, primarily in the forum's "Seller Review" and "eBay Auctions & Listings" sections. The praises and attacks come from fake identities that are actually members of the shill bidding group and not real customers.
* Anyone who defends someone attacked on the group's forums or even slightly criticizes a group member is banned for a fictitious reason.
* Aside from the group members, their forum has many suckers who worship the group as a cult.
* Despite no one able to speak freely on the group's forums, when the group's cult members see the many criticisms across the Internet about the group, the cult says the complainers should complain face to face on their forums and not off somewhere else.
* Whenever the group criticizes one of their competitors on their forums, the group's cult members bid on that competitor just to leave bad feedback or to gather personal information, which they have in the past posted on their forums.
* Once the group bashes you on their forum, they never let up--they are hooked on bashing you like the media gets hooked on bashing celebrities Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.
* The group also goes in mass to downvote their competitors' and critics' eBay guides.
* The group's founder even started her own auction site and so the founder can see every person's maximum bid.


If you shop on eBay in the metaphysical category, you will see this, the attacking of competitors by username, the competitor bashing in forums and all this stuff is run by one shill bidding ring and the rest of the sellers are largely good.