Nick Hull wrote:
With 2 days to go I put in an initial bid at $13.99 with a
maximum bid of $18. In less than 60 seconds after my bid was
accepted I
was outbid! And my shill-o-meter started activating.

If you were outbid, they're not a very good shiller, are they? The goal
of a shiller is for YOU to win at an inflated price.

Look at the time stamps in the bid history; are you sure that your bid
was made before theirs?