Yep,

A "bidder' can retract his bid prior to the end of an auction.

Follow this eBay link for an explanation.

http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/retract-bid.html

You can see any activity that takes place like this by clicking on the "bid history" link on any auction page. The info will be documented towards the botom of the bid history page.

Regardless if a bid retraction takes place or not, shill bidding is still a clear violation of eBay policy and probably a number of state laws. He can retract all the bids he wants - but there is a documented trail of ALL of his activities.

Hope he gets everything he has coming to him.

Steve in Albuquerque