I’ve read almost all of the posts about shill bidding and I have come to the conclusion that what they need is another method that a person could shill bid on his own auction and be legal so that no one would complain about it.

Maybe they could have a "hidden price" that the seller could put on his own auction and if no one bid higher than his hidden price it would not sell. Although the seller basically would be bidding on his own auction, all the potential buyers would be happy with this because they knew for certain he was shill bidding on his own auction and not have to guess whether or not he was. And since it was made so obvious that someone was bidding on his own auction someone would feel foolish to challenge the auction site that they were allowing shill bidding. Plus the auction site could charge a fee for allowing this form of shill bidding.

Of course this wouldn’t help the bidder who might get a $25 item for $15 without this “hidden price” but it would forever end the shill bidding problem.