It is amazing that some people are treating book publisher Hachette as the good guy in their dispute with Amazon. They are not.

Two years ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued them because they were colluding with Apple – and other publishers – on pricing. Specifically, they were trying to force Amazon to raise prices. One publishing executive is quoted as saying that he wished “to screw Amazon.” Hachette settled with the DOJ immediately. They didn’t even put up a fight.

Last week, I purchased some binders from Amazon. I’m re-organizing my life right now and part of that is going through all of the stuff I have in my archives. Over the years, I have collected a lot of memorabilia and have a big sports card collection from when I was younger. To keep everything uniform and easily stackable, I’ve been buying the same binder over and over again.

HomeSearch is an online auction site for real estate. I hadn’t heard of them until recently when a member of my family was shown a house that was listed on their platform. Out of curiosity, I had a read through their event agreement and I came across something that I thought was odd.

They allow the auctioneer, who represents the seller of the real estate, to bid up the auction on behalf of the seller, until the reserve price is met. In many circles, this would be known as shill bidding.