An illegitimate way to preserve a low bid in an online auction. It takes three people. The first places a low bid and the other two immediately bid high and keep bidding higher, which is intended to eliminate all other interested parties. At the last minute, the two high bidders drop out, and the low bidder wins by default. If you recognize the names of bid shielding bandits, the auction site may be able to let you reject their bids. See
online auction.