Hello Duane,
You might try to put a test bid on one of their items right now (manually) and see if it blocks you.
Or, you can underbid and place a one-penny bid on their item, and then we can see if it blocked you.
Here's another way that might work, in general,
When we test our new releases, we always put bids on items in eBay's test auctions category. This way you can "win" the item, but the sellers of course do not require payment.
The link to eBay's test listings is here:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Test-Auctions-/14112/i.html
Let us know how that works for you.
bidslammer