Posted By:
warshawlawGentlemen (and lady), let's review the basic rules of this thing of ours:
If you know the auctioneer and trust him/her, don't worry about the private auction designation. Every auction except eBay is private, unless you are in the room bidding live. I don't hear much concern about Mastro shilling for example, yet every auction they run is "private". I really don't think a good auctioneer goes bad when they shift formats, but an A$$ remains one in any format.
If you want an item for "X" price, bid "X" price as your maximum and do not worry about whether you were shilled if you get it for your max.
If you want to make sure no one knows you are bidding on an item, subscribe to a sniping service, bid your max and don't worry about whether you were shilled.
I live by these rules, I "die" by them too.
I think that the concerns over collusion are realistic to a degree. I do respect the anti-shill faction's view, though. While I have experienced first-hand the effect of potential bidders agreeing in advance not to bid on certain items, and also had the situation where the bidders decide not to bid because a buddy is the current high bidder, let's not forget that it is a very big world out there--if a quality card is way too low, you and I can divvy up the bidding all we want but someone else is just as likely as not to come along and jack us both. The real issue is one of not receiving the absolute top maximum bid on an item because of seller collusion. There I think that the private auctioneers have a point, but, frankly, if the item is such that there is real money at stake because of collusion and there is real concern over private auctions, take the item to an auctioneer.