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Posted By: barrysloate

The way the groups work is someone takes the lead and assigns percentage values on each card depending on the player and condition. He might, for example, assign 18% of the lot value for Wagner, 3% for each common in VG, 2% for each common in Good, etc. Then other members of the group will review those breakdowns and fine tune them a little. Once everyone is in agreement, they each pick out the cards they want. If two or more people want the same card, that have to be flexible and work that out themselves.

If the group wins the lot for say $10,000, then using the numbers above the guy who picked Wagner kicks in $1800, the commons sell for $200-300 a piece, and it progresses that way, with everybody of course including some extra postage. There will be a designated bidder who will pay for the lot and have to send each parcel to its respective group member.

These groups help keep the price of the lot down, which of course touches the question of whether it can be considered collusion. Most collectors feel these groups are okay, but there is some gray area.