[Exhibitman]

Call it whatever you want--safety bid, hidden reserve, shilling--it is all wrong, all criminal behavior. No different than what Mark Theotikos just pleaded guilty to doing. It hurts the winners of the inflated lots, it hurts the data compilers and commentators like me who rely on final values for market analysis, and it hurts the honest auctioneers who cannot compete with the results of shilled auctions when trying to lure consignments.

As far as I am concerned Probstein is no different than a fence. Just because he isn't doing the stealing himself--just providing a ready market for the crooks to operate in while he turns a blind eye to the thievery even when it is brought to his attention--doesn't relieve him of culpability. Or let me put it another way: as one of the biggest sellers on eBay, do you really believe that Probstein could not complain to eBay about these shenanigans and get some real action on this issue, get some bidders banned, perhaps even convince eBay that it needs to push the FBI to open a criminal investigation? But he won't as long as the bidders keep bidding and the money keeps churning. He'll just shrug and say he is powerless while all the while profiting from the illegality. And there is the key to it all: you want change, don't ask for it from the people who profit from the fraud, hit them where it hurts instead: stop doing business with people whose business ethics sicken you. We shouldn't be seeing any more of these "I bid with Probstein; look at the shilling" threads. And this is not a specific shot at the OP, so please don't take it that way, more a general observation that no one who cares about Probstein's auction issues has any business doing business with him.