Solutions
 

feel free to add you own.


1st Problem: dishonest people + ebay (and or most commonly used auction house format) = dishonest activities taking advantage of an easily manipulated format.

Answer: there will always be dishonest people, an inalterable factor, so the solution is to change the format.
Bids should be silent/hidden, no current bid level shown throughout the period of auction, and at the end the high bid displayed and winner notified. That way, a shill can't run up the number because they don't know what it is, and every buyer will bid what they truly feel they can afford and that the item is worth. You can still make multiple bids as an individual, but no-one bar yourself and the auction house/ ebay will know. If you don't honor your winning bid, both companies should/would have to bar you from bidding in their auctions. A verified credit card (or paypal acct) must be registered to participate, and any bids lasting into the last 24 hours would be considered final and irrevocable, so if remaining the high bidder your acct would be debited for the winning bid/item.
Could shills still participate, encouraged by the seller, to cover his investment or attempt to push up the price? Sure.....sort of. But they would have far less efficacy, and really only work in the way a reserve currently does in the present system. For shilling to have it's ultimate result, the potential honest bidders need to see the price being pushed, ever so slightly out of their original intention and reach, and in a moment of rush/panic/need, they continue to bid past their preferred pricing. The silent/hidden auction system would kill this.

2nd Problem: "the greater issue is, how do we stop AH's from jacking up their scans?"

Answer: Every year a poll is held on a respected web site as to which is the best scanner/most popular with collectors.....
For the following year, all major auction houses agree to use the nominated highest vote getting scanner, set on default settings, for all scans used for auctions. Ebay sellers, especially high consignment sellers, would be highly likely to follow and use the same scanner to extoll their virtuous intentions :p, or at least feel compelled to list what scanner has been used and whether any color/contrast/clarity adjustments have been used that would not reflect the image of the card if held in hand.


I haven't suggested my solutions with any belief that they would be taken up, but simply as a way to have a go at the problems.

Daniel

Well written and really well thought out solution.

I definitely like the reasoning and logic behind your suggestions, but I think the problem with your first scenario is human nature. If you're talking about very scare or pricey cards, then it's more viable, but with more 'regular' cards that are relatively low priced, it would really screw things up in regards to the hammer price.

For instance, say there's a well centered 1969 Topps Ernie Banks in nice shape on ebay. People like me (who may not need it to complete a set or anything) who happen to run across the auction would perhaps only bid on it if the current bid is low. The thinking there is, "Wow, that's pretty cheap and it's really tough to find one centered like that. Maybe I can get it for a song." So the result would be me throwing in a bid and raising the price of said card, even if just slightly. Having a few people like that cross the auction's path would continue to raise the card's price. I don't think there's a stronger motivator in 'regular' card auctions than a low price.

Now say the auction format was the type you suggested where no current bid is shown. There is nothing to hook casual bidders like me in, because my motivation was almost entirely dependent on seeing a low price and that's not the case here (I have no facts to back it up, but I imagine the majority of people looking at ebay auctions fall into this category). So I would simply pass the auction by. The end result would be fewer bidders and most likely a lower hammer price.