Maybe
they want to test what the bidding would be?
e.g. if they tell you that the reserve is $5,000 -- you can easily place a bid of $4,999, and the seller gets no intel.
If they don't tell you the reserve, and bidding w/o disclosing the reserve nets competitive bidding in the $4,000 - $4,300 range, the seller will have an idea of what the card might bring in a true auction format.
M
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