Posted By:
JK"Illegal - A group of individuals, any one of which has the means and willingness to on his/her own bid seriously on a lot. Here, while the individual group members could benefit because they would avoid going head-to-head with their competition, the auction house and consigner would lose because formation of the group would lessen the competitive bidding for the lot."
I completely disagree with this statement Corey - the only difference, in your opinion, between legal and illegal activity appears to be whether any one bidder in a group had the financial means to afford the lot as a whole? Sorry, but illegal activity is not determined by one's financial situation. A group comprised of individuals who could all afford the entire lot is no more illegal than one formed by a group of individuals without a member who could afford the entire lot. I will, however, agree that if the entire group could afford the lot individually AND would otherwise bid aggressively on the entire lot in the absence of the group, then there is likely to be a negative effect on the price realized. However, the fact that something might realize a lower price does not make the bidding activity illegal.
edited to spell Corey's name correctly 