hunter,
My guess is having the reserve adds an element of "realness" to the card.
How much do real PSA 7 Mantles sell for? Whatever it is, just imagine if this card only had a bid of $2,000 dollars and no reserve. People would look at that and think something fishy was going on. However, if the seller puts a reserve on the card and shill bids it up to $25,000, it looks more "real" to unsuspecting bidders.
This way, when the auction is over and the card does not meet the reserve, the seller can go back to whatever real bidder is out there and tell them a story about the high bidder not wanting the card after all and offering it for his lower (real) bid. This way, the seller STILL makes a buttload of money off a fake card.
David
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