I’m prob the outlier but I have no issue with a consignor bidding in their own items if they are forced by the auction house to close on the sale. In the case of a trad auction house like Heritage that’s a big price to pay, with the juice its a pretty big risk. With Ebay and PWCC the consignment fees are quite a bit less so you only pay on those, the auction house keeps the cards and they hit the next auction, presumably to close at a new high. I think that is the PWCC angle - he was never interested in limiting consignors bidding on their own cards, he just needs the next big price and consignors to actually close on the sale. For a guy like Moser that is altering and selling multiple copies of the same cards, it makes sense to buy your own card a few times every auction to keep prices inflated. He likely has a sweetheart deal, so it’s really no big deal. PWCC win, a new high is set, or a low sale avoided and the card hits a future auction and prices go uppa uppa uppa.
It’s a huge racket, and this peak behind the curtain is fascinating. Moser is just one guy, there are likely multiple guys doing similar and when you consider the relatively small size of the card market it explains the crazy growth, and why guys like me that have no inside access consign heavily traded cards - HOF high grade rookies - and get middling results
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