Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
If the "shill" is merely a substitute for an opening bid or a reserve -- that is, the price the consignor is willing to let the card go for -- I don't see this concern. Would you feel better if Rick just puts reserves on cards, and WHY would that make you feel any better?
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Here is the problem with a shill being the substitute for an opening bid or reserve. Let's say Rick has a card that the consignor wants to get $500 for. Rick starts the auction at $.99 and the consignor places a bid of $499 (substitute for a reserve) to protect his card. At this point the high bid is only $.99 because he is the first bidder. Another bidder comes along and bids $500 on the card. Immediately the price goes to $500 because the consignor's proxy was $499. No other bids are placed and bidder number 2 wins the card for $500.
Now, one could argue that bidder number 2 was willing to spend $500 on the card in the first place so there was no harm done, but without the shill (or however you want to sugar coat it), he might have won the card considerably cheaper if it were a true $.99 auction with no shills.
On the particular card in question, it wouldn't have made a difference because the other bids were much higher than the shills. But how many other cards has this happened with from this particular consignor (pank21) where his "hidden reserves" drove the price up unnecessarily?
08-19-2012, 08:08 PM
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