I agree and this is my whole point. The whole hiding in the shadows bit.

Ebay took a turn for the worse, heading more towards how AHs do things, by making their bidding more anonymous. But at least it's still possible to track activity with a little research. With AHs it's impossible.

Bottom-line is that with AHs you put yourself in a much more vulnerable position, and we've all seen how premium cards go for crazy amounts at an AH only to take a nosedive on ebay.

Is this always the case? Of course not, but you'll almost never see a premium card go for less in an AH than on ebay.

And many people will only sell their premium cards through consignment (onbay or off), so that they can artificially inflate the cards value. The worst scenario is this one, since people get the impression, through VCP, that a card is worth something since all of it's recorded data came from AH sales.

Unfortunately this racket will continue until the law steps in, as when money is involved, some people won't stop until they get caught. Total transparency is the only real weapon against this, albeit far from perfect.

Ultimately, these kind of blind dealings hurt this hobby, and that's what I take issue with.