[OTWCards]

Auction House Transparency: All bidder names and/or ID's will be available and noted on each active auction item up to and including closing of the auction.

PRO: Identifies the bidder on the lot, provides a record of the bidder's purchase(s), allows bidders to see who they are bidding against or lost to, provides peace of mind to proponents that suggest such transparency will stem the tide of shill or false bids

CON: Provides purchase history and price point of attached to bidder, allows others to run up selected bidders, allows auction houses to create bidders/identities to use as shills which defeats the purpose of intended transparency

Scenario 1: High profile bidder, known to many in the hobby, is identified by his bidder name/ID and others, knowing high profile bidder will not be outbid, run up the item (in essence, shill bidding)

Scenario 2: Bidder wins lot or group of cards to break up and sells them. Bidding patterns and bidding strategy can then be identified and copied.

Scenario 3: Major dealer or another auction house bids and wins and resells item. The AH Investigative Team springs into action and calls out a conspiracy.

Scenario 4: A bidder wins a lot(s) and another bidder takes exception and makes a point to harass through eBay/message boards or outbid against the winner in the next auction.

Scenario 5: A bidder wins and no one cares.

Scenario 6: A bidder (fictitious auction house shill account) wins the auction after multiple shill bids and the auction house eventually offers the item to the under bidder or runs it again in the next auction while the "realized" price stands as a point of record.

I'm sure there are many other scenarios, but I really don't see how such transparency would cut down on shilling or false prices as all the auction house has to do is create false accounts (they could even utilize consignor names or addresses to camouflage this in the event of inquiry).

The attempt to create true transparency by use of actual bidder names would only cause some bidder NOT to engage in such auctions. There are times that I have no interest in others knowing what I am bidding on or purchasing. And I'm quite certain that there are some high profile bidders that enjoy and insist upon their anonymity...