Posted By:
Jeff LichtmanJay, you're a beacon of morality in our otherwise grim corporate-mentatlity forum.
Cobby is right -- you can still bid in an auction house's auctions and be critical of their practices. I think if you believe you're getting ripped off then it's a different story and you bid at your own risk. It really depends on the practices that you have a problem with.
If I restricted my bidding to auctions that I was sure I was not getting abused on any level by I would be doing 99.99 percent of my buying on the BST thread. That being said, there are at least 2 auction houses that I won't touch with a 10 foot pole no matter what is up for auction.
Conflicts of interest should be disclosed in all auctions: whether it be for items owned by auction houses, items authenticated by consignors, etc. What is the big deal to provide transparency -- another few words under an item's description? In this day and age where we read about FBI investigations, criminals running auction houses and fake items for sale is it asking so much that we, the consumer, are given a reasonable level of comfort? Why should we be totally at the mercy of the auction houses? And they may snicker at my rhetorical questions...but I assure you that a continuing lack of transparency combined with dishonesty will cause the lids to be ripped off the auction houses for all of us to see what lies underneath.