Yeah, I don't really agree either. An auction will establish market price only if all potential buyers are aware of the auction. You can say that REA establishes market prices, but the same is not true for ebay. All the time I see an auction end at $X, and then the same card is re-listed by mikedenero or someone like that at $2X, and it sells eventually.
I think true market value is somewhere in the middle. An auction on ebay will never maximize an item's sale price, but it may be best for the seller to move it right away. If a seller has a large inventory, they can afford to have that card sit at a higher price point until it sells (pretty much what Scott was saying I think). If I need to sell a card right away, I can't ask for the latest price that mikedenero just got for that same card (I could ask, but I'll hear crickets). One of the reasons some cards sell after 3 months at a higher price than auction results would indicate is that sometimes it took that long for the buyer to see it.
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