[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I'll never understand why the concept is so confusing. The auction law is fairly straightforward:

§ 2-328. Sale by Auction.

(4) If the auctioneer knowingly receives a bid on the seller's behalf or the seller makes or procures such a bid, and notice has not been given that liberty for such bidding is reserved, the buyer may at his option avoid the sale or take the goods at the price of the last good faith bid prior to the completion of the sale. This subsection shall not apply to any bid at a forced sale.


So there you have it, if in clause 21 of their terms and conditions Auction House X reserves the right for consignors to bid on their own items it is perfectly legal.

If they don't reserve that right and it happens anyway, and by some miracle the winning bidder, who got bid up, finds out, the sum total of their redress is they can cancel their bid or require the auction to sell them the item at the level the item would've achieved without the shill bidding.

I find allowing consignors to bid on their own items unethical, despite it's legality, and we have a policy against it. I'm sure some consignor has used a buddy to bid something up, but if we catch you (and we have) those bids are canceled and that's your last auction with us.