Posted By:
Hal LewisI don't get your question.
Are you asking me what would prevent me from having a friend bid up my card and then HOPE that someone else will outbid my friend in the end??
I don't see how anyone could do that and NOT still face the risk of BUYING BACK your own card if NOBODY bids at the end?
Again, I need the money for a pet project, and the whole high school baseball team is anxiously watching the auction and rooting for their lights!! 
Thus, if I did not have 100% intention of getting rid of the card, I would have just kept it and sold something else for the money.
BUT... I guess there is really NOTHING in ANY auction that can detect when a bidder is actually interested in an item or whether he is simply bidding and buying it because someone asked him to do so.
Even at a live art auction at Sotheby's, couldn't a consignor hire an independent bidding agent to go and bid up a painting for him?? Nobody would know who the consignor was, so it would work.