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Posted By: Joann

There are some policies here that really get at some of the hobby issues we've all been talking about for quite awhile now, and I don't think they've got extensive mention yet.

BL will allow a reserve price option to sellers with seller paying the 12.5 if it doesn't hit the reserve. This gets directly to the nagging little concern people have that sellers bid on their own items (directly or through a friend) to make sure it hits some hidden reserve they have in mind. This policy will help get rid of that. If someone was going to bid his own card up to $XX as a hidden reserve, he was willing to pay the BF at that level. This just formalizes that informal practice and makes it transparent. It will also help make sure that the reserve option is used responsibly and reserves are reasonable - so sellers can't use Scott and Leon's auction just to test the market with no true intent to sell. As to shilling above the reserve, while it may still happen the primary motivator for shilling - to hit some preconceived mimimum - is removed.

The policy of retaining bidding records forever and making them available to third parties on a case-by-case basis is also a good one. It gets at some of the concerns frequently mentioned about any shady bidding practices protected by anonymous bidding. Someone that feels his max bid was bid up or whatever actually look into it if he feels strongly enough about it.

Finally, there is a clear and prominent statement that there will be absolutely no work done on a card of any kind. This may seem simple, but some auction houses don't even go this far. I think Leon and Scott have their reputations to thank for this being an effective statement in this case.

In short, it looks like they have been a bit creative in coming up with policies that address contentious hobby issues while still being manageable and fair to all involved. I think it would be great to see other auction houses follow suit - just to tighten the game and increase transparency, even for those houses that are completely honest in all dealings. It just makes the above-board dealing more obvious and clear.

It reminds me of what MEARS is trying to get at. At this point I'm still only bidding with houses (meaning REA) that have signed on to the MEARS policy - at least for 2008. But with policies like this that really get at the same concerns but are less intrusive, I might have to start looking for a loophole in my self-imposed restrictions here!

J