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Posted By: Eric Brehm

One does not have to dig very deep into economic theory to see that shill bidding is not 'fair'.

Fair market value = "the price at which property would change hands between a buyer and seller when both have reasonable knowledge of all the necessary facts and neither has to buy or sell."

If I was the author of a baseball card price guide, and I was omniscient with respect to the facts surrounding every sale that had taken place within the time period at hand, among the transactions that I would exclude in deriving market values would be:

(a) a collection that is offered to a dealer by someone who has no idea what the collection is worth, and is purchased for a small fraction of what the cards typically sell for;

(b) an auction in which shill bidding is employed and influences the highest bid;

(c) a sale where the price is obtained through extortion.