Jeff,
I am in no way implying that shill bidding does not exist. Was just trying to point out that it is my opinion that card and memorabilia altering is a much larger business.
We are presented graded altered cards and, more often than not, the alteration is right in front of our face yet buyers will purchase the card anyway. My experience has demonstrated that many buyers prefer to just rely on the grade assigned to the card rather than making their own assessment of the quality of the card. Be it a desire to fill a hole in the collection or a lack of expertise, they will rely on the graded holder to tell them what they are getting, even if it is misleading. So it is not like there has been a precedent set by collectors to ever mitigate their damages.
Bids are placed in auction houses without the public knowing who they are bidding against. How can any of us, absent complete bidding records, say with certainty that we were shilled? Shouldn't we try to clean up the obvious before we start looking for things which are more uncertain and less quantifiable?
When a top all is placed, and if it is maxed out artificially, that is the price the buyer was willing to pay. Not implying that is what they should pay or how the system should work but how does that differ in form to a buyer deciding to plop down money for his encapsulated trimmed card in which he will be overpaying for that card whose true value is a very small percentage of what is being considered?
Don’t know about you but if I had to pick I would prefer to pay too much for an item which is exactly what it is deemed to be rather than to buy something which I can later find out to be a product of some card doctors efforts that never should have been graded.
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