Quote:
Originally Posted by trobba
How would someone shilling for a friend (or themselves) know how high to go without purchasing the item?
I get how Mastro could be "protected" in their shill bidding because they could conceivably use someone's max bid against them.
How would I know if a $10,000 item was shilled up to $15,000 that someone would bid one more than me? Wouldn't there be ample times when I would get stuck, as the shill bidder, with the item?
Or were most shill bids up to a reasonable price and not way above market prices?
Rob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes
There were many instances on this list where a name that was listed as the "winning bidder" was also listed as the "shill bidder" for the same item.
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You accomplish this via an agreement with the auction house. Other people shill the card up to the desired price hoping someone will get caught up in the bidding and overpay. If nobody overpays, the shill bidder goes down as the winning bidder, but card and money do not change hands. Looks legit from a distance, AH has increased profits, consignor has increased profits, everybody wins......except the winning bidder.
For the consignor, the worst case scenario is that nobody overpays, he keeps his card, and the most recent sale of his card is nice and inflated when he consigns it again 4 months down the road.
Worst case for the auction house, they don't get a hefty buyer's premium but they can now advertise a NEW RECORD PRICE for whatever card they sold in a press release and on their website.