Shillers, Shenanigans & Shibboleths - The Elusive Underbidder

[frankbmd]

So you have a card buried deeply in your collection. You come across it for the first time in ten years. You ask yourself why you bought this card in the first place. Not coming up with an answer, you decide to sell it, but you have no idea what its current market value is.

Wisely you review recent auction data to see what you might ask for the card. You find a recent auction with a price that surprises you on the "high" side. You surmise that if some one paid that much for the card, there must be an underbidder out there that would happily pay almost that much. If that underbidder sees your listing, then both you and he would consummate a successful deal, a true win-win.

So you set your price below the recent auction sale in hopes that the underbidder appears as your buyer. Days pass with nary a whisper regarding your listing. You may even be maligned by some for your "museum" pricing. But is this fair. You have done your homework. Somewhere out there someone out there bought the same card for more and another also wanted it, yet your sought after underbidder remains elusive.

What if any conclusions can draw from this scenario?

Has it happened to you and what did you conclude?

Was the elusive underbidder a shill bid?

What others shenanigans might result in this outcome?

There must be a card collecting shibboleth to explain this.

What's yours?