The "auction" (for lack of a better word) is over. Look at what happened.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Steve that's all true but it remains the case that if one believes someone selling baseball cards is not ethical, it's pretty simple not to do business with them instead of rationalizing it.

I'm not rationalizing, I try to avoid sellers I know are questionable. I also don't make much effort to investigate any particular seller. In that way I'm probably a small piece of the problem.

And I agree. Within a hobby it's easier to avoid questionable sellers.

It just struck me as mildly hypocritical for someone to say we should cut off all business with sellers who are known to at least ignore stuff like shilling. And to make that post from a computer or phone that's almost certainly got software form Microsoft(Antitrust, less than forthcoming at times) Apple (Production in factories with deplorable working conditions) Or Google (Copyright violation - many times over)

We all do business in some way with all of them.

To me the difference is that with the big corporations there isn't much choice.
And at least we can do that business knowing what sort of company we're dealing with.
I've bought from some flea market dealers I didn't trust. But did it knowing they were a bit sketchy, and made my decisions on the item at the time. There were a few I simply wouldn't bother with at all.
If you look hard enough at almost any seller there's something they've done that would bother someone. Maybe not criminal, but maybe not exactly "right" either.


I think others make some good points, fraud is here, and has been. And we probably can't stop it entirely. To think that I haven't been harmed indirectly by shilling in a major auction I don't buy from would be foolish. (Not directly since I can't afford the great stuff even unshilled) The rise in price of the good stuff raises the price of the cheaper stuff I can afford.

There are positive aspects to higher overall prices, but that's a bit too far removed from this discussion.

Pointing out fraud when it happens is a good thing.

Steve B