ebay finds that PWCC engaged in shill bidding?

[68Hawk]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Nobody took advantage of me. I wasn't shill bid on this card. I made an offer for less than what I felt the card was worth to me. The seller accepted my offer. I love the card and am more than happy with the price I paid. Feel free to berate me ale my purchasing decisions though if you dislike me. I don't mind.

Yup, super wrong in my eyes as a collector seeing someone called out like you've been for what you paid for a piece of cardboard.
It's a beautiful Mantle I hope you enjoy as long as you hold on to it, and the price you paid is for you to be comfortable with and only you.

I find your line of thinking interesting, though perhaps you're underplaying/undervaluing the effect of pump and dump.....
It's not just the 'outlier' high price paid for a shilled item that can falsely alter market value for a collectable, but the effect of todays sports forums online and on social media which pile on to the event.
When collectors discuss/post their feelings, both positive and negative, but often with a sense of excitement about that result, it fuels many buyers into that FOMO anxiety.
So without being completely sure themselves, a buyer who doesn't own a copy of a card they really desire may move out of their comfort zone purely because that FOMO suggests the opportunity may permanently disappear from their affordability or manageability.

Only takes 2 or 3 bidders each time, and the ones who are underbidders form the floor at the next auction and tend to bid to AT LEAST where they were on the losing auction, sometimes a little over.
Now further collector eyes see multiple auctions reaching a 'new' seemingly authentic bidder level and it resolves in their minds whether the original result was fairly achieved.

I understand your overall point, and that is that regardless of the above if collectors are willing to pay a new and inflated price, or fall away after a couple of auctions and the item finds once again it's previous selling point, the collectable is finding a longer term number that is considered it's value.

Fair in the way it gets there?
Probs not. But same thing happens in property and other assets, and if your pockets are deep enough it only really matters what YOU are willing to pay.
You see actors and famous people all the time selling uber expensive property they bought top of market for millions less than they paid, and I rarely feel sorry for them.
I own cards I've similarly paid up big time for, especially some modern stuff like Mahomes, and if it falls in to a pit I just accept I was the idiot willing to risk funds for a speculative piece of cardboard.

The anger pointed at your posts are unwarranted IMO, presuming you are not acting in bad faith at the behest of the bad actors.
No reason as I read it to believe that, so feel free to intellectualize as much as you like I say.