Auction House Conflict of Interest

[Archive]

Posted By: Aaron M.

Barry, I don't think this is opening a can of worms. I think it is dealing directly with an issue within the collecting community that needs to be addressed.

For the record, despite philosophical differences with some of Mastro's policies, I have always enjoyed good experiences with their auctions and never been disappointed with any of the items I've won in their auctions. I also intend to continue to bid on Mastro auctions, until I have reason otherwise.

But I do want to to see them and other auction companies reform in a climate of what I believe to be increased pressure to do so. My feelings are very much in line with what MEARS made public recently and REA has followed for years. Specifically I want to see auction houses:

1. Discontinue allowing its own executives and employees bid on their auctions.

2. Either discontinue the practice entirely or disclose if a a card has in any way been altered prior to grading.

3. Either discontinue the practice entirely, or disclose if an authenticator owns an items he authenticated.

4. Discontinue the practice of auctioning items the auction house itself owns.

To me, rather than a can of worms these are "the basics" of reform that we should be pushing for. From there we can tackle more complicated issues, but these are the "no-brainers" that we shouldn't receive any resistance from the various auction houses over.