Mastro Being Investigated - Article

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Posted By: Fred C

The hell with reserve prices. If there is a minimum price for the auction then that should be the minimum bid. Anyone interested in the item at the minimum bid price will bid on it. Hidden reserves are bull$hit (excuse me). Auctions houses (big and small) should adhere to that rule.

I remember the last Superior Card auction. Nobody had a clue that there were reserves built in. At the end of the auction the way we found out was that we had the high bid yet the item was not sold to us. Talk about a crock of crap. I guess the people at Suprior must have figured out that they screwed up because over half the (over 200 OJs) didn't sell. A few of us were able to pick up a few nice cards at decent prices because they reduced the price on some of the cards, probably just to recoup some cash.

Overall, I wouldn't want my name out there for everyone to see what I'm bidding on. I'd rather keep that private. At some point in time you just have to trust the auction houses. If there is any impropriety uncovered/discovered then that auction house is going to be shunned. Overall I trust the auction houses, I don't have a choice. I have to believe that they are on the level else I would have a miserable time staying in this hobby.

One reason auction houses (not ebay) get good results is because we trust them and we have our privacy. I don't even want to get on the subject of alterations because then not only do you trash the auction houses you start to trash the grading companies which opens another can of worms. That could be fun. I haven't participated in a good PSA trashing thread in a while... those are so much fun!