Auction Houses and blind bidding

[Deertick]

I have had to use a 'proxy bidder' in a live auction because another bidder had his panties in a wad because I won an item he wanted. He was running up every item I bid on, all the while turning and glaring at me. My proxy won every bid without interference.

Can you imagine the shenanigans if (Lelands, Heritage, etc) showed who the bidders were?

Originally Posted by Deertick

I have had to use a 'proxy bidder' in a live auction because another bidder had his panties in a wad because I won an item he wanted. He was running up every item I bid on, all the while turning and glaring at me. My proxy won every bid without interference.

Can you imagine the shenanigans if (Lelands, Heritage, etc) showed who the bidders were?

Like I said before, the ebay system works best. With a fixed end time you can bid in the last few seconds and no one can run you up.

If people run up other people during the rest of bidding time they can be caught and handled. With AHs you have no chance and no clue what is happening to you at any point during the auction.

The problem with AHs is that they inflate prices causing a bubble that will eventually burst just like it did for the real estate market. I've seen it happen before, and have actually benefited from it by picking up premium cards on ebay when that exact same card (same cert) didn't go for close what it did with the offbay auction houses.

If you believe that for some reason AH bidding is all pure because it is blind, then you are the exact target that they and shillers are looking for. The more prices go up, the more the AHs make, so it is clearly to their advantage to do whatever it takes to keep those prices high ... and that's what they've created the arena that they have.