Bill Mastro denies widespread fraud in his auctions -- yesterday.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by bcornell

It's difficult to kick Bill Mastro and others when they're down when you have no idea whether they defrauded you.

Bill, prices have been inflated going forward for every shilled item in a Mastro auction as falsely high values are assigned to these cards. Even if somehow you bid in a Mastro auction and did not get shilled by Bill and the gang, you still felt the bite of their fraud down the road. In addition, the falsely high prices Mastro got in his auctions surely caused other auction houses to shill bid as well or allow consignors to run wild on their lots in an effort to keep up with the high prices and maintain or get new consignors.

[Iron Horse]

How do we know that this is not going on today?? We see it on ebay with bidders that have numerous bid retractions, and i am sure it is happening in other auctions as well.
Guess the big question is how do we assure that the consumer/bidder is protected in these auctions??
Should there be an independent council that monitors the big auctions?
Should the duration of bidding be shortened to 2-3 days max not 5 weeks?

Looking forward to other suggestions??
Maybe some auction houses can even suggest how do we make sure that our bids are not being shilled.

[HRBAKER]

How do we know that this is not going on today??

If you suspect it, stop participating.
Why would they stop if we don't.
Therein lies the problem.

[Iron Horse]

Hi Jeff,
Yes, i have for one stop bidding on items that are being sold by some sellers on ebay. It is easier to at least see the bidding trend or the bidders on ebay. However we have no clue in the auctions that are off ebay.

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Bill, prices have been inflated going forward for every shilled item in a Mastro auction as falsely high values are assigned to these cards. Even if somehow you bid in a Mastro auction and did not get shilled by Bill and the gang, you still felt the bite of their fraud down the road. In addition, the falsely high prices Mastro got in his auctions surely caused other auction houses to shill bid as well or allow consignors to run wild on their lots in an effort to keep up with the high prices and maintain or get new consignors.

Big +1