Implications of "cleaning up the hobby?"

[steve B]

Stuff trumps all for some, and trumps something for just about everyone.

I don't think you could find an auction house that's been around for any length of time that has never done anything remotely improper. Most probably don't engage in flat out fraud, but there are enough situations where there's some gray area that nearly all have done something.

I try to take the high road as much as possible. But there are times when things have not worked out that way.

A couple live auctions I've been to -
One a regular auction I went to fairly often the auctioneer hated left bids. And would often disclose the left bid maximum if bidding got close. Especially on large items like furniture. Bedroom set? Geez, I hate left bids left bid is $100, any advance? A few items with left bids sold for the left bid maximum.
Not right, but considering the nuisance of loading up a roomful of furniture and taking it back to his small shop until the winner could come get it, probably requiring help loading it, he probably still lost most of his profit. (10-15% bp, so he was making a whole $15 to do the extra lugging.) But he also stopped an item to warn two front row bidders about open collusion. One offered to back off if the other guy backed off another lot. Yes, it's done all the time, but yes, it's technically as illegal as shilling, and really shouldn't be done a few feet from the auctioneer.

Another - and here's a mild confession- Coin auction in the 80's. I had a few things I wanted and knew what to pay. But was being outbid on all of them. Finally overheard a dealer a couple rows in front of me brag about how "the kid hasn't been able to buy anything. Don't know what I'll do with the stuff be he won't get it." He also mentioned that he needed a certain half dollar for a customer. I moved seats and bid it up past retail. The look on his face when the kid congratulated him on his "great buy" as he was wondering aloud just why it had sold for so much was priceless. Then I asked how much he "needed" the other couple coins he'd talked about. ...........No more buying stuff just to keep the kid for getting it. Yeah, it was wrong. But I'm still on the fence whether it was really all that out of line.

I've been offered stuff I was one bid short of after an auction a couple times. Nice offer, but I always declined. It just didn't seem fair. It helped that I'd also spent most of the money I'd planned for that item on second choice stuff that went after it.

And I think most auctions that have been around a while have been stuck with fakes or stuff where the ownership becomes questionable.


So stuff happens all the time, some of it not entirely proper. It comes down to a matter of how often does it happen, and how do they handle it.

Steve B