1939 Ted Williams Play Ball PSA 8 rookie Heritage auctions

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by botn

What would be nicer is if it stopped. Price manipulation has massive repercussions to those who are not part of the group--which is 99.99999% of us. Everyone was up in arms over the isolated shill bidding at Mastro that they all claimed established new price points for those items shilled. This goes far beyond that.

I've heard the rumors but it seems difficult to prove or stop. Assuming that is what's going on is it illegal to bid your friend's card up only to have him do the same for you later? I know of there are laws against manipulation of stock prices but I don't think the SEC would have much interest in the price of Jordan RCs.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I've heard the rumors but it seems difficult to prove or stop. Assuming that is what's going on is it illegal to bid your friend's card up only to have him do the same for you later? I know of there are laws against manipulation of stock prices but I don't think the SEC would have much interest in the price of Jordan RCs.

I hardly think the SEC is the only governmental body interested in fraud, if indeed that is what is happening here. There are at least two guys sitting in jail who could attest to that.

[botn]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I've heard the rumors but it seems difficult to prove or stop. Assuming that is what's going on is it illegal to bid your friend's card up only to have him do the same for you later? I know of there are laws against manipulation of stock prices but I don't think the SEC would have much interest in the price of Jordan RCs.

Yes it is illegal to bid on your friends item in exchange for his bidding on yours. Bidding for any other purpose other than attempting to win the item, is shilling. Stopping it is an entirely other thing but with ebay being the middle man on much of this stuff, I would think the FBI would get more cooperation than they did with the Mastro case.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by botn

Yes it is illegal to bid on your friends item in exchange for his bidding on yours. Bidding for any other purpose other than attempting to win the item, is shilling. Stopping it is an entirely other thing but with ebay being the middle man on much of this stuff, I would think the FBI would get more cooperation than they did with the Mastro case.

Im not familiar with the laws and am just asking. But what if they are bidding to win the cards and pay for them. If it was proven that the same guys were bidling on and paying for each other's cards a few times driving the market price up, has a crime been committed?

[botn]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

Im not familiar with the laws and am just asking. But what if they are bidding to win the cards and pay for them. If it was proven that the same guys were bidling on and paying for each other's cards a few times driving the market price up, has a crime been committed?

If it were only happening a few times with a few guys then it would likely not be noticed and it would not impact the market. That does not appear to be the case from my vantage point.