E121 Ruth getting respect

[swarmee]

There sure are a lot of people who condone shilling on this site...

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by swarmee

There sure are a lot of people who condone shilling on this site...

I'm not interested in getting into the full blown shilling debate, but I know I wouldn't want to sell that card for $3K or $5K, and would be more than happy to buy it back if the price stayed there. I don't think what this guy did manipulated the final price, nor did it appear to hook anyone into an artificial bidding war. Seems more like the hidden reserve thing. IMO, if he wins it back (at a still very low price), and pays for it, it's not that big a deal.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

I know I wouldn't want to sell that card for $3K or $5K

Then the guy (or you, in future situations) should not consign the item to PWCC or Probstein, and instead start your own auction at $5000 on eBay or list it Buy It Now/Best Offer. A "hidden reserve" is illegal shilling, and is prohibited on eBay.

[swarmee]

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...t=mastro+fraud

Many of the cases where Mastro was charged with shill bidding "didn't affect" the final price but were "just" bumps to get the bid further up the ladder. Doesn't matter; he and his cohort are still in jail because of it.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Then the guy (or you, in future situations) should not consign the item to PWCC or Probstein, and instead start your own auction at $5000 on eBay or list it Buy It Now/Best Offer. A "hidden reserve" is illegal shilling, and is prohibited on eBay.

I've never consigned, so you can omit the "you" in your post, and am not familiar with these rules inside and out. I mostly skipped over the many hundreds long threads on the topic.

Anyway, I don't condone shilling, or think that its ok, but in this case, not all shilling is created equal. What he did hurt no one.