Ethics question regarding buying at auctions...

[barrysloate]

I also agree that if a large lot of cards is too expensive for any number of collectors to afford, but by pooling their resources they are at least able to competitively bid on it, then they have done absolutely nothing wrong. Their goal was to get the cards, and this may have been their only opportunity to do so.

That is much different than collusion. That is done for the sole purpose of depressing the final price on the lot.