- what i question are the secret max proxy bids that are placed prior to the live auction going underway. time and time again i see or hear of someone looking to bid on an item lets say of $100 and they do go ahead and bid, and put in their secret max proxy of $2500 and within hours, that is -day light hours- hours of which suspected employees are expected to be working in their office, the price has already skyrocketed to $2400 and stopped. and it's stopped for good until the auction is over. unless if by some chance in heaven you call and figure out a convincing reason for them to retract your bid. if not your stuck with the item for good.
-also you’re kidding yourself if you don't think shill bidding can and or does occur by an auction house themselves in using their own live online bidding software. why are you so naive to think employees of the auction wouldn't restrict themselves to using the same method of bidding as their customers? the employees namely n.p. gresham are just as likely to bid during the live auction bidding through the online live software as they would be to bid before the auction began. Also who’s to say the auction house can’t track through the live bidding software who’s actually looking at what or who’s logged on? this also puts the buyer at a disadvantage as the auction house can make decisions in advance as to whether an item should actually sell or not; whether or not the auction house themselves should before the item ends come in and make a move. -furthermore what makes this all the more worse is when an auction house’s own employees are allowed to bid on items. why? because they know in the computer system what people’s max proxy bids are, what they are willing to pay, and the auction house can determine what the price of the item should sell for -if at all! think about it. if your max bid was $2500 and someone at the auction said that's too cheap, they could see exactly what you bidded on the item and bid in our example $2600 and then secretly give it back to the consigner or take the item in themselves. taking it in themselves would allow them to control the market or stick it back into their next auction. -also with an employee working for the auction house bidding on the item who in the hell says they are entitled to pay for it? the item could be given back or used in a future auction. employees of the auction house aren't governed by the same standards non-affiliate regular bidders are. also another example, auction houses say that they supposedly shill bid to do the consigners a favor so that the items sell for a reasonable amount. who’s to say that since an auction house supposedly buys items and sticks them into their own auctions that they don’t purposely shill their own auctions if not more than consignees? after all they are paid either way X percent of what the item sells for, so for them, why not try and make more money on something they already own? it gives them more of an incentive to bid on there own stuff if they are allowed to put their own items into the auction. -furthermore if auction houses are allowed to shill bid, shouldn’t the consignees be given the same rights? you’d might as well just go ahead and allow them to bid on their own auctions; but of course the auction house would never do this because then it would be obvious that in fact shill bidding was occurring. it’s all just so wrong down to the last penny. -wrapping it up; so lesson’s learned, there are numerous problems with this. IT IS FRAUD. let me repeat it again that shill bidding IS FRAUD. it is conspiracy and or an act of intentional deception made for personal and or cooperate financial gain i.e. the auction house. it should be apparent if it already isn’t that auction houses aren't entitled to set the final sale price of an item. that is why items are auctioned off to begin with, to determine the price as to what a non affiliated select group of individuals are willing to pay. the key word is “non-affiliated”, that goes for the consignee and auction house, as both of them are affiliates and should in ALL fairness NEVER be allowed to bid. if in fact an auction house can put their own items into their own auctions why in god’s name should they be bidding on them? since when did the seller become the buyer and the buyer become the seller? i guess that’s the million dollar question (literally speaking) they will be faced when they step before a judge. -as far as the ethics in shill bidding, there are none. there is nothing morally honest or fair about shill bidding. it is a conniving attempt to profiteer off of what someone is willing to maximally pay for an item. “maximally” not necessarily what they should or are immediately obligated to pay unless certain set of criteria falls into place. the probability of an item selling way below or above your secret proxy from my experience is around 1:1, it may or may not, however for an item to sell right below your max proxy is like 1:100 odds in the auction world. it’s like the day the earth stood still and being attacked by aliens here on earth, it just doesn’t happen. think about it? two strangers willing to bid so close to one another on the same item at the same time for the same amount of money. -the worst part about this is that you have no idea as to who the high bidder is or who your going against unless of course, like the plaintiff in this case you get a writ or court order demanding the auction house to open up and “share all”. this whole idea of shill bidding when you look at it, is so sick and twisted that it’s really sad someone would even try to justify it as being morally permissible. buymovieposters http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=buymovieposters Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
