Auctions
NEWMAN: Shill bidding is wrong and collectors should take action to help stop it
Shill bidding is not new to the hobby but the controversial practice recently came back to the forefront of the industry.
Personally I believe that the majority of dealers and collectors don’t like it, don’t condone it, and wish it could be prohibited and done away with.
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There's another faction that tries to justify it and claim it's a normal part of the auction landscape and that all should just deal with it.
Let me start by explaining shill bidding just in case you aren’t aware. Shill bidding is the act of someone bidding on their own auctions to drive up the price of an item so someone ultimately will purchase it for more money. It can also be someone shill bidding for someone else for the sole purpose of driving up the price but not buying the item themselves.
Simply put, it's a tactic for dealers and sellers to make more money on an auction item. While it is not a new concept, that does not mean it is right, ethical or should be done.
One person tried to justify it to me by stating simply that if it's been going on so long, then it should be OK. I'll call that the statute of limitations argument. That still doesn't fly with me; it's still artificially inflating a sale price to potentially cost a legitimate buyer and genuine bidder more of their hard-earned income, and it skews what could be the actual sales price.
I'm a firm believer that a genuinely interested buyer should set that price, not people placing bids with the sole purpose of costing the buying more money and making themselves or a friend more money. No justification will change my mind that it's wrong and unethical.
I recently did a “Hobby Quick Hits” podcast on the subject and revealed that over my years in the hobby I've had friends and hobby acquaintances ask me to increase the bids on one or more of their auctions, especially toward the last few days before it was scheduled to close. I would say that has occurred five to seven times. Maybe it's my ethics or just personal beliefs but I can't do that and politely declined, most likely to their chagrin.
Each night when my head hits the pillow, I hope it was another day where I did things the right way and with good intentions. While I may have disappointed somebody with that refusal, I felt better about myself saying no thanks.
I've never asked anyone to shill bid for me and I'm not going to. As I said, I think it's ethnically wrong.
In honor of transparency, I will say that in two of the cases mentioned above, I had a genuine interest in the items in the auction and bid to win them and not to inflate the price. In one case, I did win the card and my friend, the seller, was hoping it brought more than my bid. The silver lining for him was he didn't have to ship it to me and delivered it in person.
It's easy to talk about shill bidding but what are the solutions?
Hopefully more buyers and collectors realize that it is wrong and unethical and stop participating in such bids. While that may be wishful thinking and probably not likely, some of the onus falls on auction houses and marketplaces to set better rules and protocols and implement stop-gap measures to stop it.
You should not be allowed to bid on your own items. Companies also need to look for red flags and trends in bidding that indicate something is amiss and not aboveboard.
Let's be real, the issue will never fully go away, but can it get better?
Time will tell, but remember if you aren't comfortable with the policy and rules at an auction house or marketplace, you can always choose to take your business to one that more aligns with your beliefs and ethics.
— John Newman is a collector, dealer and the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast. Catch his Hobby Quick Hits on Monday and his guest interviews on Friday on your favorite podcast platform. You can reach him at sportscardnationpc@gmail.com or on Twitter at @sportscardnati1
John Newman is the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast
