Some comments on thoughts in this thread and regarding one thought in an earlier thread:

SHILL BIDDING
(1) I liked the remark of Archie that shill bidding would have an adverse effect on catalog values. Maybe this is obvious, but bidders should know that just as catalogs are just guides, honest (no shill bidding) auction results are just guides too. The results should be taken with a grain of salt. The results are just what two --perhaps ego driven, besotted, insane, filthy rich-- guys happen to bid. Seriously, with certain items on eBay I have come to the conclusion that prices are honestly being pushed up by just 2 or 3 avid collectors, and that when one or two of them gets what they want or becomes tired or dead or poor, there will be no such high market.

(2) Someone in the thread said there was no harm to shill bidding, especially for the knowledgeable.. I refer him to my earlier post:
http://www.thechipboard.com/cgi-bin/tcb/config.pl?read=55594

RESERVES
(1) I don’t like reserves (an honest part of auctions) either, just as I don’t like shill bidding (a dishonest aspect of auctions). But as Jim --I believe-- stated earlier, if an auction had a GREAT item that I sorely wanted, I would take the time, energy, etc. to place a bid, whether the auction had reserves, shill bidding, whatever.

(2) The reason I don’t like reserves was touched on by Jim. They take too much of a toll on me -- time, energy, anxiety. In a regular (no-reserve) auction, I have one big hurdle to face -- other bidders seeing it and outbidding me. In a reserve auction I have TWO hurdles: (a) the other bidders thing just mentioned , and (b) the aggravation of thinking and researching the item and worrying about other bidders, etc. AND ALL THE TIME KNOWING THAT I MAY BE “SPINNING MY WHEELS”/WASTING MY TIME BECAUSE THE RESERVE MAY BE OUT OF SIGHT OR RIDICULOUS! It makes me mad, so I pass on reserve auctions unless the item is particularly great.

(3) Contrary to a comment in the thread, eBay does not appreciate reserve auctions. They just tolerate it. Sellers like reserves, not buyers or eBay. A few months ago eBay wanted to highlight reserve auctions and reserves-not-yet-met in the browse and title search lists, and wanted to make other “onerous” reforms (like making the opening bid 25% or so of the reserve; and other reforms), but were beaten back by angry sellers who practically threatened a revolt.

CLUB AUCTION
I used to submit items to the club auction (once, an ivory chip that went for $500 or $600). But I stopped submitting after they changed the rules. Now: no minimum bids; if the seller sees the item going for too little, he can bid (shill bidding?) in his own item, but has to pay both a 10% buyer’s fee and a 10% seller’s fee. I thought this was too onerous, and talk that this is the world’s best chip auction where good stuff is always bid up to the market value didn’t assuage me.......................I thought of the Club auction when I saw Jim’s (very correct) remark that that he favors auctions with a “reasonable minimum bid” (and no reserve). That is how I run my little auctions.

Robert