AlexanderA
Member
Yep. Sounds like a shill bidder. What's really going on is that the seller has a minimum price in mind, but doesn't want to set a reserve because it might scare off some bidders. So he has a buddy bid the price up to his minimum. If the buddy ends up getting it, they just cancel the sale. (The auctioneer might get his cut anyway, though, so this strategy is not without its costs.)I went to an auction once where the same guy "won" over half the stuff. The bill of sale for the next auction still had all that stuff coming up for auction again.