Seen a lot of this, especially on Facebook auctions. That’s why I longer view that format. Way too political for me. Thank God for old gas!
It always pays to pay attention. Auction companies do this alot .face book too. Generally all items have a reserve unless its advertised absolute auction. In some states you can lose your license for breaking this rule.but every single Facebook seller can be a auctioneer without any qualifications at all. If you want a filling station sign i have one id part with for a price without the games.
I think its called shill bidding for the auction house. when they finally get the price they want they will sell it. In the meantime
the auction house keeps buying it back. Use to be a auctioneer in Kansas that did that, cant remember his name but he sold
the same things over and over. Glad he's no longer around.
Claude.
Great detective work and also so unfortunate to see. I recently bought a sign from one of their auctions and see them all over Facebook. They consistently self promote themselves as the good guys. But their have been others who have accused them of some shady business deals. Now this is proof
It would be simpler to disclose reserve to high bidder only and let top bidder the choice to buy it at reserve price. My problem is alot off auction company act and advertise a absolute sale meaning sells to high bidder and owners and auction staff are forbidden by law in most states to bid ... i have been high bidder on a lot of items and real estate when the sellers didnt bother giving me the buy it price. Hard to bid on something when you have to bid against yourself. Or b. s. shilling like the car auctions
The auction house may only own a portion of what's being sold, maybe nothing. Could the auction house be charging a friend a small flat fee to run the sign through the auction until the sign sells for what the individual wants? Maybe it's only a slight difference from what's already been said, but the auction house isn't really bidding on it's own sign to make the selling price higher or inflate the market.
Actually if you look at some of the T&C's such as those auctions/companies on ProxyBid.com, you will find the fine print stating by some that they allow themselves to bid against you. Each state depending on where the auction house resides governs what they can and can't do along with the platform's rules as an example of ProxyBid. Example that I ran across:
