One more question about AMI auctions - re: potential shill bidding?

[Preston]

Totally random, off base question as I've never bid on anything on AMI (until now) and may not ever again, but is there a chance someone could actually be shill bidding on some of these auctions?

As crazy as this may sound, I almost wonder if the owner of the item(s) I bid on is bidding from an alternate account (both items I bid on and am going to lose were on the last AMI auction and weren't "paid" for so they were re-listed), so to me it's a coincidence that both items I bid on were also on last AMI auction and I subsequently lost both last time around...because AMI doesn't disclose who you're bidding against and who wins the auction (privacy policy, I understand and respect and agree with).

Am I crazy for thinking it's possible someone "bid up" the items I bid on with the intention of protecting their investment? Granted there's a buyer's premium which honestly pushed the "value" of both items above what I believe they actually would be valued at. I'm not going to disclose the item(s) but I am asking for the sake of it being a possibility.

I hope I'm wrong, but having little to no experience bidding via an auction house, I'm not sure exactly what to think. Any insight would be MUCH appreciated.

[Mattapan03]

Its not shill bidding per se, but rather just a hidden reserve price

[Preston]

Its not shill bidding per se, but rather just a hidden reserve price

Can you explain a little more please? I always wondered about why there wasn't ever a "reserve", per se...because for auction houses generally there are higher end items, and I'd like to believe the sellers would generally be willing to spend money on a reserve to not lose big (or perhaps at all) on their investment.

[Mattapan03]

If you do a search on here there will be plenty of threads about AMI.

To my knowledge, AMI lets the consignors control their auctions. For example, they may start off a jersey at $300, but the hidden reserve is $1500. So, AMI will automatically "bid-up" the jersey to next bid price until the reserve it met (which usually never happens and thus youll see the same auctions on AMI for the rest of eternity). So, lets say you bid $750 on that jersey, you'll be automatically outbid to the next highest price (840?). This goes on and on until the reserve is met.

[Preston]

If you do a search on here there will be plenty of threads about AMI.

To my knowledge, AMI lets the consignors control their auctions. For example, they may start off a jersey at $300, but the hidden reserve is $1500. So, AMI will automatically "bid-up" the jersey to next bid price until the reserve it met (which usually never happens and thus youll see the same auctions on AMI for the rest of eternity). So, lets say you bid $750 on that jersey, you'll be automatically outbid to the next highest price (840?). This goes on and on until the reserve is met.

That makes sense - I kinda wish they would disclose that on the front end!

One more question because I'm even more confused about this 15 minute rule deal...

The auctions haven't had a bid in over an hour, yet they're still active. Am I missing something?

[VISUALCONCEPTSNJ]

Ami ( Victor And Kieta ) Are Crooks!!! I Don't Trust Anything That Has To Do With Them... Not Only Were They Paying Lou Lampson To Authenticate Unauthentic Items But I Sent Them 2 Consignments A Few Years Back Which Sold For A Total Of 6k... The Items Were Paid For By The Winners And The Items Were Sent Out. Its Now Years Later And I Still Havent Seen A Dime Of My Money. After A This Time And A Million Phone Calls To Them, The Most I've Gotten So Far Is "were Sorry- We Had Issues Here At That Time..."
So I Not Only Lost My Consignments But Never Got Any Money Either.
They Are Scumbags... Beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mulligans]

As a seller and a buyer with AMI over the last 2 Years, I have been very happy with their Auction site. As a seller, they give you the ability to post your own items and upon a sale, the $ is deposited directly into your checking account and then you ship the item.

Whenever they have had any questions regarding authenticity of an item, they ask that I send it in to them for review....Unfortunately, some of my items have been rejected and sent back.

I wasn't familiar with them prior to meeting them so I can't speak to that. If I had any criticisms at all, I find that their communication skills and response rates can be weak at times.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

[MSpecht]

Here are a few previous threads that may be of interest.

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/search.php?searchid=1159470