New York City Rescinds Regulations On [philatelic] Auction Firms

Oh boy !!!!






See: https://www.linns.com/news/auctions...uction-firms




This is great news!!!



What could go wrong?

Let the fleecing begin...


Edit: To add my emphasis and title word [insertion].

Wow!!!!!

So they are relaxing regulations to ALLOW (ENCOURAGE???????) unethical behavior? So much for protecting the consumer.

How upmarket! I've never heard "chandelier bidding" but I knew it as "bidding against the water cooler ". And the only place where I saw it being obviously done was a charity auction by an (unlicensed) auctioneer (I checked). "Oh, but it was for charity." Yeah, sure.

mootermutt, how does one detect shill bidding and other shenanigans, much less prove it? That's pretty much impossible to prove in court and we'll need an example where a bidder successfully sued any auction house anywhere for fraud on that basis. So, it's been (another) useless package of laws, probably seen as driving sales (and their associated sales taxes) out of NYC. Scott Trepel of Siegel's said in the article: "There was absolutely no compliance enforcement and the bonding process was pointless".

Bidders often come in being suspicious, some up to the point of paranoia and are always heard grumbling about getting run up on lots. The latter is baloney from someone who had the responsibility of running the bid book in many auctions. But they go absolutely ballistic if the auctioneer misses their halfhearted-looking bid using a limp wrist held at desk-level. Why not just do your homework and (essentially) stick to a bid you've pre-set?

One simple way is to have an insider testify. Not that it happens often. I came up with that one in 5 seconds. I am sure there are other ways that could take5 or 10 minutes of thinking it through. But without the laws as they are now, the auction houses can behave as they want with impunity. Just because a law is tough to prove or prosecute doesn't mean we should simply scrap it. That is completely ludicrous. Let's at least have laws that makes wrong behavior wrong. At least, in theory, it is prosecutable. Other than admitting that the bad guys have won, why get rid of a law that tells us where the line of morality is?

From the story.......

Sounds as if somebody made a sizable campaign donation…..

There are all kinds of games played at stamp auction houses .Somebody needs to write a book ,but it needs input from a insider. The sad part is I learned some of these games the hard way by being the sucker in the game .

This whole business of getting better prices for auction lots has changed greatly with all the internet /online buyers so there has been new methods developed by the firms .

Laws and morality don't necessarily coincide, nor should one rely on the former to indicate the latter.

This definitely seems like a strange action from NYC.

In general, I am not in favor of over-regulating most businesses. In this case, however, if there are regulations in place that people feel are functionally ineffective, but, in fact, might provide a moral barrier that would preclude some from going too far, then it seems pointless to remove them, and possibly beneficial to keep them.

Don't forget the scandal in which the syndicate manipulated stamp auctions:

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/200...amp-auctions

The NYC auction house regulations have been a joke for years. The idea may [emphasis on may] be good, but when there is no supervision / control, having them only gives a false sense of security to the naive. Buyer beware is and always has been the rule.

When I bid in person, I stand in the very back of the room flat against the wall. This allows me to see everything and read the room. Helps me understand which empty chair, fire extinguish or post is likely bidding against me as they seem to be the stiffest competitors on the floor.

I like the term "chandelier bidding" . For some the process can be an emotional event and the auction firms want to exploit it.

To me, it is just a fixed price sale made to look like an auction.

The problem is not everyone can agree on a common set of morals. I was in the Far East on business and discussing some behavior and they just said the people under discussion were "businessmen" meaning business first, most everything else second.

The city was too busy ensuring small businesses were shut down the past two years to spend time on silly things like bad auction behavior. Rigging a bid did not come close to going maskless in that new world. And if you are going to let felons back out on the street immediately and repeatedly why tackle rich people being fleeced. I mean come on now.