Wilson,

From what I've seen of Richard he has always honored his auction results. I COMMEND him for that. However, I do fault him for his ethics and honesty, as I find he has NONE.

Online auctions allow for "Specific Starting Bid", "Buy it NOW" and "Reserve" auctions.

Why not use them instead of shill bidding? One reason is to get the potential bidders to get auction fever and keep the bidding going. Some people just can't stand LOSING or being out bid, and will keep going even if the price turns to the point of being outrageous. That may not be you, I or many of us here. However, the damage can be done to an unsuspecting buyer who may be new to the hobby or even OLD to the hobby.

Sure a bidder may be able to get a great price during an auction that is being shilled BUT the price might have been even better had the shill bid not been placed since the seller is actually manipulating the auction price. There is a risk to the seller that they may not get the price they want, so that's why Auction sites have created those "Specific Starting Bid", "Buy it NOW" and "Reserve" auctions, to allow the seller to protect themself from that risk. If a seller offer's something that is worth $100.00 and starts the bidding at 1¢ then they are willing to accept that risk and should not be shill bidding on their own auctions.

As for Richard making the following claim to you...

>Richard replied and said that Babe is his ex-wife who collects strikes and he has no control over what she bids on.>

then why hasn't there been any bidding by vettesonly1 which is what comes back on e-Bay as the user name for OLEDA@AOL.COM which Richard claims is his ex wife's account, on his e-Bay auctions? Any surprise that BABE was bidding on Richard's auctions on JackpotAuctions.com but not on e-bay? I find it much easier to search e-Bay looking for a shill bidder than JackpotAuctions.com

Did "BABE" ever bid on someone else's auctions other than Richard's auctions on JackpotAuctions.com and win? I found 9 completed auctions that BABE won and all were Richard's no one else's.

I feel Richard is trying to lie to you regarding this. Do you believe Richard, if you follow the entire thread in this link?

http://www.thechipboard.com/cgi-bin/tsp/tsp.pl?read=5279

Richard posted 6 different times in that thread and it wasn't only until almost ONE FULL DAY later he gives up this excuse in this post...

http://www.thechipboard.com/cgi-bin/tsp/tsp.pl?read=5309

Why didn't he post this in his FIRST reply to the original post? Doing so might have put and end to it. Also, I think that Richard could have outright bought that "SICK FRIEND'S" 300 Strike Collection instead of trying to sell it for them, so they could have the use of the money immediately instead of having to wait for each auction to end and the added time of waiting for the checks to arrive and clear the bank?

And did you notice that this collection of 300 strikes includes some VERY current silver strikes? This leads me to think that this VERY sick friend is Richard himself. Oh yes, it's just possible he is telling the truth, but you can't convince me of it.

Just reflecting on one of Richard's recent auctions on e-Bay, with the title...

RARE $10 EL CORTEZ ERROR SILVER STRIKE!!
Item # 2122056161

The description...

EL CORTEZ 75TH BIRTHDAY S MINT .999 ON BRASS LIMITED IS SPELLED WRONG ON ONE SIDE ( LIMITIED)

Seems straight forward enough. BUT wouldn't it be more honest to not use the word RARE in the description and also mention that ALL coins of this exact mintage design have this mispelling or that no corrected version exists?

NO why do that everyone knows that's the case!

WOW a RARE strike for the unheard of price of $13.99 + $2.00 shipping. Well it is a good deal on a silver strike. But maybe a newcomer to the hobby bought it thinking they may have made a KILLING on the price of a RARE ERROR SILVER STRIKE!

While Richard will go on selling on e-bay, personally I'll pass on all of his auctions. Even if the prices remain reasonalbe and even cheap.

It's you choice and (as Richard would so frequently say) "FREEDOM" to deal with him having had your past semi-positive dealings. Just remember it's still buyer beware and with all of the information you've been able to read here on The Strike Point you are now an informed buyer with regard to Richard and his auctions?

Take care, have fun and gather some GREAT STRIKE COLLECTING MEMORIES!