[JChlupsa]

Received this in an E-mail today and after re-reading it a few times I have to say it does make sense.--
<font color="brown">Post:

I have noticed that a few years ago, about 50% of the auction listings had a reserve, and about 50% had no reserve. If you notice this year, about 95% of the auction listings have no reserve. It is commonly believed that cars with no reserve usually attract more bidders and higher chance of selling.

I have also heard a "hearsay rumour" that car owners are offered a reasonable flat fee commission by auctions to sell/buy their car if they list their cars with no reserve. This allows the car owner and their representatives to bid, driving up bids knowing they will not have to pay the buyer+seller % commision if they land out as top bidder; as they only had a flat fee. If this "rumour" is true, it would explain why sales are occuring at triple the car's market value. It could be the owner and his representative bidding against each other getting the car up to unrealistic prices. In essence buying back their own car knowing they were only committed to pay the flat fee irregardless of how high the bid/sales price went up to. After the auctions, the car is re-marketed with the fact that it sold for $BIG DOLLARS$ at auction.

Nah! that can't be true, people would never do that??? </font>