I’ve been picking up old Texas football game programs along with the old bowl watches. Usually get them from online auctions. Observations:
eBay is an honest auction. They only work on real bids, and if the second highest bid is 1/10 that of the highest bid, it stops at one increment over the second highest bid.
Live Auctioneer and HiBid offer the opportunity for good deals (they are online consolidators of local auctions around the nation), but they are not honest auctions. If you put in a max bid, the auction knows what your max is, and they will shill bid up to just under it, so they get the most money. I have learned on those sites that you have to wait for the “live bidding” part to get something.
Also, a lot of sports cards and memorabilia are auctioned by Mynt Auctions, on the Live Auction site. They definite shady- ungraded cards going for max price, other items going for more than they should. They definitely use shills to get prices up. I’m not sure what else they’re doing- money laundering, maybe? (I think their owner moved from the U.S. to Cyprus or Albania or something)