How to avoid shill bidders 🥷

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• How to avoid shill bidders 🥷

• Panini signs six top basketball recruits ✍️

• Auctions ending soon 🔎

• People to follow in the hobby 👥

• Meme of the day 🃏

HOW TO AVOID SHILL BIDDERS 🥷

Shill bidding is a serious, but often overlooked, problem in the hobby — it’s when sellers (or affiliated parties) artificially inflate auction prices through fake bids, which distorts market values and undermines trust.

eBay and Whatnot are frequently scrutinized for shill bidding on their platforms. Although they have an incentive to improve their reputation by cracking down on shill bidding, they also have a (stronger?) incentive to drive up auction prices, which increases their revenue and also raises the perceived market value of similar items in subsequent listings.

From a tactical perspective, there are some red flags that might suggest shill bidding is occurring on a listing:

• New or low-feedback accounts placing unusually high bids.

• A sudden spike in bidding activity, especially from accounts with little to no history.

• Repeated listings of the same item, especially if the price is getting progressively lower, suggesting previous unsuccessful shills.

To make informed bids, you should always reference historical sales data to benchmark how much you’re willing to pay for card, while being wary that even comps can be manipulated. One effective strategy I’ve found is to place your bids towards the tail end of an auction, which minimizes the window for shill bidders to manipulate your maximum bid.

Navigating the sports card market isn’t for the faint of heart — there’s someone trying to make a buck off of you at every turn.

PANINI SIGNS SIX TOP BASKETBALL RECRUITS ✍️

Panini is continuing to expand its presence in the world of college sports by securing exclusive, multi-year Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals with six top high school basketball recruits. All six athletes played in last night’s McDonald’s All-American Game in Houston.

The recruits are Carter Bryant (Arizona), Zoom Diallo (Washington), VJ Edgecombe (Baylor), Ian Jackson (UNC), Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), and Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky)

This move is part of a broader strategy by Panini to embrace the collegiate sports market, as evidenced by their recent exclusive deal with Caitlin Clark. Their growing NIL roster includes quarterbacks Arch Manning (Texas), Joe Milton (Tennessee), and Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), and volleyball sensation Lexi Rodgriguez (Nebraska).

This market is massive, but still in the early innings — Caitlin Clark will reportedly be paid north of $1 million in the first year of her deal with Panini. Panini is yet to release any Clark cards, but all of the autographed memorabilia they’ve dropped has sold out. Some of the memorabilia items they’ve released include an /50 autographed photo for $500, an open edition autographed Final Four replica jersey for $500, and an open edition autographed fan flag for $350.

AUCTIONS ENDING SOON 🔎

• Collect Auctions: ends on April 4

• Huggins & Scott: ends on April 4

• Sirius Sports Cards: ends on April 4

• Sterling Sports Auctions: ends on April 4

• Detroit City Sports: ends on April 6

• MEARS Auctions: ends on April 6

• BBCE Auctions: ends on April 7

• Greg Morris Marketplace: ends on April 7

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE HOBBY 👥

• F1 Sports Cards: All things F1 cards

• Calcio Cards: Soccer collector, with a focus on Italian cards

• zeeree: Hockey breaking content

MEME OF THE DAY 🃏