Are Your Comps Real? Understanding Auction Manipulation in Sports Cards

Shill Bidding in Sports Cards: What Collectors Need to Know

Another week, another shill bidding scandal in the sports card world. If you're using auction results to value your cards, you need to understand what's really going on behind the scenes—because not every sale you see is what it appears to be.

What Just Happened with Patrick Ryan

Collector Patrick Ryan recently got caught placing a $20,000 bid on his own card after listing it through third-party seller Acquir into Fanatics Collect's monthly auction. The whole thing unraveled when sharp-eyed collectors noticed something odd on his Instagram—he was showing "outbid" status under a Fanatics auction listing. Turns out, he was bidding on his own card.

Once Fanatics figured out what was happening, they pulled the card from the auction. But here's the thing—how many times does this happen without anyone noticing?

The Players Behind This Mess

This story gets more interesting when you look at who's involved. Acquir, the seller Ryan used to list his card, is owned by Jesse Craig. Craig previously worked at PWCC, the former #1 eBay card seller that got permanently banned from eBay for—you guessed it—shill bidding.

Craig also ran the 2019 "Heroes of Sport" repack product that had some serious problems:

• Trimmed and altered cards mixed into packs
• Loaded boxes that went to certain breakers
• A rigged Babe Ruth autograph giveaway

And it's not just anonymous sellers doing this stuff. YouTuber Rob Girard (Sports Card Therapist) got caught in what people called the "megabid" scandal—he placed big bids on two Eli Manning cards, won both, then refused to pay. Pretty much ended his YouTube career over it.

The pattern here is clear: this kind of behavior shows up at every level of the hobby, from individual collectors to influencers to professional sellers.

This Has Been Going On for Decades

If you think shill bidding is some new problem, think again. Back in 2013, Bill Mastro—a major sports memorabilia dealer—went to prison for 20 months after pleading guilty to running an eight-year shill bidding scheme through Mastro Auctions from 2001 to 2009.

> 2015 FBI Press Release

But Mastro's scams went way beyond fake bids. He admitted to trimming the famous T206 Honus Wagner card with a paper cutter before selling it to Wayne Gretzky for $451,000. That same card later sold for $2.8 million. The most iconic card in hobby history was literally cut down by a fraudster.

Mastro also sold a supposed 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings trophy ball for $62,000 even after his own tests showed the paint was made after World War II—meaning it was fake.

Federal prosecutors said it best: "The long-running and systematic nature of the scheme undermines confidence in the auction house and sports-memorabilia industries, and calls into question the true value of merchandise."

The FBI investigated the whole operation, walking the floor at the 2009 National Sports Collectors Convention. Four people from Mastro Auctions faced charges, and the company shut down. That was over a decade ago—with FBI agents, court cases, and prison time. Yet here we are dealing with the same problems.

Why This Matters to Your Collection

Shill bidding isn't just about one sketchy seller trying to pump their card's value. It has real consequences for every collector:

Your Comps Might Be Fake: When inflated prices get recorded as legitimate sales, they become the comparables everyone uses. You might think your card is worth $10,000 based on recent sales, but what if those sales involved the seller bidding against themselves? The real market value could be half that.

Record Sales Create False Hype: Big sales make headlines and drive FOMO buying. When those records are manipulated, they create artificial momentum that benefits insiders while regular collectors end up overpaying.

Nobody Knows What's Real: Without transparency, it's nearly impossible to know which high-end sales are legitimate and which ones are theater. That makes it harder for everyone to figure out what their cards are actually worth.

Are Recent Record Sales Legit?

These scandals raise an uncomfortable question: how many of those eye-popping record sales we've celebrated lately were genuine? When cards sell for prices that seem disconnected from previous comps, are those real buyers with real money, or sellers gaming the system to create buzz?

The honest answer? Without full transparency in the auction process, we can't always tell.

How to Protect Yourself

While this stuff is concerning, there are smart ways to navigate the market:

Use Multiple Comps: Don't base your values on a single sale. Look at multiple transactions over time to spot genuine trends versus suspicious outliers.

Know Your Sellers: Before using a sale as a comp or making a big purchase, research who's behind it. If they're connected to banned operations or known bad actors, be extra cautious.

Question Outliers: If a sale is way higher than everything else, ask yourself why. It might be legitimate, but it deserves scrutiny.

Check Platform Policies: Stick with auction houses that have strong verification processes and actually enforce their rules. If platforms let banned sellers operate under new names, that's a red flag.

Speak Up: When you see something suspicious, report it. The Patrick Ryan situation only came out because collectors were paying attention and said something.

Don't Panic, But Be Smart: Most sales are legitimate, but developing a healthy skepticism helps you avoid making decisions based on manipulated data.

Got thoughts on auction integrity or tips for spotting suspicious sales? Drop them in the comments.