Market manipulation: What to look out for
A short guide on what to look for and avoid when buying HUT cards, explaining bulk buys, price locking, and fake-bid tactics that inflate prices.
· cthor93
*Disclaimer* I don't endorse market manipulation, and it's good to understand that it's often considered bad manners/scummy behavior. It can dry up the HUT economy, and leave fans of certain franchises without their favourite players. At the end of the day though, everyone is trying to make coin. It's up to you to judge what is egregious.
Bulk buying to raise minimum prices
One common tactic is buying a large amount of cards to raise the minimum price. This works with fodder, chemistry plugs, non-player cards, etc. It's important to note that this happens naturally during any notable content drop involving new META line combinations.
Price locking expensive or rare cards
Another tactic is price locking. This often goes hand in hand with buying up supply to raise minimums, but you can differentiate it when the players being locked are rare, extremely valuable, or both. You see this with cards such as Fantasy and TOTY: on release there might be multiple up for, say, 400k, but after they're bought out and used in lineups they'll start being listed for 600k.
Fake bids and alt accounts
Some sellers use alternate accounts to bid on their own listings. They do this to inflate the perceived interest and push buyers toward higher bids or buy-now prices. If you see a limited-availability card with FOMO around it and a peculiar-looking bid, it may be an alt account trying to manipulate perception.
Key takeaway: suspicious bids on scarce listings can be a sign of self-bidding manipulation.
The bottom line
Know the common tactics: bulk buying, price locking, and fake bids. Use caution when a card's availability or price changes rapidly after a drop, and judge for yourself whether or not you're making a good purchase.