2021 Year 6 Month 21 Afternoon 16 Hour 32 Minutes, as the last bidder bid 87326098 Yuan, a " 20 The farce of a judicial auction triggered by an "Anniversary Edition Game King Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card was forcibly terminated by the disposal unit, citing "a serious discrepancy between the item and the actual auction price, potentially indicating malicious speculation and bidding behavior."

I. Original Card Value

What are Yu-Gi-Oh! cards? What is Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Why was this commemorative card subject to judicial auction? Many articles have already reported on this, so it won't be elaborated here. Readers only need to know that if this card is a KONAMI Company 2018 year's 20th-anniversary pure gold card ( 11g Pure Gold), then the purchase price of this card at the time was 20 Ten thousand yen (approximately 11600 Yuan), globally limited to 500 Copies, with purchase eligibility determined by lottery.

"Rare," "pure gold," and "highly popular" became the labels of this "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (hereinafter referred to as "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"). Once listed, it received ACG community's widespread attention. Its listing reason, the story of its previous owner, and the authenticity of the item were all hotly discussed, even going beyond the ACG community to become a social topic.

II. Why did a single card fetch such a high price (auction stopped), and where did the problem lie?

This (criminal) game card of the person subject to execution 1 Copies (Serial Number 12 ) was listed on a certain platform with a starting price of 80 Yuan, with an appraised value of 100 Yuan, a deposit of 100 Yuan, and a minimum bid increment of 1 Yuan. The bidding period was 1 Days, and the extension period was 5 Minutes. The reason it was bid up to such a high price is as follows:

(1) The disposal unit was unable to assess its true value, lacking professionals to evaluate the item, leading to difficulty in determining the actual value; the 100 yuan auction deposit also made the entry barrier relatively low:

According to Article 24 of the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning Online Judicial Auctions," after a successful online judicial auction, if the buyer regrets the purchase, the deposit paid will not be refunded. The initial consequence of regretting the purchase is merely the forfeiture of the deposit, therefore, the number of participants in this auction was extremely high, reaching 18104. An appraisal price of only 100 yuan meant that almost all potential bidders interested in this Blue-Eyes White Dragon could bear such consequences.

( 2 ) The possibility of the item being a genuine 20th-anniversary commemorative edition "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" was extremely high, increasing the bidding confidence of bidders:

Based on the fact that the original owner of the item, Zhang Moumou, was sentenced to criminal responsibility for embezzlement [( 2020 ) Anhui 11 Criminal First Instance 13 No.]], involving an extremely large amount, and was also sentenced to confiscation of property as an additional punishment; among the confiscated property of Zhang Moumou, there were luxury goods such as a gold-and-diamond-encrusted handle, so potential bidders had great confidence in the authenticity of the item. The possibility of a large return on a small investment became a major psychological factor for many passers-by initially participating in the auction.

( 3 ) Early publicity and traffic generation, the item's popularity was extremely high:

In this auction, there were a total of 18104 people registered, with deposits collected reaching over 180 Ten thousand. Such high attention is not only due to the topical nature of the gold Blue-Eyes White Dragon itself, but also thanks to the continuous promotion and reporting by various media and marketing accounts in the early stages. Behind the auction price far exceeding the true value is the "traffic is king" golden rule of the mobile internet pushing the wave.

( 4 ) Although the bidding period was 1 days, the delayed auction rule allowed the online judicial auction to continue indefinitely:

This auction event had a delayed bidding function. If a bidder placed a bid within the last 5 minutes before the end of the auction, it would be automatically extended by 5 minutes. Although the Chuzhou Intermediate People's Court set the auction period from 2021 Year 6 Month 21 Day 16 at 2021 Year 6 Month 22 Day 16 o'clock to 5 minutes, no one else bid, then the last bidder would have the obligation to pay the price to obtain the item.

( 5 ) Bidders, fearing the legal responsibilities associated with regretting the purchase, could use unlimited bidding to prevent the auction from being concluded and avoid possible legal responsibilities.

The bidding interface for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon publicized the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning Online Judicial Auctions," which states that "If the price of a re-auction is lower than the original auction price, the resulting price difference, expenses, and losses shall be borne by the original buyer. If the deposit paid by the original buyer is sufficient to cover the price difference and other expenses and losses, the deposit shall be used to make up for the price difference, and the original buyer shall not bear any further responsibility. If the deposit paid by the original buyer is insufficient to cover the price difference and other expenses and losses, the original buyer shall bear the insufficient part." "For buyers who maliciously inflate prices and disrupt the order of judicial auctions, the people's court may fine them or detain them; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law." Based on the above legal provisions, someone in Guangdong Shunde, knowing the operation process and rules of online judicial auctions, interfered with the order of judicial auctions, obstructing the court's normal disposal of the property of the person subject to execution, and was ultimately fined. 10 ten thousand yuan and given administrative detention 15 days. There was also a case where someone regretted their bid during execution, obstructing the execution of the people's court, and was sentenced to one year in prison for the crime of refusing to execute a judgment or ruling, see ( 2020 ) Xiang 0524 Criminal First Instance 543 No. Criminal Judgment.

Therefore, the prerequisite for the above-mentioned penalties is that the auction needs to be concluded. If it is not concluded, there is no definite buyer, and the corresponding penalty measures cannot be implemented. Therefore, if the bidders endlessly pass the hot potato and do not want to be the last buyer, the auction can theoretically continue indefinitely.

( 6 ) The online platform removes the limit on the bidding increment:

Although the bidding increment for this auction was one yuan, it did not restrict bidders from bidding higher than one yuan in a single bid. For example, bidder RETWG at 16:32:30 increased the bid by 15 ten thousand yuan; bidder VSTHV at at 16:31:26 increased the bid by 890 by tens of thousands.

Normally, in order for the item to be successfully sold at the highest price, the auction platform would naturally not limit the bidding increment, but in the face of enthusiastic malicious bidders, an unlimited bidding increment would only cause the price of the item to skyrocket. It seems that during the auction of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the auction platform specifically supported multiple bids, increasing server computing power to cope with the potentially huge number of bidding requests, which also indirectly led to the fact that after the auction started 30 minutes, the price of Blue-Eyes White Dragon soared from 80 yuan to 8700 ten thousand.

( 7 ) The possibility of reckless speculation and price manipulation cannot be ruled out:

I believe that there may be people participating in the auction for entertainment purposes, ignoring the legal consequences of regretting their bids. The existence of such bidders has also invisibly increased the ultimately unbelievable final price of Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

III. Other Issues

( 1 ) Who stopped the auction?

Because the auctioneer has the right to stop or withdraw the auction before the auction begins, according to the law. In the face of malicious speculation and bidding, only the disposal unit Chuzhou Intermediate People's Court, Anhui Province has the right to stop or withdraw the auction. Therefore, it must have been the disposal court that stopped the auction.

( 2 ) Will the already paid deposit be refunded?

Because the disposal unit actively stopped the auction, the deposit can only be returned in the original way and will not be confiscated.

( 3 ) Does the last bidder have any legal responsibility?

The final bid of 87326098 yuan by the Y8745 bidder, whose bidding status is "out," means that the auction was not successful, and the last bid is the same as the previous 2104 bids, so they will not be punished.

( 4 ) How to conduct the auction in an orderly manner and avoid malicious speculation or bidding when it is listed again:

In terms of valuation, it is recommended that the item be re-evaluated, and an assessment price closest to the real value should be made on the premise of confirming the authenticity and material properties of the card, raising the deposit threshold, reducing the participation of onlookers, and allowing those who really want to buy this Blue-Eyes White Dragon to participate in the auction.

In terms of rule setting, it is recommended that the auction platform limit the highest (lowest) bidding increment, set a reasonable bidding range for different items to avoid the bidding price increasing too quickly or too slowly, and add a limit on the maximum auction duration or the maximum number of bids to avoid unlimited bidding.

In terms of auction rule warnings, it is recommended to prominently display a large-character warning about the legal responsibilities of regretting a bid.

Finally, I urge netizens to participate in civil activities honestly and creditably, act within their means, avoid wasting judicial and social resources, and not to make light of the law.

Author: Lawyer Wang Hui Contact Information: 15067134801

Statement:

I. All images are from the internet.

II. The article only represents the author's personal views.