Exactly if you don't want to sell it for less than a certain price just start it at that. Maybe they think people will see all the (shill) bids and think wow this pin is really in demand, I better keep bidding it must be something good or rare.

It's like the pinball auctions that I used to go to, so many pins would be passed in because they didn't meet some pathetically high reserve. Just start the bidding at the reserve then. Will probably be a very short auction when nobody bids though.  It's like they want the best of both worlds, a guaranteed fixed price as a minimum plus any upside an auction can bring if two numptys start fighting it out over the same pin. But they don't want the downside an auction can bring when the market doesn't meet their expectations for the price.  It's false advertising to me.