I don't think we have a language barrier here. Let's try to digest this properly. Who was scammed here? The auction rules did not mention existence of a reserve price, nor the lack of reserve price. (Standard, at least in US law, seems to be that auctions have a reserve.) Standard in these forums seems to be the contrary. But who did I scam and what was the dishonest action I did? Why particularly has the auctioneer announce his willingness to possibly bid, too? Why are other bidders not announcing such? What makes the auctioneer not worth the same as any other bidder? Auctioneer can't change the way the auction will roll, not any more than any other bidder could.