is it an auction site or a sales site?

I have been confused about this for a while and have found through chat and forums, so are many others. If you'll excuse what must sound like a rant, a couple of confused questions and some things that I know have happened. Maybe someone can PM me with some insight.

Facts: 1) I have been high bidder at the close of certain auctions and not won the item.

2) The opening bid does not appear to be the "reserve" price, in fact a reserve is not posted.

3) Many of the coins appear to be not auction consignments but list items from their inventory.

4) A friend recently sold some items on Teletrade..was paid for them..and saw his same coins re-listed at an auction a month later with a $100 start bid higher than what they sold for when he auctioned them.

5) I have posted bids ( say $800 for example) and then it says my bid was accepted and someone else holds a higher bid because it says "current bid $850, bid $900 or more"--either someone else has put in a high start bid or it is an inventory item that hasn't reached the wanted price yet.

Now I have issues with there not being a reserve--how do we know that we are not being schill bid? Why waste our time with an item that we have no chance of winning because what they want is above our max amount..and even if we are high bidder we don't win the item?

Is it unfair if Teletrade bids on items that are selling if the price seems low? As a seller I guess I'd be happy that Teletrade bought my coin at the next increment...as a buyer I am at a HUGE disadvantage because someone is bidding against me who is not facing the 15% buyers fee tagged on at the end.

In the end all of my ranting amounts to the fact that I would like to see a reserve posted. If I can't meet the reserve I won't bid. Or if I am high bidder at close then I should win the coin !!

If anyone knows what is up with how their "auctions" work..please send me a private message, I don't want to turn the journals into a forum for a topic..

On a bright side, I bid several times on a coin at Teletrade that has come up at auction over the past weeks ( month/s?) Each time I either get outbid or it looks like I won and then the coin shows up again in a week or two. I took up the hunt for a similar coin at a close price and actually found a NICER coin, at $100 cheaper and with a rare *star designation too !! My newest addition..1939 NGC MS67*...she's stunning !!