Why? People will only pay what they want to pay for an item. If he delivers what is offered in a timely manner and it is well packed then what is the problem?
I see a lot of posts about people asking ridiculous prices for stuff and being called idiots. I have always countered that it is not he who asks that is the idiot but rather he who pays that is the idiot. If someone actually gets $80 for an empty box when it is presented as exactly that, empty, then all the power to a marketing genius. He is far from an idiot. The same in this case. If he gets what he is asking then what's the problem with what he is asking? Other than it's a piss of if you want it but won't spend that much for it. Then again if there was no reserve there is no guarentee that it will go cheap if someone willing to spend the better part of $1000 is bidding on it as well.