Matt,

Thanks for clarifying that. As Jeff said, I am not sure the masses could understand this closing style but in theory it makes sense.

And I am not sure the auction would close sooner and could have the potential to go way past 3 or 4am if just one lot is vastly underbidded at 10am and the bidders "slow play" the lot through 25-30 bids after 10pm.

Mike - I don't think that could happen - even if two competing bidders colluded beforehand to do that, what would stop someone else from coming in and becoming high bidder (especially if the lot was that undervalued)? (If that happened then only the underbidder could counter and the other fellow would be done.)

Actually I'd bet things wrapped up quickly with this method. To start with the pool of active bidders would only be those who were outbid in the last 20 minutes of the auction and it would dwindle from there as those people decided not to up their bids nor bid on other lots.

Matt,

Okay, so the key here is only the underbidder has a shot....If your going toe to toe with someone and you are outbid and before you can place another bid, someone else who is qualified jumps in with another bid, then you are toast after 10pm even if 20 minutes has not elapsed. Correct?

As long as you were high, then you get 20 minutes to respond from the time you get outbid. In your scenario two guys bid $150 and the $200 on a $1k lot, correct? If I come in with a ceiling bid of $800, then they'd each have time (one from when I outbid him and the other from when his friend outbid him) to come back with a serious bid ($850+) to still play their game or otherwise they'd be done. I assume in your scenario they are doing this on one lot to keep open their chance to bid on some other lot at 2 AM? In what I just described, they'd have to make a choice once I put in my $800 bid.
The more important assumption is that there is no inexpensive "filler" lot in REA that's so cheap that is selling for 20% of true value which would open itself to your game; I'm OK with that assumption.

I don't know. In theory it would make sense but it still seems too confusing. How would we know when were down to the final few or last 20 minute lot in a 1600+ auction?

For my two cents worth, I really prefer the individual lot closing format of the H&S and Legendary houses and you can still transfer your money around but you have to be on your toes as soon as the 30 minute format starts.

But very good brainstorming Matt and Tim! :):)

Jeff- Rob only does have one auction a year, and if his were the only one ending in the middle of the night then point well taken. But there are an endless number of major auctions, perhaps 30 or 40 a year, and they all end too late. Just because some end at 2:00 AM instead of 4:00 AM doesn't make that a reasonable closing time. All the auctions need to find a way to compress the bidding and get to the end by say around midnight.

REA clearly needs a lot of time to process more than 1000 lots, many of them quite expensive. But why couldn't his twelve hour bonus period become an eight hour one, and end around midnight? It very easily could without any loss of revenue.

Yeah - I need to work on the clarity. As far as knowing when the auction is closed - it would be same as now - you could even have a page to see the most recent bids so you'd know how many people were still active; in fact it would be les random then it is now, where we don't really know when the auction will end. More importantly, knowing how much time is left really only has a strategic advantage if sniping is in play, but since these rules eliminate sniping, it doesn't really matter.

I doubt REA or any other auction house is going to change much. In the end, yes there is too much money left on the table...and I do wonder how much more money REA would have garnered had Rob left it open. Would the thing have even been over at 8am? Who knows.

Also, we saw Scott and Leon's post on what they'll be doing next time around....how about you Barry?

If it aint broke, don't fix it! i don't think the Auction houses even know its broken.. if it even is.

I agree that the REA and others are seeing great numbers and with no better platform see no reason to do things differently.

I simply think there has to be a better way to get people to bid in a timely manner. It's absurd that some people could not be winning any lot and not have placed a bid between the hours of 4pm and 2am and still be allowed to bid IMO.

My idea is when the extended bidding begins you have to hold a high bid. If a certain period of time lapses without you holding a high bid you are no longer eligible to bid. This forces people to participate and not sit back and watch everyone else keep the auction going.