It is all too confusing
I did not enjoy the endless bidding in REA. It gets a bit ridiculous, frankly, for 1500 lots to sit all night open for more bids, with everyone on pins and needles, simply because a few lots are competitively bid. If everything is open until the end, why bother having an extended period? Why not just set a firm closing time and be done with it?
Of all the systems I've seen thus far I've liked Heritage's the best. They had a firm ending time for the auction. If you were the sole bidder on the lot, it closed. All other lots closed 30 minutes after the auction close on an individual basis and only bidders who had put in a bid on it before the close could bid in the extended period. That way, if the lot had no more action after the initial close, it closed 30 minutes after the designated close time. If someone bid on it during the extended period, the lot extended again, but not the whole auction. I found that really helpful since I could watch my lots close in real time and on seeing which ones I got topped on, decide whether to make further incremental bids on other lots.
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