[AMBST95]

I'm a small time bidder but have often found myself asleep at the wheel. I really enjoy Sterling's auctions as you only need 1 bid to then bid on any item in extended bidding. There have been several times I've switched midstream when the prices have gotten hairy. I really dislike auctions that end during the week, mostly due to the late end times.

The AHs have to strike a balance between bidder and consignor. I can see having extended bidding go to 1 or 2 am EST. This gives all 4 time zones a chance to actively bid. These lots are posted for up to a month in some cases, there's no need to extend things to odd times of the night/morning. When's the last time an automobile auction ended at 4:30 am EST? Do you see estate sales at 3 in the morning? It just doesn't make sense. The premise for these late running auctions I guess is you get all 4 time zones to bid and then maybe get a few bids late. If we're talking big time items with min bid increments that's a lot of extra money.

If your livelihood depends on the sale of these items or you have an extreme obsession with an item than I guess you'll stay up to the wee hours, but I'm assuming most collectors have other commitments that keep them from devoting that kind of time to the hobby as they need to earn the money they plan on using to bid with. In those cases they'll set a max bid and be happy with it. We all know there are bidders out there who will go beyond their max when in the moment and those are the people the AHs lose out on.

I think a solution is a smaller amount of time without a bid. 15 minutes is a lot of time. This would help to move things along and keep things from going so late. At a live auction will an auctioneer say going once, wait 5 minutes, say going twice, wait 5 minutes, say going three times, wait another 5 minutes then say closed?