Auction bid increments
 

Just crazy when an auction has each step up 10%. Nuts. Was bidding on a few items last night. From $9000 to $9900? Which is really more than a thousand dollar bump when you factor in the 19% vig. Crazy. Seems a lot of things just sit frozen when a bidder (or two) may well have come in with even a 5% step up. Guess they figure it evens out at the end of the day. . . . . .

As great as REA is, the one feedback I've given them before is the $100 increments between $500 and $1,000 are high. Granted, most of their items sell for well in excess of this range, but if you are contemplating a bid on something currently at $500, you have to go up by 20% to $600. Other auctions would either use the 10% or $50 increment in this range, which makes the $100 a big jump.

Just a guess that the bid levels are the result of many decades of experience across many auctions and are not nuts or crazy at all. And it works in your favor too -- if in your example you were the high bidder at 9k and that had been high market, it makes it less likely you will get outbid.

Scott, I agree with you, but what peeves me more is not being able to place a max bid one level above my current bid. Taking your example of an REA item currently sitting at $500, I can't enter a max bid of $700, which would also give me a next-increment bid of $600. My choices are to enter a next-increment bid of $600 OR a max bid of $800 (which will also give me the next-increment bid of $600). Assuming $700 is the most I am willing to pay for the item, the only way I can get to $700 is to wait until someone else bids $600 and then hope I become aware of this before someone else jumps in and bids $700. I believe there are other auction houses that have a max bidding process like REA's, but there are also several auction houses that don't. I hope I explained this clearly enough to get across what I am trying to say.
Val

I remember asking/commenting on this very thing when I first joined back in January of this year.
I believe it was a high end Mantle or Aaron, which was already quite high, and then I noticed what the next person had to bid! :eek:

I have purchased zero from A/H's not only because of this but also the BP. I know not all are the same, but it really made me think, being a low end collector/spender, maybe these A/H's aren't for me?

I guess I'm crazy, because I love these high increments. There is much more strategy involved, IMO, as you can reasonably estimate a price at which the next bidder will have to go way above "market value" to outbid you. I think these increments favor the person who wants the card most, not the dude who's lucky enough to snipe $5 above your top bid.

I agree..when you talk about a card in the 1000s...getting your bid early can mean a lot. Thus if a guy comes in later than you he may have to bid record high to win the card. There was an auction that started a day or hours early than when it was supposed to start and i lost on a few cards when i didnt want to bid over and above a new market high because an early bidder already marked their territory....

I'm probably a dumb bidder, but when there is a card on my radar, prior record highs mean nothing to me. As for bidding increments
, we've discussed before how lower increments could benefit a consignor. I think the AH know what they're doing and current models benefit everyone

I don't doubt they do........

Collector mentality usually rules on auction night. If I am going for a card I want the increments aren't that important. The final price is but the increments aren't. I suppose it might be nice to have a smaller increment on larger bids as there is still lots of room for more bidding. That might help the consignors a bit.

Never thought of it like that but you are right. If a card is worth 10,000, and you are the bidder at 9500, you may get it for under market value because someone doesn't want to overpay. Maybe the goal in the auctions is to lock in the price below what its worth and hope no one goes over.

Sort of like The Price is Right.