Clean Sweep Auction Bidding Process
 

I just bid on some items in the Clean Sweep auction that just completed tonight. I will say I am not a newbie when bidding in many of the fine auction houses out there, but this is the first time I recall experiencing this.

I had an "old guys" hockey game on our schedule tonight, so I threw some bids on as I would not be back before the auction closed. One lot I threw a bid in of about $500 more than the previous bid. I would have put in a "Maximum Bid", but the drop down did not allow me to do so. Therefore I put in a bid.

I come home now, and my bid is about $550 above the next lowest bid. I bid almost $1400 (hoping it would stick), and the previous bid was $835.

I guess I expected my bid to be bumped based on the next lowest bid. I know some will say "You were willing to pay that much", and fair enough. However, this was not my expectation, and I have not experienced this with any other auction house.

Are there other auction houses that operated this way? I have bid in many (REA, LOTG, SCP, Goldin, Mile High, Memory Lane, etc.) and I don't ever recall this happening.

Thoughts?

It sounds like you put in a "straight bid" instead of a "max-bid". I've done it before on accident at multiple sites. It usually demoralizes the other bidders, and you end up winning.

I think you first have to fill in the box for Your Initial Bid. Once you have an amount entered there, then the box for Your Maximum Bid will show a dropdown of bids you can select from and how many bids it will take for them to be topped.

I made the mistake of entering a straight bid when I wanted to enter a maximum bid on one of the lots, and CleanSweeps (Steve Verkman) was kind enough to quickly delete my bid for me after I reached out to them.

But yeah, its less fluid than some of the other auction houses that allow you to just enter your max. bid. at the next interval (or whatever amount you want). It seems to jump skip an interval, causing you to have to choose a higher max. bid.

Yes, a viscous bidding process for sure.

You needed to place your bid in the maximum bid box, not the initial bid box. It works just like the other auction houses if you do that. If you place an outright bid in any of the other auctions like you did in this one, the exact same thing would have happened. It takes the bid to your actual bid.

Thanks for the clarification folks. I assumed I had to select a bid from the "max bid" as it acts like a drop down box, and didn't have the ability to manually enter a bid. When there were no options in that field, I entered my bid in the only box available.

For the record, I had placed a bid earlier in the week, so it wasn't my initial bid.

Regardless, it is definitely not clear, and does not operate as other auction houses operate. An expensive lesson, and one everyone should note when bidding with these guys.

Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated.

You have to be careful with the boxes in any auction.

I just enter my max right away. Its to hard to use their increment system and frankly I don't trust them to bid properly. Never had any issues with them or any AH doing it this way.

Will have to say they slept on a lot of cards that have increased by nearly double that are still in their buy it now section. Was happy to pull a 2007 SP Rookie Edition 61 Kevin Durant RC PSA 10 and a 1992 Topps Shaq RC PSA 10 for a very very reasonable price to add to my case for shows;)

That was my experience as well. I could not enter a bid in the max bid box and no bid options were in the drop down box. What options did appear in the drop down box for me sent me to the previous lot or the next lot. Like you, I had to put my bids in the straight bid box because that was the only option available to me.