2nd Place Winner, 1st Place Loser, In Auctions
 

So how many of ya'll bid on a card, get shut out, then go after another card (you barely want) because you lost out on the first card you wanted? It's like, dang it, I lost that one, but I'll win this one no matter what, then you have some buyers remorse for winning it? I didn't do that last night but also only got my 2nd card I wanted, not the 1st. Admittedly, I might have thrown in an extra bid on this one...
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Maybe it’s good to be old and tired. Lost out on the two lots I was bidding on, but went to bed before I realized I was outbid on both. Nothing for me, thank you very much.

I am old too, I fell asleep on the couch but woke up in time to bid again :).
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I missed on my first card last night on REA so I went to my 2nd card. I bid more than what I was wanting and immediately regretted it as you mentioned. Thankfully someone outbid me and I was the underbidder.

Chad

Nada for me
 

I’ve overdone it before but this REA I was high bidder on a bunch of lots earlier in the week but went home with an empty shopping cart. There’s always another auction…… sometimes ( including this REA) I review the sold prices and say …. man I wish had bid on that…. too bad you can’t do a BUY IT NOW when the auction is over!!!! ( the T222 is my current regret) Rocky

I have done that so many times that now I have only a specific target or set of targets and turn off the computer as soon as there is a win, loss, or a bid surpasses my mental ceiling. There's always tomorrow and I had/have too much I either really didn't want or should not have gone for.

I pull the ripcord at a point and just float on. ;)

Oh no, could you imagine if the AHs went to a new format - After the auction is over and final realized prices are provided, the AH will sell the card to anyone that is willing to pay another 25% in BP fees. :p I know it's not going to happen, but could you imagine...

Happens on eBay multiple times every day.

I was almost the other way. Lost out on some cards from a prior auction that just past and almost bid on some cards in this auction as a 2nd but was able to control myself. I am 100% positive I would have regretted it

No not a smart idea for me. I like to stay focused, it’s not useful for me to spend on cards I do not want because I feel the need I have to win something. I'll keep the bat on my shoulders waiting for the right pitch at the right price.

Bound to happen
 

It's bound to happen, even to the best of us. At least it happens when we get emotionally attached to the items we're bidding on.

Although it didn't happen to me last night (mostly because there wasn't really anything that I was all that emotionally attached to), I've definitely been there and done that.

Like looking at your credit card statement the morning after going to a strip club, thinking "Gee, I'd kinda like to have that money back".

I've done a lot of foolish things in my life, but never once pulled out plastic in a strip club.

Been there, done that (too many times!).

Back in early 2017, Heritage had an auction with a number of great T206 HOF front-back combos, including a Tinker bat on Lenox, a Matty dark cap Carolina Bright, a Wajo portrait Hindu, a Lajoie portrait Hindu, and a Speaker Drum. It was the Speaker Drum that I really wanted. The final night of the auction comes and right before we enter the 30-minute per lot extended bidding, I bid on all of these cards, thinking I would bid outbid on most and I could see how it goes.

Immediately, I am outbid on all of them. So I focus on the Speaker Drum. In a matter of minutes, my foe and I bid the Speaker up to well over double where it was before extended bidding started. So, finally, at $26.5k, which was nuts at that time, I walk away and focus on the Matty. Same result. So then I focus on the Tinker, same result. Same thing with the Wajo. At this point I have been outbid on all the cards I wanted, and I am pissed, so I decided to buy the Lajoie Hindu come hell or high water. I won it, for $6,000, probably 3x what it worth at the time.

Epilogue:
(A) I later found out who I was bidding against. At one point he reached out to me and offered me the Speaker Drum for something like $80k. I countered at like $40k, and he seemed insulted. Later, I bought a Speaker Drum at auction for $31.2k. Then, a few months after, that the original Speaker Drum sold at auction for $24,600 (to Luke L). So this dude lost $2k on the card, when he could have made $14k accepting my way-above market offer., and I got a Speaker Drum for $9k less than I offered, but for $7k more than Luke paid for the original Drum I wanted (and his is as nice as mine).

(B) I consigned the Lajoie Hindu to REA and it was in their Fall/Winter auction that ended in December (last month). It sold for $6,900 with BP and I profited whopping $180 after holding it for 5 years.

Morals of the story: (1) Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, and (2) if you buy good stuff and hold it long enough, you can almost always recoup most, if not all, of a clear overpayment.

Lost out on most but trill managed to snag the T296 Kelly and autographed Marquard. Seems like any T206 with a rare back did well.

I thought Heritage already had this feature, at least in terms of being able to make an offer to the winner. And I think winners can even indicate whether they're willing to entertain offers.

i just got an offer on an e95 cobb I won from heritage maybe 5 years ago...and a LOWBALL offer at that!!!!!

Card is long gone anyway!

Bingo. I’ve received a few of those offers as well.

There do seem to be some slick operators running around making offers that are a nice bump over what I paid, but still well below current market. I guess they are hoping that maybe the owner hasn’t been paying attention for the last few years, and will just be willing to unwittingly sell at a bargain price.

Went after the T210-7 Handiboe hard. Ended up with the T210-5 Derrick.

I remember you winning the Speaker in the later auction. I was considering doing a Speaker back run at the time. Had 3 or 4 at the time, but knew if I was serious about it, I needed to get the Drum. It turned out I wasn't very serious because I wasn't even close on the bidding. I later traded all my Speakers and picked up a WaJo or two for my main collection.

Chad

silly bids
 

Yes, silly bidding. Almost like " revenge " bid ..revenge against who ? Ha Ha

But you want to prove an point and show somebody " who they think there messing with " !..and the reward is a card you didn't really want !

100% correct!

The only winners in revenge bidding are the consignor and the auction house. Boy have I made both winners one too many times.

Chad, I am working on a speaker back run, actually. I needed the Carolina Brights that sold recently and I bid that sucker up to well over $30k before I walked (having at least learned that winning at all costs is not winning). I think that is all I need, besides the T213-2 (I have the T214 and T213-3 Fact 8); is there a T215-2 or pirate? Here is the Drum I won.

I look forward to seeing them all together one day. I was wondering if you were bidding on that Carolina Bright not that long ago. Really cool back run. There is definitely a T215 Pirate and a T215-2 RC. Not sure if or when they will ever be available but they exist.

Chad

Crap. There’s another back run I will never finish!

You never know. (My inner voice since I want same WaJo cards with similar odds).

My best guess is they will never be available.
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Lots of bad purchases in my collection came from getting competitive, getting that auction fever. My worst purchase ever was 100% the result of being emotionally invested and wanting to win something. In 2008 and 2009, an epic collection of boxing cards went to auction with Heritage, the Hull Collection. I liquidated a lot of my boxing items to amass a five-figure bankroll for the initial auction. Unfortunately, some other people had more money than me, and I lost lot after lot. Eventually, I got so frustrated that I went all-in on a T226 Red Sun Jim Jeffries card. I recall thinking at the time “Well, goddamnit, I sold all this stuff to bankroll this auction, so I am going to win something.” I dropped $5,000 on a card that was never worth close to that again. Argh! I grew to hate that card over the years and got rid of it at a huge loss.

Very expensive lesson learned. Better to make no deal than a bad deal. Fortunately, I am a reasonably quick learner and I haven't made that sort of stupid move in years at another auction. Well, at least none that I have found out about yet :D

Leon, that's a nice Type 3 Collins pickup. As a bonus, you got the rare error flip identifying it as Type 2. :)

I have also fallen for auction excitement in the past. I try to avoid it by limiting the number of "opening" bids I place -- that way I can't participate in extended bidding on random cards.

With respect to Speaker, here's the T215-2.

That is really sharp Steve!

Chad

Oof!

Steve, you and I overlap on several instances. We really need to sit down and see if we cant trade some things to get out of each other's way!

Ryan, a perfect time for you and Steve to do this at the February 18th Net54 get-together at Ashburn, VA (a distant Wash., DC, suburb for those not aware). Hoping to see you both then.

I’ve managed to avoid the revenge bidding trap ever since I understood that on line auction bidding and alcohol don’t mix.

Ryan and Val,

I don't know why, but when I read this, I immediately imagined myself riding up to trade as if I were straight out of Monty Python. :p

https://youtu.be/JHFXG3r_0B8

I do this at pretty much every auction.

I have a few items I want, but can't get them all, so I may go less on earlier ones to be able to really go after a "better" item later on. The bad auctions were ones where I held back on a few things only to get completely blown away on the ones I really wanted and ended up picking up a few in the late auction items that always went cheap.

358. Departicipation Trophy
That one thing you finally buy on your way out the door of a card show (or as the close of an auction draws near), just so you can begrudgingly say at least you picked up something at the event.

Great point!!!

Steve, I can bring the coconuts

SOLDIER #1: Where'd you get the coconut?

ARTHUR: We found them.

SOLDIER #1: Found them? In Virginia? The coconut's tropical!

ARTHUR: What do you mean?

SOLDIER #1: Well, this is a temperate zone.

ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter yet these are not strangers to our land.

SOLDIER #1: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

ARTHUR: Not at all, they could be carried.

SOLDIER #1: What -- a swallow carrying a coconut?

ARTHUR: It could grip it by the husk!

SOLDIER #1: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut.

ARTHUR: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that the baseball card collectors are here.

SOLDIER #1: Listen, in order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings 43 times every second, right?

ARTHUR: Please!

SOLDIER #1: Am I right?

ARTHUR: I'm not interested!

SOLDIER #2: It could be carried by an African swallow!

SOLDIER #1: Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European swallow. That's my point.

SOLDIER #2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that.

ARTHUR: Will you ask your master if he wants to join our trading group?!

SOLDIER #1: But then of course, uh, African swallows are non-migratory.

SOLDIER #2: Oh, yeah.

SOLDIER #1: So, they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway.

Lol, and if we forget the coconuts, I'm sure we can clap card slabs together. :D

Adam, a House Martin is a bird??!!

Growing up I liked a band from England called the Housemartins, and I always thought it was a weird name. It’s probably after the bird

Hey, at least I got the mid grade n229 Kinney Famous Horses partial set. I've got that going for me, as well as listening to the Amy Lawrence sports talk radio show while I was bidding.