Does this policy better serve consignors, bidders, or neither? Very confusing.
http://www.hakes.com/closingprocedure.asp
Auction Closing Procedure
IMPORTANT
TELEPHONE/INTERNET BIDDING PROCEDURE FOR THIS AUCTION
3-HOUR COMPUTER CLOCK STARTS RUNNING ON:
•TUESDAY'S AUCTION AT 10 PM (EASTERN TIME) TUESDAY
•WEDNESDAY'S AUCTION AT 9 AM (EASTERN TIME) THURSDAY
To conclude the phone and internet bidding on Tuesday's and Wednesday's auctions, we begin a 3-hour computer clock that monitors the high bid on each separate auction item. On Tuesday's auction the clock begins at 10 P.M. (Eastern) Tuesday night. On Wednesday's auction the clock begins at 9 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday morning.
Once the computer clock begins, and 3 hours pass without a bid increase on a particular item, that item is declared "sold" to the current high bidder. No further bids are accepted on that item. During this 3 hour period, if a bid is raised on a particular item, the clock resets back to a fresh 3 hour time limit. Items whose clock has not expired are still "open" for bids. They remain "open" for up to 3 hours since a bid has been placed, or until the entire auction is declared closed, whichever comes first.
The final phase in concluding the phone and internet bidding starts when the original 3 hour clock expires. For Tuesday's auction this occurs at 1 A.M. (Eastern) Wednesday morning. For Wednesday's auction this occurs at 12 noon (Eastern) Thursday. At this point, approximately 75% of the items will suddenly be declared sold to the high bidders. Approximately 25% of the items remain "open" for bids. After this point, various items begin to close without warning when their individual computer clocks expire upon 3 hours of no bid activity.
We now begin a separate timer on the entire auction. Bids are accepted on any of the still "open" items until a 10 minute period passes during which there is no increase of any bid. Telephone calls to check bids that do not result in a raised bid do not start a new 10 minute cycle. When 10 minutes pass with no bid increase on any item, the entire auction is declared closed. Invoices are mailed to all participants on the Saturday following the auction.