An auction is only as good as it's customers. All sorts of stuff goes on at live auctions, and most of it leaves little if any trace that it happened.
The auto auction I went to occasionally when I worked for a dealership would find "bids" where there were no bidders. It's always better to bid from farther back in the room so you can see the other bidders.
Same auction I saw a car sold with a quick hammer at $900 The seller had told the auctioneer he really hoped it wouldn't go past 1000 since beyond that the buyer had recourse for stuff like frame damage. (Dealers only auction, apply whatever feeling you have towards car dealers - not that it should matter in right/wrong stuff.
One antique auction I went to I overheard a couple coin dealers talking about how they slightly overpaid, but weren't going to let "that kid" buy anything. A couple coins later one mentions he's got a hot customer for the next coin. And I bid him up past retail. When he realized "that kid" had overheard all of it and that he'd let his not wanting someone else to buy anything had cost him he changed his attitude. The 5 of them all did, and I picked up passable deals on a couple things I wanted. Ran into them about once a year and we actually got along fairly well. I was usually not after the high demand stuff they wanted. And on the rare occasion I was I seldom pushed things past wholesale.
Steve B
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