It becomes extremely difficult to put in numerous high ceiling bids and then have to worry they all hit and you’re left with a tab outside your budget. An item should be won by the person who is willing to pay the most for the item and not the person who can snipe it better. After all isn’t there a responsibility by the auction house owner to ensure his consignor gets the most for their items? I know with certainty that did not happen last night. For me, there is no question I would never give REA any items of mine until they change their format. As I was fighting to stay awake this weekend bidding on Heritage, at least I felt I was in control over whether I would win an item or not and bid until I had enough. That’s how it should be. Maybe 30 minutes is too long but 5-10 minutes is not unreasonable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjulmag
Steve,
Respectfully while perhaps this is something you would not do, others, including myself, look at it differently. Almost all collectors have limited budgets, and many/most of them cannot afford to buy everything in a particular auction they have an interest in. So they prioritize, and if possible would like the ability to shift to item B if item A becomes too pricey. I'm not sure I understand the absurdity behind that concept.
I vividly remember an auction where there was one item I wanted more than anything, even if it meant spending all my available funds on that one item. So in the wee hours of the morning the price of that item became unaffordable. I then shifted my available funds to other items that I still had a strong interest in, and won a number of them. So while I didn't get exactly what I wanted, I still felt I had a good night, consignors got more money, and the auction was more profitable for the AH.
Yes, I get it that other bidders who did not stay up got shut out of the lots I won. And one can reasonably argue the fairness of that because they refused to stay up to some crazy hour. So that is why I introduced for discussion another closing method so as to better address the concerns of all.
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