Posted By:
JayI agree with Richard on this; I much prefer the Mastro method of closing auctions. All systems have problems with fund reallocation. Even under REA's system if you leave an up to and are topped after you go to bed (not an unusual occurrence for us East Coasters)then you have no opportunity to reallocate these funds to other items. No system is perfect but I believe the Mastro system is orderly and that is a real plus. One suggestion however, lose the aggregate vs single lot bidding. The fact that bidding on the full group or any individual lot in the group extends the auction for 30 minutes is crazy. Consider the case where the aggregate is at $100,000 and the individual pieces sum up to $60,000. Someone wanting to screw with the auction could just keep bumping the lowest priced individual piece every 29 minutes and run the thing all night without any risk of winning the lot. The method is confusing and, if anything, I believe it discourages bidding on these lots.