REA and other auctions, ridiculous delays

[CMIZ5290]

Is it just me, or do others feel the same way? You have bids on cards for endless hours, and then you wake up to find you were out bid at 2:00 in the morning! Supposedly, there is a 15 minute window to allow final bids. I am finding this more and more harder to believe, I was high bidder on 2 lots for 10 hours! What miracle transpired to have 2 bidders out bid on these 2 lots when most people were asleep? To me it's just a stupid system that needs to be fixed....

[calvindog]

LOL. 2 AM? I hadn't even set my alarm until 3 something. And yes, it was awful. And it's awful every year -- but that's part of the charm . I think.

[cyseymour]

Better to be a sniper than one of the sniped. Came down with a King Kelly a couple years ago doing just that - placed my bid five minutes before the auction closed.

Of course, the "honest auto-bid" is there, so if you had wanted to go one increment higher, you could have... just need to make the call ahead of time.

[MVSNYC]

Hi Jeff, dinner soon?

Kevin- it's one night out of the year, and an exciting one at that. i know many people, including myself that stayed up late and bid after hours. it's just part of the gig. i completely trust REA (and would have no problem leaving ceiling bids), but i do it so i can be awake to strategize if i'm outbid on one lot, i can make a game-time decision to move my attention (and funds) to other lots.

Best-
M

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Hi Jeff, dinner soon?

Kevin- it's one night out of the year, and an exciting one at that. i know many people, including myself that stayed up late and bid after hours. it's just part of the gig. i completely trust REA (and would have no problem leaving ceiling bids), but i do it so i can be awake to strategize if i'm outbid on one lot, i can make a game-time decision to move my attention (and funds) to other lots.

Best-
M

Understand, but here's what I dont understand...If you really want to go after a lot, how in the hell do you know when the 15 minutes has expired?? How in the world can you wait for hours? Just doesnt make sense to me. What if by chance the auction ends at 12:00?

[HRBAKER]

Isn't it great when it's absolutely brutal punishment to spend sh*tloads of money!

[Gradedcardman]

Kevin,

While I agree with you in principal, I followed the end of REA closely. What I found is that around 2am EST, the bids started flying. My immediate reaction was this must be the west coast. This flurry continues for an hour or so. I followed this by refreshing the current bids every couple of minutes. Yes, I was up late and could not sleep. Anyway, I used to feel that these additional boss were crap but after watching last night I feel good about it.

I would though, love to see these auctions end earlier but financially that is not the best way for the auction houses as a rule.

My 2 cents right or wrong.

[CW]

Originally Posted by Gradedcardman

While I agree with you in principal, I followed the end of REA closely. What I found is that around 2am EST, the bids started flying.

Ah-HA! At least now we have an answer for THIS thread!

[thehoodedcoder]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

Is it just me, or do others feel the same way? You have bids on cards for endless hours, and then you wake up to find you were out bid at 2:00 in the morning! Supposedly, there is a 15 minute window to allow final bids. I am finding this more and more harder to believe, I was high bidder on 2 lots for 10 hours! What miracle transpired to have 2 bidders out bid on these 2 lots when most people were asleep? To me it's just a stupid system that needs to be fixed....

i have fallen asleep at my keyboard before, woken up at 6 am and still been able to bid on a lot because things were not closed.

i guess at 2am eastern is really only 11pm on the west coast. figure those guys are up till 2, tack the three back on and that pretty much sums it up.

kevin

[MVSNYC]

Kevin M- i assume you are aware of REA's recent bid page? shows you the 100 recent bids, including a time stamp for each bid, so it's easy to track the velocity of bids. as the auction goes deep into the night, you keep an eye on the recent bids page...granted bids were flying in every 20 seconds or so until almost 5am (from what i see).

[calvindog]

Plus Rob sent out an email warning at 3:15 AM that the auction could end at any time.

[Cat]

Besides Rob doesn't "do" it, we "do" it. Once bidders figure out the rules they will determine the strategy that best fits there chances of winning at the lowest possible price. I basically placed bids on day 1 and then again at 3:30 AM this morning. REA final bidding day gives me the same feeling I had when I was 7 and Christmas morning was in full swing.

[MVSNYC]

"REA final bidding day gives me the same feeling I had when I was 7 and Christmas morning was in full swing."


This.

[bobbvc]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

Is it just me, or do others feel the same way? You have bids on cards for endless hours, and then you wake up to find you were out bid at 2:00 in the morning! Supposedly, there is a 15 minute window to allow final bids. I am finding this more and more harder to believe, I was high bidder on 2 lots for 10 hours! What miracle transpired to have 2 bidders out bid on these 2 lots when most people were asleep? To me it's just a stupid system that needs to be fixed....

It's in the rules. It's like the height requirement at Disneyland on some rides, sure it's disappointing to some, but if you don't like it, don't enter the park.

[HRBAKER]

At the end of the day, it's a pain but the results tell you that it's really not an issue.

[insidethewrapper]

Does any other auction house just end an auction at anytime they wish ? If the rule is 15 minutes then it should be 15 minutes. It just seems a little fishy that someone can make a bid and then the auction house declares the auction done.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

Does any other auction house just end an auction at anytime they wish ? If the rule is 15 minutes then it should be 15 minutes. It just seems a little fishy that someone can make a bid and then the auction house declares the auction done.

This is a certainly understandable concern. But I don't think Rob would stop the auction if there was a spirited bidding war on a high value card; however, bids going back and forth on a collection of Playboy magazines probably means that the auction had jumped the shark.

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by calvindog

This is a certainly understandable concern. But I don't think Rob would stop the auction if there was a spirited bidding war on a high value card; however, bids going back and forth on a collection of Playboy magazines probably means that the auction had jumped the shark.

One thing about that lot, it says it is missing the March 1955 issue of Playboy, but in fact that issue never existed.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-M...Project/737550

[gnaz01]

Originally Posted by calvindog

however, bids going back and forth on a collection of Playboy magazines probably means that the auction had jumped the shark.

That's AWESOME, Jeff!

FWIW, I put in a bid on an item 3 weeks ago, and won it this morning at $400 less than my Honest Auto Bid! Rob and team run an ethical auction, IMHO.

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

Does any other auction house just end an auction at anytime they wish ? If the rule is 15 minutes then it should be 15 minutes. It just seems a little fishy that someone can make a bid and then the auction house declares the auction done.

I don't think the OP's question or the above were answered, so I will give it a go.

Closing for the REA auction is based on a 15-minute rule applied to the auction as a whole. So for the lot you lost, for example, no one could bid on it for hours so long as bids were being placed on other lots. Some auction houses close lot-by-lot using a 15/20 minute rule, but not REA.

There are other auction houses who can end the auction when the decide. Grey Flannel is one example. It's important to read each auction house's rules prior to bidding so there are no surprises. I do this for every auction because I have a difficult time keeping track of how each auction house handles things.

5 am EDT was pretty brutal, but late last year I got outbid on a lot at Grey Flannel at 7 am EDT after being high bidder for about 9 hours. I'm on the west coast and figured someone may have woken up on the east coast and decided to bid again. That was pretty disappointing.