When is the high bid NOT the winning bid? At Hunt's!

[scooter729]

This is at least the second time (possibly the third) this scenario has happened to me at one of Hunt's live auctions.

When online bidding ended on Friday night, I was the high bidder on the lot seen below, at $375 (screenshot from my account). I had a ceiling bid of $500.

Live bidding took place on Saturday, and when I looked later on Saturday, I saw the item sold for $375, so I assumed I was the winning bidder.

When I didn't receive an invoice, I called Hunt's. I was told that in fact I was NOT the winning bidder, that someone in person won the item for $375. I asked how this was possible, and was told "human error" happens in their auctions sometimes and it's inevitable it will happen from time to time.

Seriously?? I'm amazed that Hunt's can continue to get quality items consigned to them, with missed bids like this and small / missing scans on its lots. It's 2016 - this shouldn't be happening.

An investment into a new website could pay itself back quickly from the missed bids alone - if this has happened to me 2-3 times, I'm sure it's happened many other times. I typically enjoy their diverse offerings in their auctions, but their live bidding format is horrible, unless you're there in person, I guess.

Scott S@r!@n

[T206Collector]

I had a major bidding problem with Hunt's in February. Sometime before their February auction they required additional references to permit bids over $5,000. I had never seen that, so when the auctions I was bidding in hit $5,000 I was prohibited from bidding any further. Calls to Hunt's to rectify the situation during extended bidding went unanswered. I lost the auctions, and the items sold for (perhaps much) less than what they were going to sell for had I been allowed to keep bidding. In fact, I had won a similar item in Hunt's only a couple of months earlier, with a bid well over $5,000.

Still ticked off about this.

[Snapolit1]

I entered two or three "winning" bids at their All Star Game auction and somehow none of them went through. When I wrote to them asking "what up" zero response. Off the list.

[khkco4bls]

Plus the consignor losing money

[autograf]

I was at the live auction. They have added that LIVE 'Invaluable' bidding into their mix. They had some problems with it and I think it slows down their live auctioneer some. There were issues with a couple of the bidders in the live auction on the floor and a couple items were reopened that were already supposedly sold. But I don't think it happened on more than 5-10 items. I won a single item with no real issues that I could tell. It was the least attended of any of the live Louisville Slugger auctions and I've been at all. They've consistently whittled this auction down to be strictly memorabilia and autographs which is disappointing. They used to have some cards in the auction and a couple years had great card contents. It's a great venue for an auction and we are pretty centrally located to quite a few large metro areas. Oh well, it was a quick day. The auction used to start at 9am and wasn't finished at 5pm. I got there at 1030 and left by 3pm. I did some bidding prior to the live auction. I think they continue to pull out items to go into the monthly auctions, so these live auctions have been dwindled down significantly. The All-Star game auctions have become their true premier auctions. And their website continues to be substandard when Simpleauction and Createauction have fantastic interfaces for the majority of auctionhouses out there. I think the live format probably still has a place out there but it must be incredibly difficult to manage with an online presence.

[Leon]

I would be pissed if I ever consigned to them, which I haven't and won't. I still have a craw in my side when he/they targeted local dealers of the Hunt/Philly show and told them if they set up at other local shows they wouldn't allow them at theirs. I will never set up at a Philly show for that reason.

[Bpm0014]

I've also had some problems with Hunt's. They have some wonderful items though. But same deal.... At least 2-3 occasions.....