Auctions End Too Late

[z28jd]

I think it's the 15 minute rule that is too much. Why not five minutes without a bid? If you get two chuckleheads trying for one lot at the very end and they keep waiting the 15 minutes to bid, then everyone has to wait. I won something on LOTG, but it was already at my max bid around noon yesterday, so no reason to watch.

On the flip side, I've sat here watching multiple lots for hours and that's always annoying. Auction houses are not East Coast friendly, that is for sure.

[MikeKam]

I set max bids on two auctions and was outbid at 2:40AM, but I probably would have still bid more. Not really unfair, but guys that manage to wait out the entire auction have the luxury of keeping on clicking the bid button until it finally surpasses my max and I can't react to that.

I prefer auctions that end by individual lot and I doubt it really affects prices. I also don't mind what Clean Sweep does with penalizing bids with extra buyers premium after a certain time to discourage those late bids.

[glchen]

Auction houses want higher prices, so they go with the format that they think will bring in more bids. One of the reasons for all lots close at once is the ability to switch from lot to lot if you become outbid. For example, if you have three lots that you put bids out, but are currently losing on all 3, and have a $500 budget, you might first bid on the lot that you want most. However, if that lot exceeds your budget in extended bidding, you might want to switch to another lot. However, if the auction ends lot by lot, then that lot may already have ended, and you would not have a chance to bid on that lot any more. The other thing of course is that if you are busy (such as feeding or putting the kids to bed) when the countdown clock begins for extended bidding, then you may not have a chance to look at the bidding during extended time, and then auction may end before you can put your bids. (All of this is where you don't believe in max bids due to fear of shilling.)

Obviously, I'm on the west coast, so the all lots ending at once works great for me. I put in placeholder bids in the auction for all lots that I am interested in when the auction first opens. Then after all of the kids are asleep at night, I take a look at the bidding around 10:30 - 11pm PST, which is near 2am EST, and then put in any new bids that I think are worthwhile.