Auctions End Too Late

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

That said, I also receive bids. 20% of the dollars spent in yesterday's LOTG auction came from bids that were placed yesterday. I can't help but feel its a disservice to the consignor to shut the auction down before everyone who wants to place a bid has placed a bid, regardless of what time it is.
-Al

We've discussed this before, Al. Your argument here doesn't hold water. There's not evidence that you wouldn't still get 20% of your dollars spent yesterday if you ended lot by lot.

Max bids are great but let's face it. For rare items without good pricing data, it's difficult to determine what the max is you would truly spend. Many times I've gotten up in the morning and saw that I lost out on a lot I put a max bid on and knew that if I had still been up when the last bid was placed, I probably would have probably gone one (or two?) more. Don't forget that this scenario costs consigners $$$ as well.

The reality is that the only way to stop auctions from going all night is to force people to bid faster. While I prefer lot by lot, I think reducing the time it takes for an auction to close when no bids are made from 15 to 5 minutes could significantly reduce auction close times and I'd be all for it.

jeff