Closing Tonight: Love of the Game Auctions

[Zan]

Originally Posted by tazdmb

Yet another post-midnight outbid. Loved your items, but closing time is just too late for me on the east coast.

Amen. I raised this concern to Al in which he replied, “just bid higher".

[Shoeless Moe]

Can someone explain why closing an auction when more then half of your bidders are asleep is better then when "ALL" bidders are awake.

What am I missing?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

Can someone explain why closing an auction when more then half of your bidders are asleep is better then when "ALL" bidders are awake.

What am I missing?

I have to agree with the sentiment. If it ended 1-2 hours earlier I would have stayed awake. As it was I went to sleep after putting in a higher up-to bid or two. Fortunately it worked out for me. But why not roll back the clock and start the double overtime at 11pm-12am CST? Maybe consignors want it to stay open forever but the people bidding don't, that is for sure.

[ajg]

Shoeless Moe, I could not agree more. I consider myself the typical collector. A middle aged overweight (somewhat) guy that spends more than he should on cardboard but what possesses these AHs when they close their auction at 4 am?
I understand the double OT stuff...bid before 9 pm so you can bid after. I get it. But why not push the first deadline up to 3pm. If I were a consignor than I would be pissed since most east coast bidders are like me ......asleep. If I lived in Guam it would be ideal but my guess is most bidders do not.
If I really really want an item and I know that I will have to stay up till 4am than maybe I should hang out at a bar or a strip club so I am wide awake when its my turn to bid. If I wake up in the middle of the night ( at 3 am) to bid than do I have to stay up 90 minutes more to see if I get outbid? It makes zero sense.
I do not care how the AH decides to end their auction. If its lot by lot that is fine. If its the 15 minute no bid rule than that is fine. But why do it at 4am when you can schedule all that you need to so that it ends at 11pm or midnight.
Note to AHs : Put in your max bid and go to sleep routine and we will handle the rest does not work. Most bidders want to control the car they drive.
How popular would the NFL be if they started their games at midnight and they ended at 3:30 am? They would be in Guam I guess.

[bounce]

It seems the auction houses want to push bidders to put in max bids.

That’s pretty short sighted considering most people move their dollars around to other items if they get outbid on something else.

I set mine and went to sleep, I ended up winning one lot but it was right at what it should have, so it’s not like I got a deal.

I think 8-9pm CST should be when extended begins, and it shouldn’t go more than about 3 hours. I don’t think an auction should ever end past 2am EST.

[rhettyeakley]

The same things have been said about the ending of auctions for years. People have tried to change things but the consensus is always that there will be some people that are unhappy with the way the auction ends (or at what time the auction ends.) I feel it is almost a broken record at this point and something you can plan on after every auction, the inevitable “I hate how this auction ended” type of post.

I am convinced there is no “right way” to end an auction.

I personally HATE the “each lot ending individually” format as I am always bidding on 30-40+ different lots and ending up with quite a few. Trying to balance that all out in 15 minute increments where sometimes you have 15-20 items all ending at the same moment and deciding where to bid and how much is impossible in that amount of time. I like the freedom to plan my bids out over time like the LOTG type format allows. On the other hand, if I was only bidding on one or two items in the auction then this format would probably be perfect. Again, this is my opinion.

I kind of agree with what Al reportedly told the poster above, “bid higher” as there is quite literally a format to do so. There is strategy in bidding in auctions and that isn’t the greatest strategy but if you 1.) trust the auction house, and 2) were willing go bid higher than the amount it sold for... then put in a max bid and get some rest.

I have lived in every time zone and I really didn’t notice that big of a difference... but then again I am a high functioning insomniac so that might help!?!

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

The same things have been said about the ending of auctions for years. People have tried to change things but the consensus is always that there will be some people that are unhappy with the way the auction ends (or at what time the auction ends.) I feel it is almost a broken record at this point and something you can plan on after every auction, the inevitable “I hate how this auction ended” type of post.

I am convinced there is no “right way” to end an auction.

I personally HATE the “each lot ending individually” format as I am always bidding on 30-40+ different lots and ending up with quite a few. Trying to balance that all out in 15 minute increments where sometimes you have 15-20 items all ending at the same moment and deciding where to bid and how much is impossible in that amount of time. I like the freedom to plan my bids out over time like the LOTG type format allows. On the other hand, if I was only bidding on one or two items in the auction then this format would probably be perfect. Again, this is my opinion.

I kind of agree with what Al reportedly told the poster above, “bid higher” as there is quite literally a format to do so. There is strategy in bidding in auctions and that isn’t the greatest strategy but if you 1.) trust the auction house, and 2) were willing go bid higher than the amount it sold for... then put in a max bid and get some rest.

I have lived in every time zone and I really didn’t notice that big of a difference... but then again I am a high functioning insomniac so that might help!?!

+1000 on the “lots ending individually issue”. As an active auction bidder, if I get in a bidding war on an item or two and lose, chances are the other lots I bid on will be closed if I try and go back to them. This has happened to me so many times over the years. Extra money to spend because I was taken out on one lot, and not being able to reallocate that money to another lot. It frustrates me as a bidder and would infuriate me as a consignor. Closing lots individually is literally taking money out of the consignors’ pockets because many bidders cannot go back and bid on closed lots.

[Stonepony]

Originally Posted by Vintageclout

+1000 on the “lots ending individually issue”. As an active auction bidder, if I get in a bidding war on an item or two and lose, chances are the other lots I bid on will be closed if I try and go back to them. This has happened to me so many times over the years. Extra money to spend because I was taken out on one lot, and not being able to reallocate that money to another lot. It frustrates me as a bidder and would infuriate me as a consignor. Closing lots individually is literally taking money out of the consignors’ pockets because many bidders cannot go back and bid on closed lots.

yep +1

[pherbener]

Originally Posted by bounce

It seems the auction houses want to push bidders to put in max bids.

That’s pretty short sighted considering most people move their dollars around to other items if they get outbid on something else.

I set mine and went to sleep, I ended up winning one lot but it was right at what it should have, so it’s not like I got a deal.

I think 8-9pm CST should be when extended begins, and it shouldn’t go more than about 3 hours. I don’t think an auction should ever end past 2am EST.

I agree with you David. I'm usually after several items and move my money around depending on where the bidding is going and certain items getting getting beyond my price range. I do like the "double overtime" but end the first overtime earlier...11:00-midnight EST.

[slidekellyslide]

As a consignor I’m very happy!! Thank you Al. I bid on about ten lots, and won four of them. One for the opening bid so that closed at 8 PM. My three other lots all closed before double OT so I was happy about that. I was also happy to see that 5 or 6 of my consignments were still getting healthy bids after double OT started.

This topic is older than Moses. You can’t please everyone with auction closing times. Consignors want it to stay open as long as possible and bidders want it to close early. I wonder why that is?

[slidekellyslide]

Also of note, this is the first time I’ve stayed awake for the end of an auction, and I watched it using the “most recent bids” function. I would say that vast majority of items in this auction were ended at 2 AM eastern time.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

This topic is older than Moses. You can’t please everyone with auction closing times. Consignors want it to stay open as long as possible and bidders want it to close early. I wonder why that is?

Consignors don't want it to stay open as long as possible, they want the most money for their item. They don't care when it closes.

If consignors want to stay it open as long as possible then keep it open until 8 or 9 am the next day. Then those of us who wake up can jump back in, thus more money for the consignor.

I just don't get why you wouldn't want the max # of bidders awake rather then asleep.

Still waiting for someone to say why middle of the night when most are asleep is better. If there is a legit reason that makes sense I'd love to hear it.

[Lorewalker]

Boy what happened the days where we laughed at how late we had to stay up? I hate the late closing too and I am usually on the west coast but Al's auction is hardly the only one that closes late into the night or early into the next AM. I think that Heritage end is ideal. That auction wrap ups by 11 CST usually.