Let's talk about auctions

[glchen]

The thing to remember here is that auction houses try to maximize prices for their consignors, so they can get more consignments down the road. That’s the driving factor behind the closing process.

For the closing time, they are looking for a time convenient to both coasts. Close too early and the West Coast is still at dinner. Close too late and the East Coast is already asleep.

Generally closing the entire auction at one time has yielded higher prices since people can switch their funds to other lots of their top targets get outbid. However a large segment of bidders got fed up with this late night process that they basically started boycotting auctions with these types of closes. Therefore most auctions have moved to lot by lot closing for the convenience of the bidders.

[swarmee]

Yeah, we had a lot of these discussions about three years ago and it looks like many auctionhouses have moved to earlier times to accommodate those concerns.

[Republicaninmass]

Seems like an awful lot of flipping going in with signed cards and others. Many cards with record sales in the past few months headed back to the auction block

[GeoPoto]

I've always assumed they picked closing times to make them less than attractive to bidders as a way to encourage aggressive "max" bidding by everybody who goes to sleep before midnight, figuring that the bidders who prefer to slug it out to the wire will stay up anyway. If your objective was simply to maximize the number of real-time/deadline bidders, you would end before 11:00 ET. But they (out of loyalty to consigners) are trying to get both: strong "max" bids from early-risers AND frantic extended-time bidding by the vampires.

[notfast]

How “long” does the extended bidding usually go? The REA offering tonight is loaded so I assume there will be some extremely drawn out bidding.

I’ve only “set it and forget it” bid on lower end items and checked back the next day to see what happened in the past.

However there’s a few mid range offerings tonight I’d really like to purchase. Should I wake up at 4am and check and rebid or will that be too late?

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by notfast

How “long” does the extended bidding usually go? The REA offering tonight is loaded so I assume there will be some extremely drawn out bidding.

I’ve only “set it and forget it” bid on lower end items and checked back the next day to see what happened in the past.

However there’s a few mid range offerings tonight I’d really like to purchase. Should I wake up at 4am and check and rebid or will that be too late?

You should start watching/strategizing/bidding on your items at midnight when the 15 minute clock kicks in

[rats60]

Originally Posted by glchen

The thing to remember here is that auction houses try to maximize prices for their consignors, so they can get more consignments down the road. That’s the driving factor behind the closing process.

For the closing time, they are looking for a time convenient to both coasts. Close too early and the West Coast is still at dinner. Close too late and the East Coast is already asleep.

Generally closing the entire auction at one time has yielded higher prices since people can switch their funds to other lots of their top targets get outbid. However a large segment of bidders got fed up with this late night process that they basically started boycotting auctions with these types of closes. Therefore most auctions have moved to lot by lot closing for the convenience of the bidders.

I don't think this is true. I think closing the auction all at once loses consignors money. When you do that, one of two things happens. Either the auction goes on into the wee hours of the morning or you set a hard close at the end and it becomes eBay with buyers sniping auctions. And I have had that happen with me leading an auction and then it closes and someone has out bid me with no chance to bid again.

I have noticed with Heritage that many lots enter extended bidding and get no bids. Many more are closed within 30 minutes to an hour. Very few of the auctions I have watched have gone on longer than that. Who do you think is getting the most? The one with a high bid before extended bidding or the one with auctions sniped or bought at 3-4 am?

[Snapolit1]

Just close item by item after 15 or 30 minutes. Not that complicated.

A business model that requires 50, 60 and 70 year old men to stay up to 4 or 5 am seems a little flawed to me, but what do I know. Maybe they are counting on those frequent bathroom trips in the middle of the night.

[Golfcollector]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Just close item by item after 15 or 30 minutes. Not that complicated.

A business model that requires 50, 60 and 70 year old men to stay up to 4 or 5 am seems a little flawed to me, but what do I know. Maybe they are counting on those frequent bathroom trips in the middle of the night.

THIS! +1. It can't be THAT difficult.