Auction house closing times

[oldjudge]

They do it because it maximizes realizations; if it didn't, or if they didn't believe it did, they wouldn't do it. The auctioneers don't enjoy staying up late any more than you do.

[JollyElm]

1119. Nightsnagging
Any West Coast bidder using the two or three ‘extra’ hours to score auction wins as a huge portion of his competition lies asleep in bed due to the time difference.

See also: Discounting Sheep - a mocking way to describe the money you’ve saved as your competition was too busy getting some shut-eye to bid in the auction.

[Steve D]

Auctions that drag on forever, often into the next day-break are definitely a problem; but on the other hand, so are auctions that end too soon.

For example, a recent auction had what was essentially a 15 minute-long extended bidding period. I put in bids on over two dozen items during normal bidding; then in extended bidding, there was simply not enough time to increase my bids on the items I was most interested in. I won three lots, but there were three other lots that ended a minute or two before I got to them. Interestingly, all six items ended at what most would consider low winning bids.

Auctions need to give bidders enough time to bid, but not drag on forever.

Steve

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Sorry you got shut out of some items you wanted Steve, but I don't understand how you can not watch 24 (or less actually since you said the items you were most interested in, which implies less than everything you bid on) in 15 minutes. Especially because once you place a bid you can ignore that item for 15 minutes to get to the others.

I had a buyer once tell me they were interested in over 100 items in extended bidding. I concede that could get tough.

You see all the people on here complaining about auctions going until all hours. It is rare for us to go much past midnight. We feel what makes our buyers happy will ultimately make our consignors happy. Of course the punchline is there's no way to please everyone. We just have to settle for doing our best.

Thanks for the feedback, but it's just not something we hear nearly as often as we do how much people like being done at a reasonable hour. So, at this point, we're not going to make any changes.

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Sorry you got shut out of some items you wanted Steve, but I don't understand how you can not watch 24 (or less actually since you said the items you were most interested in, which implies less than everything you bid on) in 15 minutes. Especially because once you place a bid you can ignore that item for 15 minutes to get to the others.

I had a buyer once tell me they were interested in over 100 items in extended bidding. I concede that could get tough.

You see all the people on here complaining about auctions going until all hours. It is rare for us to go much past midnight. We feel what makes our buyers happy will ultimately make our consignors happy. Of course the punchline is there's no way to please everyone. We just have to settle for doing our best.

Thanks for the feedback, but it's just not something we hear nearly as often as we do how much people like being done at a reasonable hour. So, at this point, we're not going to make any changes.

Thank you for your response Scott. I do like your auctions, and look forward to them more than most. I was especially looking forward to your just concluded one, due to the T207 set break; that is why I'm so passionate about this right now.

I'm just one guy, who's not as young as he used to be, doesn't have the fastest computer service, and likes to have a chance to think through things; but here are my two cents worth:

It seems to me that if you value just getting the auction over with, more than you value striking a balance between giving bidders a fair chance to bid and getting maximum value for your consigners, something is wrong.

What's the point of even having an extended bidding period, if it's only going to be 15 minutes long? In my way of thinking, that does not give bidders enough time to sort through their bids, and determine which ones, if any, they want to raise their bids on.

Why is ending items at 10:15 eastern time, so much better than ending items at 10:30 eastern; especially when there will still be active items beyond that?

You say "It is rare for us to go much past midnight." (I actually like that; I'm not a fan of auctions going past midnight myself). But again, why not make the minimum extended bidding period last a half hour, ending at 10:30 eastern time? You'll still have a low percentage of items going until around midnight, or after.

Steve