Closing methods of Mastro Auctions etc......

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I think Rob is in a tough spot because he has a huge amount of lots and has only one auction a year. If he did a traditional 30 minute rule closing on all lots at once, my guess is his extended period could last a week which is just not feasible.

Closing one at a time would cure this problem but he's made the decision to do all that he can to increase the bidding -- which is great for consignors and not so great for bidders. I suppose in the end an auction house cannot please both sides to this equation.

I suppose my problem with his practice is that the bidder has no idea when the auction ends and is required to monitor the lots without crucial information at his fingertips. Rob's presumed response would be, well, just put in your max bid and you'll be okay in the end. I know I'm not the only bidder, however, who thinks they've put in a max bid -- only to sheepishly realize when that max bid has been topped that a "new" max bid is in order. With an extended bidding period of 12 hours one cannot be on top of this game of musical chairs when the music finally stops. Again, to be fair, I haven't consigned anything to REA and I suppose my feelings would be different if I was a consignor.

Edited to add: exactly, Leon. The bidders should decide when bidding ends not REA. There is just no transparency with the REA system and that frustrates the hell out of me. Perhaps if bidders truly knew that the REA clock running down to zero actually meant zero, they'd toss another bid in to beat the clock. I'm not certain that REA's loose, subjective determination on when to end the auction does max out bids.