REA and other auctions, ridiculous delays

bobbyw8469 · #1 05-20-2013, 08:12 AM

As bad as Hunt Auctions website is to navigate, THEY GET IT! Run each lot on an individual basis. It forces people to bid or get off the pot, rather than allow one coast to stay awake longer than the other coast. You might as well call it "West Coast style auction", because it defintiely favors the west coast.

base_ball · #2 05-20-2013, 08:36 AM

Free shipping makes it all better...

wonkaticket · #3 05-20-2013, 10:26 AM

Gotta give some credit to REA while I�m not a huge fan of the 4am shuffle either.

REA managed to close down an 1800+ lot, $ 10MM+ dollar auction within a few hours of most competitors 100-200 lot auctions. Hell the last SCP went until 6am and had a fraction of what REA had�..

That�s pretty impressive.

oldjudge · #4 05-20-2013, 10:32 AM

I hate the format but love the auction. If someone is put off by the format they always have the option of not bidding. I have chosen to put up with it.

Runscott · #5 05-20-2013, 02:08 PM

Before Saturday-Sunday, I had never stayed up for an auction like this. As Brian can attest, I threatened to call it quits 4-5 hours before I actually gave up. But it was too much fun chatting with friends, and it was really amazing to see the bidder behavior as the auction wound down. As serious bidders got beaten on big lots by snipers, they seemed to be scrambling to find somewhere else to spend their money. In this formerly once-a-year event, everyone was ready with loads of marker bids. It set off a huge chain reaction.

As Jeff mentioned, we got the 'fair warning' email around 3:15, but bidder behavior didn't change much. You would think that all those very late bids for high-dollar items like the BN Ruth and the Gehrig/Ruth signed ball would have been placed a bit earlier, I mean - if you are serious about spending over $200K, why take a chance on REA ending the auction abruptly? I wasn't a player after 3:00, except for someone taking my beat-to-shit 1914 CJ Matty lot, but it was still immensely fun. I have no complaints.

I would say the Sockalexis pin and the Wagner signed balls probably amused me the most, but the guys fighting over the Philadelphia Athletics memorabilia also provided some entertainment.

glchen · #6 05-20-2013, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Runscott

...As Jeff mentioned, we got the 'fair warning' email around 3:15, but bidder behavior didn't change much. You would think that all those very late bids for high-dollar items like the BN Ruth and the Gehrig/Ruth signed ball would have been placed a bit earlier, I mean - if you are serious about spending over $200K, why take a chance on REA ending the auction abruptly?

You "snipe" to save money, which is true even for the big boys, or even more so as each additional bid increment + BP is in the 10's of thousands of dollars. So you bid as late as possible, hoping that your rivals have already gone to bed and will not counter. Everyone says leave your max bid, but often times, the max bid is someone's "reasonable" bid, and not truly their max. Also, many bidders are still concerned with shilling, so don't like leaving max bids. As to why risk REA ending early, I think the psychology is, these are such huge dollar items. Every additional bid increment is tons of money for the consignor and BP to the auction house. The auction house will not end the auction without at least giving the other party 10 minutes or so to counter before ending the auction.

Runscott · #7 05-20-2013, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glchen

You "snipe" to save money, which is true even for the big boys, or even more so as each additional bid increment + BP is in the 10's of thousands of dollars. So you bid as late as possible, hoping that your rivals have already gone to bed and will not counter. Everyone says leave your max bid, but often times, the max bid is someone's "reasonable" bid, and not truly their max. Also, many bidders are still concerned with shilling, so don't like leaving max bids. As to why risk REA ending early, I think the psychology is, these are such huge dollar items. Every additional bid increment is tons of money for the consignor and BP to the auction house. The auction house will not end the auction without at least giving the other party 10 minutes or so to counter before ending the auction.

I agree completely with everything you stated. In chat, we surmised that as long as a few of the huge items (like the BN Ruth) were still getting action, everyone felt comfortable dinking around about putting their bids in.

Also, while it's disappointing for a bid to come out of nowhere at 3:00 a.m., when the item's been dormant forever, in my case it was a good thing - I had been questioning the wisdom of my bid and was happy to lose the lot.

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