Leland's Strange Lot Results or Software Bug?

[DixieBaseball]

Dan,
Strange... Hopefully get an explanation. I am also looking for an explanation.... I had a wierd issue as well. I had the 6th bid on a lot last night, put in another bid and actually bid myself up, but is still showed my next bid as the 6th bid !?! It was about 2:11am, I sent an email to Laura and Cust Svc, and the autobot, reply rejected my emails. The other strange thing was I was just putting in another bid to protect my bid so I could go to bed, but when I put the bid in, it actually bumped me up to the max bid and of course I won the lot with my max bid, essentially outbidding my self. In other, other words, I was the underbidder and the winning bidder but I won on my max bid instead of my 2nd to last bid.

I sent Josh an email last night through Net 54, but have not heard back... Hoping this can get rectified. It's not a huge deal, but I cost myself $300+ due to bidding myself up

[calvindog]

Does auction software actually allow a bidder to bid against himself?

[DixieBaseball]

Jeff...

Can't speak for all Auction software, but Lelands' does. Here's the proof below from the email :

You are currently the high bidder for this item with:



Your Current Bid: $3,221.02
Maximum bid of $3,221.02



Please confirm if you would like to raise your maximum bid to $3,543.12

[DixieBaseball]

Originally Posted by DixieBaseball

Jeff...

Can't speak for all Auction software, but Lelands' does. Here's the proof below from the email :

You are currently the high bidder for this item with:



Your Current Bid: $3,221.02
Maximum bid of $3,221.02



Please confirm if you would like to raise your maximum bid to $3,543.12

Guys, I put in a "max bid" which you can see above. When I did, it kept the bid count at 6 and it raised my bid from $3,221 to $3,543. When you click on a "Max Bid" it implies at least to me that I am putting in a bid above my current bid as a measure of protection. (I wanted to go to bed and it was 2:11am) - I am hopeful Lelands will make this right, but I have not heard from anyone yet. (Weekend+MLK day)

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by DixieBaseball

Guys, I put in a "max bid" which you can see above. When I did, it kept the bid count at 6 and it raised my bid from $3,221 to $3,543. When you click on a "Max Bid" it implies at least to me that I am putting in a bid above my current bid as a measure of protection. (I wanted to go to bed and it was 2:11am) - I am hopeful Lelands will make this right, but I have not heard from anyone yet. (Weekend+MLK day)

My understanding is that if you did not click the 'proxy bid' checkbox, it would give the results you got. It's certainly misleading if that's how it works - I think they should change the software to give you a warning;e.g-"Do you want this to be a proxy bid?"

[DixieBaseball]

Originally Posted by Runscott

My understanding is that if you did not click the 'proxy bid' checkbox, it would give the results you got. It's certainly misleading if that's how it works - I think they should change the software to give you a warning;e.g-"Do you want this to be a proxy bid?"

Spoke with Cust Svc Mgr and she told me that the proxy box was unchecked, so it went to a straight bid, so evidently somehow I unchecked the box, and bid myself up $350. I did explain to her that it was unintentional and I have the proof of email where I thought I was putting in simply a max bid. Confusing to me. One click and I did all this... She is checking with the "owners" to see if there is anything they can do. I reminded her I put in the last 2 bids. ($3200 & $3,550) It was 2:14am, and I wanted to go to bed.... Putting in a max bid was a small measure of protection... Of course no one else bid over $3,000.

[DixieBaseball]

Originally Posted by DixieBaseball

Spoke with Cust Svc Mgr and she told me that the proxy box was unchecked, so it went to a straight bid, so evidently somehow I unchecked the box, and bid myself up $350. I did explain to her that it was unintentional and I have the proof of email where I thought I was putting in simply a max bid. Confusing to me. One click and I did all this... She is checking with the "owners" to see if there is anything they can do. I reminded her I put in the last 2 bids. ($3200 & $3,550) It was 2:14am, and I wanted to go to bed.... Putting in a max bid was a small measure of protection... Of course no one else bid over $3,000.

Final Update :

So glad I picked up the phone today to call Lelands. (Should have done this to begin with...) Josh made it right! Thanks to Laura for jumping on it as well.

Best of luck to the rest of you with your bug-a-boo's!

[buymycards]

From Lelands website: (A little confusing,plus who reads all of this stuff?)

BIDDING INCREMENTS

Items will be sold to the highest bidder. Bids can be no lower than the " reserve " or minimum price listed. The current high bid must be raised in increments of at least 10% for items currently at or above $250 or $25 for items currently below $250. Absentee bids are placed in 21% increments. This eliminates the possibility of a bidder occupying 2 consecutive bids. To place a straight bid over the current bid, uncheck " Proxy Bid " , whereby the bidding increments go in 10% raises. Lelands reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, and/or pull items from the auction. Placing a bid constitutes acceptance of the terms and conditions of sale as outlined here. Lelands' record of final sale shall be conclusive. *An asterisk indicates that the lot has a confidential reserve. The confidential reserve is not higher than the low end of the estimate. To place a straight bid over the current bid, uncheck "Use Proxy Bidding", whereby the bidding increments go in 10% raises.

PLACING ABSENTEE BIDS

IIf you wish, you may place an Absentee Bid to avoid the need to continually bid. Simply place your maximum bid in the space provided, and Lelands' system will automatically bid for you. Absentee Bids will be executed competitively only as they are bid against by other bidders. For example, assume you have the current high bid at $10,000 and you have placed an absentee (ceiling) bid of $15,000. If another bid comes in ($11,000), your absentee bid will automatically kick in and raise the high bid to $12,100. This will continue until your absentee bid has been outbid. If there are no other bids, you will win the lot for $12,100, plus buyer’s premium. Absentee bids are placed in increments of 21% to avoid the possibility of one bidder occupying two consecutive bids. A 19.5% buyer's premium will be added to all winning bids. All absentee bids will remain confidential.

[arcadekrazy]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Does auction software actually allow a bidder to bid against himself?

I managed to do the exact same thing to myself in the last Goodwin auction. Was the high bidder, and the only bidder on a lot, went to protect my bid before I turned in for the night and ended up raising my own bid. It was a wonderful feeling.

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by arcadekrazy

I managed to do the exact same thing to myself in the last Goodwin auction. Was the high bidder, and the only bidder on a lot, went to protect my bid before I turned in for the night and ended up raising my own bid. It was a wonderful feeling.

Me, too, in a Verkman auction. Hit "bid" instead of "max bid" and it raised my own bid. I called them right away and, to their credit, they took the time to go through the system and re-set me.

[Rob D.]

Can anyone in New York provide an update whether authorities have the attack of the tsetse flies under control yet?

Rob Dewolf

[ullmandds]

I recently had a high bid(the only bid) on an ebay auction...placed a snipe to make sure I won. I DID win the auction...but the # of bids placed was 2...both mine...which seemed odd. Yet my winning price was the opening bid.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I recently had a high bid(the only bid) on an ebay auction...placed a snipe to make sure I won. I DID win the auction...but the # of bids placed was 2...both mine...which seemed odd. Yet my winning price was the opening bid.

If you raise your own bid in an ebay auction in order to protect yourself from another bidder, the bid page will show that you bid twice but it will maintain your original bid, if that was the high bid.

[mybuddyinc]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Does auction software actually allow a bidder to bid against himself?

I, also, would be very interested in having that question answered.

[bobfreedman]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Does auction software actually allow a bidder to bid against himself?

Our software does not allow you to bid against yourself unless the lot has a reserve. If an item has a reserve, our software treats each bid below the reserve as a straight bid. Once it exceeds the reserve then you cannot bid against yourself, only raise your Max bid without raising the current bid. We do not do Leland's software but this is response to Your post and others.

Bob Freedman
919-824-9501
CEO SimpleAuctionSite

[Runscott]

I have seen this before - it is not uncommon in auction software: if you do not click the 'proxy bid' box, it takes your new bid as a bid against yourself. Not sure about Bob's software, but I haven't seen that it has any advantage over what Leland's uses - for the most part I prefer Lelands. Regarding the accidentally unchecked 'proxy bids' box - I've done this a couple of times and each time simply called the auction house and they corrected the issue. I don't think it was Lelands in either case.

The only clearly inferior auction software is Hunts, but even that can be easily dealt with.