The way auctions close?

[barrysloate]

Somebody needs to come up with a system that forces bidders to place bids early. It isn't as if it takes until 6:00 AM for all the bids to be placed and processed, it's really that bidders feel no pressure to bid before the wee hours of the morning. And they do wait. Instead of placing their bids early, they try to wait until the last possible minute, hoping to catch a competitor sleeping, or to get a last bid in before the auction finally closes.

This is silly. Most of the time between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM is dead time. Nobody seems to want to tackle this, but with so many auctions taking place these days, how many times can bidders be counted on to stay up all night? And bidders who have to eventually go to sleep are bidders who aren't bidding, so the auction house is leaving some amount of money on the table. You ideally want everyone to get all their bids in before they quit, not go to sleep because they can't stay up any longer. How many times to we hear of bidders willing to go another increment, but they fell asleep and when they awoke the auction already ended. It's a flawed system.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Somebody needs to come up with a system that forces bidders to place bids early. It isn't as if it takes until 6:00 AM for all the bids to be placed and processed, it's really that bidders feel no pressure to bid before the wee hours of the morning. And they do wait. Instead of placing their bids early, they try to wait until the last possible minute, hoping to catch a competitor sleeping, or to get a last bid in before the auction finally closes.

I don't think a lot of sniping occurs that is based on 1 person's knowledge and the lack of others, so I have a hard time understanding why the wait, other than when your limit is reached on a specific item you want to spread your money elsewhere. So what's the problem if that limit is reached sooner? Earlier bidding is better for the AH and consignor.

How about a BP discount/penalty? Up to the last day of the auction, the BP is the AH standard BP. The last day of the auction, BP+. When it gets into extended bidding, BP++. Determining exact amounts is left as an exercise for the student.

(another non-perfect solution)