REA fun!

[Snapolit1]

I like when there is a minor auction closing night technical snafu of some sort and people act all outraged and shit ..... like we are bidding on life saving medications for our children or something really important.

[spacktrack]

We thank all participants for their patience during the short maintenance period earlier in which the site was offline. This was a necessary step to ensure smooth functionality for the remainder of the auction.

The auction will end as planned no later than 12 AM Midnight EST. The site is functioning as designed, all bidders and phone callers have been kept apprised of the situation, and all expected participants are engaged and bidding.

This will be one of two emails prior to the end of the auction. We encourage bidders to use Honest Auto Bid to avoid disappointment. That is the best way to ensure you are not locked out of the action.

The next e-mail will be a FAIR WARNING e-mail indicating that the close of the auction is imminent.

THE AUCTION WILL END PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT TO AVOID A CRUSH OF TRAFFIC. THE EXACT TIME WILL BE UNKNOWN SO PLEASE DO NOT DELAY ONCE THE FAIR WARNING E-MAIL IS RECEIVED!

The entire auction will close at once. It will not continue beyond Midnight EST under any circumstances!

[nolemmings]

Timed out on me again. Site gives me either runtime error message or "system error" message. Very disappointing.

[HOF Auto Rookies]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Timed out on me again. Site gives me either runtime error message or "system error" message. Very disappointing.

+1.

[calvindog]

I can't sign in.

[prestigecollectibles]

It's working fine for me at the moment.

[WillowGrove]

can't bid.

[itjclarke]

I'm still getting intermittent errors and/or general site slowness

[OldOriole]

Originally Posted by spacktrack

THE AUCTION WILL END PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT TO AVOID A CRUSH OF TRAFFIC. THE EXACT TIME WILL BE UNKNOWN SO PLEASE DO NOT DELAY ONCE THE FAIR WARNING E-MAIL IS RECEIVED!

The entire auction will close at once. It will not continue beyond Midnight EST under any circumstances!

I wish this was true. Lost $600 on a vulture trying to snipe well after midnight. I understand that this is frustrating for everyone involved, including REA to be sure but I concur that everyone has had an amble chance to bid. We had two weeks to set up bids, then postings saying 'don;t wait until the end', then 2+ overtimes. Apparently many people did wait until the end, and that created capacity issues. Have to get up in a few hours, not sure what else to say except it sure is disappointing.

[iowadoc77]

Originally Posted by OldOriole

I wish this was true. Lost $600 on a vulture trying to snipe well after midnight. I understand that this is frustrating for everyone involved, including REA to be sure but I concur that everyone has had an amble chance to bid. We had two weeks to set up bids, then postings saying 'don;t wait until the end', then 2+ overtimes. Apparently many people did wait until the end, and that created capacity issues. Have to get up in a few hours, not sure what else to say except it sure is disappointing.

Very well said.

[the-illini]

The latest email allows for the auction to be kept open as long as it takes to make sure consignors are satisfied.

[OldOriole]

Originally Posted by the-illini

The latest email allows for the auction to be kept open as long as it takes to make sure consignors are satisfied.

There's a balance between keeping both consignors and bidders happy....right now it's a tightrope.

[the-illini]

Originally Posted by OldOriole

There's a balance between keeping both consignors and bidders happy....right now it's a tightrope.

Would be easier to accept if they hadn’t extended it twice already and said the auction was closing 50 minutes ago.

[Blunder19]

As a consignor i am not happy... i am trying to get to the landing pages for my items and the page wont load... if i cant get there how are bidders supposed to get there???

[nolemmings]

Still not working and utter bullshit.

[iowadoc77]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Still not working and utter bullshit.

There has been extremely ample time to get bids in. Bidders getting the short end for sure.

[ZiggerZagger]

Originally Posted by OldOriole

I wish this was true. Lost $600 on a vulture trying to snipe well after midnight. I understand that this is frustrating for everyone involved, including REA to be sure but I concur that everyone has had an amble chance to bid. We had two weeks to set up bids, then postings saying 'don;t wait until the end', then 2+ overtimes. Apparently many people did wait until the end, and that created capacity issues. Have to get up in a few hours, not sure what else to say except it sure is disappointing.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for Brian and the folks at REA. This wasn't in the plans, and I'm sure they've struggled to come up with anything that seemed remotely fair on the fly.

Sadly, in trying to keep the Consignors happy, it's allowed the auction to take it to a whole new zone of increasing bids that would have never materialized otherwise. They've got a huge challenge in trying to make this right over the next week or so.

Cosigners are going to want full price. Buyers aren't going to want to pay extra money they unfairly accrued in overtime (It will not continue beyond Midnight EST under any circumstances...)
There's only one other pot of funds out there -- the Buyer's Premiums from the Auction House tasked to put on a functioning auction.

Someone is going to have to eat this, and it's very unfortunate.


_

[Sean]

It just closed, and I won my item, so I guess I shouldn't complain about that last snipe.