Huggins and Scott Auction bid increments good for buyers, bad for consigners

[Fred]

I guess you can look at this the other way too (good for consignors and bad for bidders).

The bad news for bidders is that with the smaller bid increments comes a plethora of bidders during the extended bidding session. This is bad for the bidder because that puts more potential bidders in the extended bidding session when the real bidding takes place.

[x2drich2000]

I think your assumption that 10% bid increments is the standard is flawed. Yes there are a few AH's that use the 10% increment, but a lot use a flat bid increment at different intervals such as REA, LOTG, H&S, and Goldin. Honestly, I would be less inclined to consign to an AH with a 10% increase as the variance between bids makes it so that a lot can easily be undervalued at one bid, but the next bid is significantly overvalued. I know with AH's that have the 10% increment I will place bids early to get the sweet spot bid that is undervalued.

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

I think your assumption that 10% bid increments is the standard is flawed. Yes there are a few AH's that use the 10% increment, but a lot use a flat bid increment at different intervals such as REA, LOTG, H&S, and Goldin. Honestly, I would be less inclined to consign to an AH with a 10% increase as the variance between bids makes it so that a lot can easily be undervalued at one bid, but the next bid is significantly overvalued. I know with AH's that have the 10% increment I will place bids early to get the sweet spot bid that is undervalued.

Originally Posted by BobC

The OP started this same thread, with the exact same opening post, in the post-war up to 1980 forum. Check it out as I believe the thinking over there is that smaller bid increments are likely better for consignors in the long run, not worse.

+1

Could not agree more with this. 10% increments leave too large a gap between bids. There can indeed be a "sweet spot" where the low bid is too low and the high bid is too high. IMO consignors lose.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

+1

Could not agree more with this. 10% increments leave too large a gap between bids. There can indeed be a "sweet spot" where the low bid is too low and the high bid is too high. IMO consignors lose.

Agreed.....I just don't get how a smaller bid increment could be a bad thing.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Agreed.....I just don't get how a smaller bid increment could be a bad thing.

agreed I think it works well for both the buyer and seller. As a Seller I get the buyer who may not want to jump to the next big increment if it is past there buy number/limit and those potentially I get some extra money and for the buyer they have a chance to bid on a card to their comfort level

[scooter729]

I remember when REA used to have big increments, like $100 increments between $500 - $999. On a $500 item, I might be willing to go to $525 or $550, but not $600, so there were times an item may have sold for less than it should have. Now there are $25 increments at that price level, so I certainly think it encourages more bidding and higher prices.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by scooter729

I remember when REA used to have big increments, like $100 increments between $500 - $999. On a $500 item, I might be willing to go to $525 or $550, but not $600, so there were times an item may have sold for less than it should have. Now there are $25 increments at that price level, so I certainly think it encourages more bidding and higher prices.

Any reasonable logic in my mind says +1 on this.

The smaller increments encourages additional bids due to every piece of marketing knowledge since the beginning of written time. Under no premise can I believe that the current bid price would be that much higher at this second with a higher percentage. People pay what it is worth to them, no one without a possible diagnosis of a mental disorder has an obligation to bid more money just to satiate an obsession to bid. I would say that you are completely eliminating more bidders with an obscene bid jump from the pool prior to extended bidding far more than improving end value for consigned items.