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

[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.

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by JustinD

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.

I wouldn't go as far as "under no premise" but certainly that's the case as a general rule. Still, I suspect there are plenty of collectors who might have some formula for calculating what they're willing to bid (based on prior sales and adjusting for buyer's premium, sales tax, shipping charges or whatever) then calculate that they're willing to bid up to, say, $594 for the card. And among those people are surely some who would bid $575 but not $600 if both options were available but who absolutely would have bid $600 if it was the first increment available after $550. On balance though, sure, smaller increments lead to slightly higher sale prices.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

I wouldn't go as far as "under no premise" but certainly that's the case as a general rule. Still, I suspect there are plenty of collectors who might have some formula for calculating what they're willing to bid (based on prior sales and adjusting for buyer's premium, sales tax, shipping charges or whatever) then calculate that they're willing to bid up to, say, $594 for the card. And among those people are surely some who would bid $575 but not $600 if both options were available but who absolutely would have bid $600 if it was the first increment available after $550. On balance though, sure, smaller increments lead to slightly higher sale prices.

Hey Glenn!

I think I would stick with the "under no premise" based on the statements second half of "at this second". I agree, most folks have a set budget and the OPs math is sound, but it's leaving out the all important psychology.

I think the more people you don't scare off prior to extended bidding, the higher chance you have of the psychology changing to the auction house's advantage. Those late night bidding wars are simply people getting caught in the excitement and lowering defenses. With days on the timer, that excitement is replaced with logic. This leaves out prospective bidders from extended bidding and lowers the chances of additional back and forth to extend time.

Opinion based on my observations and trying to use my psychology college work that I never use in my real job, lol.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Hey Glenn!

I think I would stick with the "under no premise" based on the statements second half of "at this second". I agree, most folks have a set budget and the OPs math is sound, but it's leaving out the all important psychology.

I think the more people you don't scare off prior to extended bidding, the higher chance you have of the psychology changing to the auction house's advantage. Those late night bidding wars are simply people getting caught in the excitement and lowering defenses. With days on the timer, that excitement is replaced with logic. This leaves out prospective bidders from extended bidding and lowers the chances of additional back and forth to extend time.

Opinion based on my observations and trying to use my psychology college work that I never use in my real job, lol.

Justin,

That is a great point. In the other thread about this topic, in the post-war forum, I even said that if AHs were really smart they should actually think about decreasing the bid increments the farther along they got into the extended bidding period. As you stated, psychology can play a huge part in bidding. It is a heck of a lot easier for a bidder to rationalize going an extra $10-$25 on something they already bid $500 on than it is to suddenly go say another $100. People bidding want to win, and rationalizing going an extra bid or two isn't that hard when the increment is seen as small compared to the overall bid.

Plus, anybody ever go to a real live auction and not see the auctioneer throw the bid increments out the window as the bidding was coming to an end? They aren't stupid, so why don't these AHs find someone to tweak the software to have a similar effect? Shouldn't be that difficult, yet no genius has thought of doing it yet. Heck there's even sign language for that. A live auctioneer has something at $600 and he/she's asking for $700, you make a motion with your hand like you're slashing your throat, and almost universally the auctioneer will give you the lead at $650. Or does nobody do that anymore and you have to be an old fart like me to even know what I'm talking about?