Does the REA auction pick up towards the end?

[chadeast]

Originally Posted by JustinD

I am one of those people.

Marker bid and I don’t even log in to look till an hour before extended to decide what I will be continuing on.

Me too. This is really the most logical way to bid. There could be some value in bidding it up to get fence sitters to give up on the card early, but I think it's more likely that you're just driving up the cost for yourself if you bid before extended bidding. Honestly, it doesn't seem like any strategies matter these days... nothing slips through and you're going to have to pay more than you planned if you want it.

And yes, some auctions run too long. Anything longer than 2 weeks is annoying and I think it hurts the auction results. I've completely forgotten about a few of the three week auctions. There was one late last year (I think) that was 4 weeks, it was unbelievable.

[NiceDocter]

The bidding on almost anything you want will drive you nuts by the close. Last auction I bid on some Japanese cards.... got my last high bid in on an auction that closed at 11 and went for extended bidding until 2 with the auction to close immediately at any time after 2am. I was high bidder at 0320 and when I looked the next day 2 other bids went ahead of mine and I lost again!! Sheesh...

[Hordfest]

I don't understand "extended time." Why do they do this? Seems unfair. Shouldn't there be a set start and end time?

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Hordfest

I don't understand "extended time." Why do they do this? Seems unfair. Shouldn't there be a set start and end time?

eBay is more oh a hard end time and items can explode in the last few seconds. Large collectible auction house typically have an extend bidding time where an item closes when it doesn’t get a bid, usually for 15 minutes.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Hordfest

I don't understand "extended time." Why do they do this? Seems unfair. Shouldn't there be a set start and end time?

What's unfair? Everyone has the same opportunity to bid. A set ending is actually more unfair, a guy who's a better sniper has a better chance of winning. The real reason though is an auction isn't supposed to end until the bidding is over. Extended bidding is the best way to reproduce a live auction in an online format. Could you imagine going to a live auction where the auctioneer announces "Bidding is open on lot 32 for 60 seconds. GO" and whoever yells a number closest to the end of the 60 seconds wins???!!!

[justrun7]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

What's unfair? Everyone has the same opportunity to bid. A set ending is actually more unfair, a guy who's a better sniper has a better chance of winning. The real reason though is an auction isn't supposed to end until the bidding is over. Extended bidding is the best way to reproduce a live auction in an online format. Could you imagine going to a live auction where the auctioneer announces "Bidding is open on lot 32 for 60 seconds. GO" and whoever yells a number closest to the end of the 60 seconds wins???!!!

I don't mind when each lot closes individually with extended bidding. That gives everyone a chance to bid on their lots. I do not think it is fair when the entire auction has to wait for all bids to stop for 15 minutes before the auction closes. This often benefits west coast buyers because most of these auctions seem to end between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. eastern time. There have been times when I have woken up at 5:30 a.m. eastern time for work and see an auction still open and able to bid if I still wanted. That just seems ridiculous and like the auction house is trying to milk every dollar out of the auction.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by justrun7

I don't mind when each lot closes individually with extended bidding. That gives everyone a chance to bid on their lots. I do not think it is fair when the entire auction has to wait for all bids to stop for 15 minutes before the auction closes. This often benefits west coast buyers because most of these auctions seem to end between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. eastern time. There have been times when I have woken up at 5:30 a.m. eastern time for work and see an auction still open and able to bid if I still wanted. That just seems ridiculous and like the auction house is trying to milk every dollar out of the auction.

This !!!!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by justrun7

I don't mind when each lot closes individually with extended bidding. That gives everyone a chance to bid on their lots. I do not think it is fair when the entire auction has to wait for all bids to stop for 15 minutes before the auction closes. This often benefits west coast buyers because most of these auctions seem to end between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. eastern time. There have been times when I have woken up at 5:30 a.m. eastern time for work and see an auction still open and able to bid if I still wanted. That just seems ridiculous and like the auction house is trying to milk every dollar out of the auction.

I agree 100%. Any auction company keeping bidding going after about 2am is just being stupid. IF people know it's closing they will bid earlier. I will never consign to an auction that runs all freaking night.
.

[jsfriedm]

For me the question of extended bidding is related to the question of bidding intervals. For auctions where the intervals are large (10% of previous bid, etc), there's often a specific bid that I will go to and I know I won't go any higher, so I go to bed once that's hit. When the intervals are small, it becomes much harder to draw that line (or avoid getting tempted past it).

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by justrun7

I don't mind when each lot closes individually with extended bidding. That gives everyone a chance to bid on their lots. I do not think it is fair when the entire auction has to wait for all bids to stop for 15 minutes before the auction closes.

Couldn't agree more. To go back to my live auction example. If we're on lot 32 and it gets another bid that doesn't mean someone can say "Hey I want to bid on lot 24 because lot 32 is still open!"

[Hordfest]

I get what you guys are saying. By "unfair" I just meant that it is frustrating that it can become a contest of whomever can stay awake later...

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by justrun7

I don't mind when each lot closes individually with extended bidding. That gives everyone a chance to bid on their lots. I do not think it is fair when the entire auction has to wait for all bids to stop for 15 minutes before the auction closes. This often benefits west coast buyers because most of these auctions seem to end between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. eastern time. There have been times when I have woken up at 5:30 a.m. eastern time for work and see an auction still open and able to bid if I still wanted. That just seems ridiculous and like the auction house is trying to milk every dollar out of the auction.

East coast folks have many card shows featuring vintage cards. They are few and far between here on the West coast. So we each have unfair situations we need to deal with and navigate.

Having said that, the each lot closes individually structure is just better, and should be adopted by all auction houses.

Brian

[wolf441]

Originally Posted by Hordfest

I don't understand "extended time." Why do they do this? Seems unfair. Shouldn't there be a set start and end time?

Don't worry, you will understand it after watching this auction close. If there is something that you have to have, be prepared to stay up late Sunday night.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Hordfest

I don't understand "extended time." Why do they do this? Seems unfair. Shouldn't there be a set start and end time?

I certainly would not call it unfair, just a differing perspective. The set end times of eBay auctions are logically better for buyers as sniping keeps prices from running up. However, if you are a consigner or auction house, extended time does tend to bring in a larger price. You give continued opportunity for underbidders to keep inching the price higher. It's all logical.

I remember the old days of Ebay and traditional auction bidders not understanding the premise of sniping. I would come in at the end and grab it, which then with the open ID's would bring me at least a couple expletive laden private messages from the bidder I sniped per week. It really took a ton of people till the early 00's to figure out how that worked.