Heritage Auctions - Boston Garters

[Powell]

First, I’m glad to sell my Jackson and Herzog to help out Heritage and the other bidders even though I was not planning to do so.

Second, I don’t believe there should be a redo as the set was sold to me. At worst, I should have to pay $1 more than the high bids on the individual lots. Otherwise, the true motivation for the last individual bids was to beat me out of the set after the fact. Even though the auction should have been over for the BG’s when the clock ran out on the set, under no circumstances should individual lots that were closed be re-opened.

[Peter_Spaeth]

So what do people think Heritage will do here? Purely a guess, but I think they will let things stand, and hope they can make it up somehow with Powell.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

So what do people think Heritage will do here? Purely a guess, but I think they will let things stand, and hope they can make it up somehow with Powell.

Have they ready shipped some or all of the cards out to the winners of the individual lots? If so, then it’s hard to imagine rolling anything back.

If they haven’t shipped anything yet, then there’s a chance they could make a change, either to award the lot to Powell, or declare that their software was insufficient for the assigned task and therefore the auction needs to be re-completed using a system that allows all bidders an equal opportunity of winning under this somewhat exciting yet potentially very complicated format.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by raulus

Have they ready shipped some or all of the cards out to the winners of the individual lots? If so, then it’s hard to imagine rolling anything back.

If they haven’t shipped anything yet, then there’s a chance they could make a change, either to award the lot to Powell, or declare that their software was insufficient for the assigned task and therefore the auction needs to be re-completed using a system that allows all bidders an equal opportunity of winning under this somewhat exciting yet potentially very complicated format.

I doubt they have shipped yet, but once they do definitely becomes impractical or impossible to undo.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

So what do people think Heritage will do here? Purely a guess, but I think they will let things stand, and hope they can make it up somehow with Powell.

Yep.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

So what do people think Heritage will do here? Purely a guess, but I think they will let things stand, and hope they can make it up somehow with Powell.

I don't see how they can just decide to sell the set to Powell since their software allowed the bidding to continue. I think they will have to leave the results as is. Trying to reopen bidding for the lots related to the set seems like it would be challenging and probably wouldn't make anyone happy except maybe the consigner.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I don't see how they can just decide to sell the set to Powell since their software allowed the bidding to continue. I think they will have to leave the results as is. Trying to reopen bidding for the lots related to the set seems like it would be challenging and probably wouldn't make anyone happy except maybe the consigner.

That same software that allowed bidding to continue also locked Powell out from going higher once the individual lots surpassed his high bid. I feel bad for Powell, Aaron, and the rest of the bidders as they did nothing wrong and followed the AH rules. For the amount of money these guys are spending the process should have been vetted better and this exact scenario addressed. I'm not sure there will be any winners as this plays out, which is unfortunate.

[Powell]

But the software didn’t allow the bidding to continue for me, it said I won. I’m open to a reasonable solution as I stated earlier. I don’t want to take this further but won’t be steamrolled either.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Powell

But the software didn’t allow the bidding to continue for me, it said I won. I’m open to a reasonable solution as I stated earlier. I don’t want to take this further but won’t be steamrolled either.

I don't know if that means you are considering the possibility of a lawsuit, but as you know it's going to be very difficult if not impossible to get specific performance once the cards are shipped out around the country.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Powell

But the software didn’t allow the bidding to continue for me, it said I won. I’m open to a reasonable solution as I stated earlier. I don’t want to take this further but won’t be steamrolled either.

I think the software said you won because it can’t see the linkage between the individual and the aggregate lots. My guess is that even if there was a separate page added to the auction that showed the total of the individual lots as compared to the aggregate lot, the software wouldn’t let an aggregate lot bidder bump his own bids to catch up if he was behind. I had the reverse situation once where I was an individual lot bidder and the sum of the individual lots was just short of the aggregate. I wanted to bid but I was not allowed by the software to top myself. I had to call the auction house, explain the situation, and have them enter “house” bids against me so I could continue to bid and eventually throw the individual total above the aggregate bid.

[oldjudge]

I would think that the cards would not be shipped before tomorrow at earliest so that should not be an issue.
The only fair thing to do is reauction the cards. The question then is whether the bidding will be limited to the initial bidders or completely open. I ask because I could see the possibility of new bidders entering the fray.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I would think that the cards would not be shipped before tomorrow at earliest so that should not be an issue.
The only fair thing to do is reauction the cards. The question then is whether the bidding will be limited to the initial bidders or completely open. I ask because I could see the possibility of new bidders entering the fray.

I would be shocked if Heritage goes that route with a completed auction of this magnitude.

[gunboat82]

Every solution is unsatisfying, but the most logical would be to determine that the bid for the complete set is the winner because it exceeded the individual lots when it closed, and the individual bids that came in later are nullities.

Granted, I'm wearing my consumer hat rather than my lawyer hat, but that's the only reasonable way to interpret auction rules that don't provide any sort of disclaimer about staggered individual-lot closings after bidding on the complete set is locked.