Heritage Auctions - Boston Garters

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

As Jeff alluded to, the problem is that the auction software can’t handle this type of bidding. The individual lot totals have to be linked to the aggregate lot so when their total exceeds the aggregate the aggregate needs to be shown as open with the next bid topping the sum of the individual bids. That is the easy part. The hard part is what to do with individual bids when the aggregate exceeds the sum of the individual bids. For example, let’s say that at a point in the auction the aggregate is at $600k and the sum of the individual lots was at $500k. If I only wanted to win one individual lot would the auction software have to keep bumping my bids till I increased the bid on that individual lot by over $100k?
I think my conclusion is that conceptually this type of auction sounds nice, but practically there is no easy way to handle the bidding.
I think this is an unfortunate situation for all involved and that the only fair solution is to reauction the group. Also, if there is a right answer to how to handle this situation that answer must be independent of how much or how little business any of the involved parties has done with HA.

I disagree and it's been said elsewhere. The right way to handle this is that all individuals and the aggregate stay open until NO card (or set) has a bid for the bid period. It's actually not hard. One bid keeps all lots in question open, like a lot of auction companies used to do for their whole auctions.

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I disagree and it's been said elsewhere. The right way to handle this is that all individuals and the aggregate stay open until NO card (or set) has a bid for the bid period. It's actually not hard. One bid keeps all lots in question open, like a lot of auction companies used to do for their whole auctions.

This

Sounds like HA didn't connect the individual lots and the set lot on the backend software. IMO, HA should award the set to Powell and pay the delta to the consigner.

[bgar3]

It seems to me Powell has a very good and reasonable reliance argument.

[insidethewrapper]

If all lots ( set and individual cards) closed after no bids for 30 minutes, then the individual cards would have been the winner , as it turned out.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

If all lots ( set and individual cards) closed after no bids for 30 minutes, then the individual cards would have been the winner , as it turned out.

Apparently that wasn't true when the lot for the complete set closed which is the problem because the high bidder for the set (Powell) was told he won when the complete set lot closed. If it had stayed open he would have been able to bid above the total cost of the individual lots.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Apparently that wasn't true when the lot for the complete set closed which is the problem because the high bidder for the set (Powell) was told he won when the complete set lot closed. If it had stayed open he would have been able to bid above the total cost of the individual lots.

The truth is he wouldn't have been able to raise his bid for the full set lot -- he was the high bidder and putting in another bid would just have increased the ceiling bid and wouldn't have raised the price of the lot as no one else had bid. The Heritage software screwed up or was poorly drawn up in a myriad of ways.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by calvindog

The truth is he wouldn't have been able to raise his bid for the full set lot -- he was the high bidder and putting in another bid would just have increased the ceiling bid and wouldn't have raised the price of the lot as no one else had bid. The Heritage software screwed up or was poorly drawn up in a myriad of ways.

I forget if Heritage allows straight bids. Some AHs do, and some don’t. Obviously only a straight bud would work here since you’re only bidding against yourself on the full set side.

[Peter_Spaeth]

To recap, and repeat, the simplest way to view this, I think, is that the set lot never should have closed while bidding was still going on for the individual lots. That effectively foreclosed Powell from competing at the end. It seems a simple analysis in terms of the equities. It will certainly be interesting to see Heritage's response.