Heritage Auctions - Boston Garters

[Edward1994]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Bidding on the set only gives you the opportunity to win the set for less than you might otherwise have to pay were you to bid on all lots, but it also places you at risk of losing altogether since in this format, you get shut out without another set bidder to compete against. So it is optimal in the sense that it is the most likely route to the cheapest win, but it is non optimal if the goal is to guarantee a win, which it cannot do. The only way to guarantee a win is to bid on all lots on both sides like playing a game of Whack-a-Mole.

Thats the part that confused me. Why didn't anyone think about that before hand? From my limited experience, it seems most auctions you need someone else to bid against you to raise your bid. Wasn't it obvious there was a huge risk that it wouldn't be possible to win the set if there was only one bidder? Therefore you would have to bid on every card to make sure you won

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Edward1994

Thats the part that confused me. Why didn't anyone think about that before hand? From my limited experience, it seems most auctions you need someone else to bid against you to raise your bid. Wasn't it obvious there was a huge risk that it wouldn't be possible to win the set if there was only one bidder? Therefore you would have to bid on every card to make sure you won

Then why even have a set option? Michael pointed out how easy it is to run both fairly in an auction in a previous post, it makes no sense how one of the biggest AH would screw it up so badly with their format.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Then why even have a set option? Michael pointed out how easy it is to run both fairly in an auction in a previous post, it makes no sense how one of the biggest AH would screw it up so badly with their format.

Because the Heritage rep was operating under the false assumption that it would yield the maximum amount for the consigner, which would only be true if the bidding pool for both sides consisted of truly independent buyers. But they're not. Every set bidder would have bid on all individual lots had the set lot not been an option. It was an error on their part, and they likely still don't even know it. And they also probably still believe it netted the seller the most money, and they'll probably do it again next time.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Because the Heritage rep was operating under the false assumption that it would yield the maximum amount for the consigner, which would only be true if the bidding pool for both sides consisted of truly independent buyers. But they're not. Every set bidder would have bid on all individual lots had the set lot not been an option. It was an error on their part, and they likely still don't even know it. And they also probably still believe it netted the seller the most money, and they'll probably do it again next time.

Okay, I'm not sure I understand your poimt , are you defending Heritage for not knowing how o run an auction of this magnitude?

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Okay, I'm not sure I understand your poimt , are you defending Heritage for not knowing how o run an auction of this magnitude?

No. They're idiots.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Edward1994

Thats the part that confused me. Why didn't anyone think about that before hand? From my limited experience, it seems most auctions you need someone else to bid against you to raise your bid. Wasn't it obvious there was a huge risk that it wouldn't be possible to win the set if there was only one bidder? Therefore you would have to bid on every card to make sure you won

Because there's no way the set should've closed while the individual lots were still open. That has NEVER been how this style of auction has run before. So no, it shouldn't have been obvious.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Because there's no way the set should've closed while the individual lots were still open. That has NEVER been how this style of auction has run before. So no, it shouldn't have been obvious.

Yep, this is the key. All lots should remain open together until there is no more bidding on any of the lots. And the aggregate of the individual bid amounts must act as a proxy bid that the high bidder from the set lot can bid against at all times. Without these two rules in place, the dualing auctions format fails to achieve its goal.