Poll: Auction House Closing Method

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Sterling Sports Auctions

This is always interesting and I love to read the feedback.

To me though the question needs to be asked in two different questions. One as a consignor and one as a buyer. As a buyer most of the time you want to pay as little as possible. As a consignor you want to maximize the value.

Both are necessary to make an auction successful but without consignments you have no auction so that weighs heavy into the rules of an auction.

My personal experience being on both sides have obviously been a factor in the rules of Sterling. One big pet peeve of mine when I was a bidder was not being able to bid on all lots in extended bidding. I always had a limited budget, if I was outbid above my level and look back and find lots that I would have bid on because they were not a priority in regular bidding in case I would win the items I were heavily interested in. That is why Sterling has the WHOLE auction available to bid in extended bidding.

The closing for Sterling changed about 4 or 5 years ago to make sure the auction does not close at 3-4 am set. On closing night At 1am I reserve the right to close the auction at anytime. I send out an email at that time to give them fair warning that it may close at any time not within the 15 minute rule. I will start resetting the timer to around 3 minutes to give bidders that were out bid time to react. Generally the auctions close between 1:20 to 1:30 am set.

Lee Behrens
Sterling Sports Auctions

Lee, love the way your auction runs.