So...auction house endings....

[asphaltman]

I haven't seen any good reason yet not to have two extended bidding sessions. Again, end the auction on Friday at 4pm, start extended bidding...stop it at 12 midnight by freezing all lots. Start it back Saturday at noon or 4pm or whatever.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by asphaltman

I haven't seen any good reason yet not to have two extended bidding sessions. Again, end the auction on Friday at 4pm, start extended bidding...stop it at 12 midnight by freezing all lots. Start it back Saturday at noon or 4pm or whatever.

Dave - I think the reason is that no one would bid in the first one - everyone would probably hold their bid until as late as they can.

[barrysloate]

Fact is ebay has come up with the only system that allows auctions to end in a timely matter- that is ending at a predetermined time that is known to all bidders. Could this be implemented into a catalog auction?

Obviously Rob couldn't pull the plug at 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM arbitrarily because he would of course leave oodles of money on the table. But what if he instituted a rule that qualifying bids had to be in by 4:00 PM and the auction would automatically shut down at midnight? If everybody had that information, wouldn't every bidder be on an equal playing field? And couldn't anyone leave a ceiling before midnight if he still had some room left up to his maximum?

This would not be a perfect system, but either is one where bidding first begins to intensify ten hours after the initial close. No system is perfect, including the one presently in place.

[Abravefan11]

The problem with the fixed closing time is the sniping. Most collectors would wait until the final moments of the auction and submit their max bid. This leaves no time for them to get swept up into the auction and bid beyond what their original max might have been.

I agree with Barry that no system would be perfect.

But if the auction has to end sometime, why not a decent hour?

I like the idea of freezing the auction on midnight Sat and then resuming it sometime Sunday with the policy that it could end at anytime.

[barrysloate]

Tim- agreed, it would cause a major logjam at the end. But ebay has done it since its inception, and it has worked fine. I know, however, that bidders would lose some flexibility and not be able to jump from lot to lot.

There needs to be a way to disqualify bidders who don't even start to bid until 3:00 AM. Maybe a rule that if you haven't placed any new bids between 4:00 PM and midnight you cannot bid after midnight. Anything to force them to start earlier would be a better system.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

There needs to be a way to disqualify bidders who don't even start to bid until 3:00 AM. Maybe a rule that if you haven't placed any new bids between 4:00 PM and midnight you cannot bid after midnight. Anything to force them to start earlier would be a better system.

Barry - interesting idea - might I suggest one modification - consider a bidder who is winning a few lots for days and only gets outbid at 3 AM - should he not be allowed to move his money elsewhere (or respond)? So just modify your rule:

If you have not been in the lead on at least one lot between 4:00 PM and midnight you cannot bid after midnight.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by Matt

So just modify your rule:

If you have not been in the lead on a lot between 4:00 PM and midnight you cannot bid after midnight.

Matt, that's close but I think you're still penalizing the person that doesn't want to risk winning more than he can afford. If he is winning a large lot, he can't yet bid on another lot until he is outbid on the current one.

How about this rule?

Once extended bidding has begun if you haven't been high bidder on a lot for more than an hour you will be disqualified from bidding.

That would encourage everyone to actively participate. Once you receive your outbid notice you have an hour to regroup and secure another high bid on the same lot or another you are eligible to bid on.