I'm getting some extra rest for REA Saturday

[M's_Fan]

From the REA rules:

4. The final day of bidding for all Lots is Saturday, May 1, 2010. Bids may be placed at any time prior to 4:00 PM EDT, May 1, 2010. The auction is scheduled to close at 4:00 PM EDT on May 1, 2010, HOWEVER, we will continue to accept bids after 4:00 PM EDT on all lots in the auction until approximately 15 minutes pass without either a phone or internet bid. IF YOU HAVE NOT BID ON AN ITEM BEFORE 4:00 PM, YOU CANNOT BID ON IT AFTER 4:00 PM. To ensure that everyone can get through to bid, we will remain open for bids until approximately fifteen minutes pass without a bid. If the line is busy, we are still accepting calls. This system is designed to reward bidders, not the person who can stay up the latest. If the auction continues to as late as 11 P.M. EDT on May 1, 2010, Robert Edward Auctions reserves the right to close the auction, at its sole discretion, at any time. We recommend bidders leave maximum left bids utilizing Robert Edward Auctions’ “Honest Auto-Bid” system to avoid disappointment. There will be no warning as to exactly when we will close the auction should bidding continue past 11:00 P.M. EDT. We do not anticipate the auction to remain open past 2:00 A.M. EDT (technically the morning of May 2, 2010). This closing system is designed to reward bidders, and eliminate all strategies which needlessly encourage the auction to remain open many hours into the following day, potentially giving an advantage to bidders who have the ability to stay up the latest. When the auction is over, callers will be greeted with a message informing them that the auction is over, and a message will also appear on our website stating that all bidding is closed. All lots remain open for bidding until the close of the entire auction. All lots are closed simultaneously.

In my opinion the flaw in this system is what it says in the last two sentences:

lots remain open for bidding until the close of the entire auction. All lots are closed simultaneously.

To avoid the all night bidding, all you would have to do is, after the close time of 4PM, close each individual lot after 15 minutes pass without bidding. Only the lots where active bidding was taking place would remain open.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

To avoid the all night bidding, all you would have to do is, after the close time of 4PM, close each individual lot after 15 minutes pass without bidding. Only the lots where active bidding was taking place would remain open.

That would prevent bidders from changing strategies and shifting to a different item, if they are past their limit on another item.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

That would prevent bidders from changing strategies and shifting to a different item, if they are past their limit on another item.

Exactly right. To close each lot individually is only a benefit to certain bidders, but certainly not consignors. Let's say you have $10,000 to bid in the auction and you are going hard after a T206 Green Cobb which eclipses the $10,000 mark at 11:00 PM. Under an individually closed lot auction, that $10,000 might not get spent on another lot if it has already closed. But in REA, you can move that $10,000 to other auctions after 11:00 PM.

[Kawika]

Four a.m. EDT = Ten p.m. HST
'Nuf ced except I still gotta 544 (go shi shi) at two a.m.

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

Exactly right. To close each lot individually is only a benefit to certain bidders, but certainly not consignors. Let's say you have $10,000 to bid in the auction and you are going hard after a T206 Green Cobb which eclipses the $10,000 mark at 11:00 PM. Under an individually closed lot auction, that $10,000 might not get spent on another lot if it has already closed. But in REA, you can move that $10,000 to other auctions after 11:00 PM.

That's a good point. But the system incentivizes bidders to bid low and early, then wait till after the Auction closing time to place their real bid. This result isn't really to the benefit of consignors either. I suppose the best way is to reduce the 15 minute rule to 10 minutes, or even 5 minutes. After a month to think about it what your max is on an item, you don't need that that much more time.

[barrysloate]

I could even make a case that keeping the auction going until 4:00 AM could hurt consignors. A bidder might place his bid early and be high until the wee hours of the morning. He finally decides he can't stay up any longer and goes to bed, only to discover in the morning he's been topped. He then complains that had he been awake, he would have gladly placed another bid. So in this example the lot went for less, not more.

And of course the ceiling bid is the antidote to this but many bidders refuse to place one.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

After a month to think about it what your max is on an item, you don't need that that much more time.

No, but I still think that bidders need time to reallocate their funds when their max on an item is eclipsed late in the game.

[Leon]

If I were a consignor to REA this year I would be happy the way it closes.

Barry- I think you are probably in the minority about "sleep". For collecting addicts we can do without much of it for a day or two a year. If there was something I HAD to have I would be watching the finish of the auction.

Also, many s/w packages won't allow closing lots individually. I am not sure about REA's s/w, as to that aspect, at the moment.

[calvindog]

Do you guys realize that every year in the days prior to and during the wee hours of the end of REA's auction we provide Rob with a hundred different ideas for his auction? And every year they're the same!

[barrysloate]

Leon- I probably am in the minority but I am also not a collector. I just look for values so I know my limits long before the close.

But I still maintain that with a different system exactly the same number of bids could be placed, with no harm to the bidder or consignor, and the auction could close earlier. Maybe there are many collectors who are willing to stay up until 4:00 AM, but I doubt many of them would complain if the auction ended on its own at an earlier hour. If you had all your limit bids in by 1:00 AM and then the auction closed, and you got the lots you wanted, what's the downside?