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Unfair Auction Bids?

Started by michaellee,

136 posts in this topic

michaellee

michaellee

Posted
Posted

I have a bone to pick with at least one aution house and probably many more than one as I suspect they all or mostly all operate much the same way. It has to do with my perceived unfairness in the bidding system as explained in the example below (taken verbatim from the auction site). See what you think about it.

Example: Peter is currently the high bidder on an item. His secret maximum bid is $95, but he's the high bidder with a current bid of $50. Harry decides to bid on the same item. He enters a bid of $51. The proxy bidding system automatically bumps Peter's current bid up from $50 to $52 (Harry's $51 plus the $1 bid increment). Harry sees that he's been outbid, and tries again with a bid of $72. This is still lower than Peter's max bid, so the proxy bidding system bumps Peter's current bid up to $73, and he's still the high bidder. Finally, Harry decides he must have the item, and enters a bid of $150. Since this exceeds Peter's maximum bid, Harry is the new high bidder, with a current bid of $96 (Peter's $95 maximum plus the $1 bid increment). If no further bidding occurred before the end of the auction, Harry would win the item and would pay $96.

The way I see it: Peter is, by virtue of his "secret maximum bid" of $95, already committed to pay every bid lower than $96, so when Harry bids $51 he doesn't outbid Peter, Peter is already there at $51 and $52 and $53 etc all the way to $95. So yes the current bid should go to $51 but in Peter's favor, not Harry's. Peter shouldn't be forced to go to $52 to beat Harry's $51. It should be up to Harry to go to $52 if he's willing to. If Harry does bid $52, again Peter's already there. The new current bid should only be $52, in Peter's favor. In my opinion, forcing Peter's bids up to beat Harry's bids (under $96) is tantamount to shill bidding by the auction house. As soon as Harry, or anybody else, bids $96 or more then and only then should Peter be beat on the current bid and have to bid the next increment up if he wants to continue. Now before all you auction pros start in with your arguments about how the house has "overhead" to meet and a profit to make, let me say that I believe that stuff should already be taken care of in their buyer's/seller's premiums setup.

How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

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Batty Scrooge

Batty Scrooge

Posted
Posted

Peter shouldn't have bid $95 if he wasn't comfortable paying those prices. If he doesn't want to automatically outbid Harry, he should only have bid the auction up 1 increment.

 

Anyone who bids before the last 5 min of an auction is just asking for their bid to be pumped up.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Slightly unreasonable. So the auction house could match the second highest bidder's bid, or it could go up to the next increment. Clearly it makes sense for the auction house to go to the next notch up, so that's what they choose to do. It's nowhere near shilling in a capitalist economy, it's just a little operating decision they chose to make in their favor that they're entitled to do as the creator of the format.

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DR.X

DR.X

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Posted
So your problem is that Peter must pay $52, rather than $51, to 'beat' Harry? (shrug)

 

Tell you what, mate...I'll pay you the $1 that's been 'stolen' if you'll delete this thread. doh!

 

NIck, If your taking dontations to delete this thread, I'm in. I re-read it several times. I feel like I'm just waking up from sedation.

 

DR,X

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Boozad

Boozad

Posted
Posted
Anyone who bids before the last 5 min of an auction is just asking for their bid to be pumped up.

 

+1

 

I'll state this once more. Even if you snipe to go in at the last ten seconds, you have just as much chance of your bid being pumped up.

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143ksk

143ksk

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How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Slightly unreasonable. So the auction house could match the second highest bidder's bid, or it could go up to the next increment. Clearly it makes sense for the auction house to go to the next notch up, so that's what they choose to do. It's nowhere near shilling in a capitalist economy, it's just a little operating decision they chose to make in their favor that they're entitled to do as the creator of the format.

 

And, really they're just replicating what happens in a live auction.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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Posted
How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Slightly unreasonable. So the auction house could match the second highest bidder's bid, or it could go up to the next increment. Clearly it makes sense for the auction house to go to the next notch up, so that's what they choose to do. It's nowhere near shilling in a capitalist economy, it's just a little operating decision they chose to make in their favor that they're entitled to do as the creator of the format.

 

And, really they're just replicating what happens in a live auction.

 

Yea I can't recall any auction format that doesn't take this tiny liberty.

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Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

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Posted
How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Slightly unreasonable. So the auction house could match the second highest bidder's bid, or it could go up to the next increment. Clearly it makes sense for the auction house to go to the next notch up, so that's what they choose to do. It's nowhere near shilling in a capitalist economy, it's just a little operating decision they chose to make in their favor that they're entitled to do as the creator of the format.

 

And, really they're just replicating what happens in a live auction.

 

Yea I can't recall any auction format that doesn't take this tiny liberty.

 

It's not even a liberty, though, is it?

 

To win an item at auction anywhere, you have to be the highest bidder. Not the joint-highest bidder. The single highest bidder who is prepared to pay more than the next highest bidder.

 

If you don't like the auction format, it's probably best that you buy your goods under other conditions? (shrug)

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Batty Scrooge

Batty Scrooge

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Anyone who bids before the last 5 min of an auction is just asking for their bid to be pumped up.

 

+1

 

I'll state this once more. Even if you snipe to go in at the last ten seconds, you have just as much chance of your bid being pumped up.

 

True as it relates to shills, but there are real bidders out there that get into bidding wars because someone needs to be "winning" an auction with 4 days to go. I never even get a chance to snipe because they went past my max with 2 days to go.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Situation is fine. If you don't like the rules of the auction house then don't bid with them.

 

They are there to make a profit, not pander to everyone's whim.

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cheetah

cheetah

Posted
Posted
How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Slightly unreasonable. So the auction house could match the second highest bidder's bid, or it could go up to the next increment. Clearly it makes sense for the auction house to go to the next notch up, so that's what they choose to do. It's nowhere near shilling in a capitalist economy, it's just a little operating decision they chose to make in their favor that they're entitled to do as the creator of the format.

 

I think there needs to be a 'crack' option on this one. :ohnoez:

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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It's not even a liberty, though, is it?

 

To win an item at auction anywhere, you have to be the highest bidder. Not the joint-highest bidder. The single highest bidder who is prepared to pay more than the next highest bidder.

 

It might not be a liberty, I'm ambivalent. If you remove the automated bidding from the picture, you'd have to beat the first guy's bid, not match it, so from that perspective I agree with you. We've now analyzed this more than it's worth. :insane:

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