Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Right, I was thinking more of a situation where the FACT of a reserve is hidden in addition to the amount.
|
That's somewhat common in live auctions. When I worked for the car dealer we sold most of the tradeins through an auction and nearly every one had a reserve. That reserve was seldom announced. Once bidding ended they'd usually just say "sold" or "sorry too low". Rarely if a buyer was close the auctioneer might tell them how close they were. But that was unusual. The seller was on the podium with the auctioneer, and could lower the reserve if they wanted to.
I'll also say that the auto auction let me see all manner of shenanigans with bidding. Shills, known or unknown - Yep, saw a guy bid up his friends car witout his friends knowledge. "Bids" that didn't have an actual bidder. A bidder who won and literally ran off and left before they could figure out who it was. A sort of reverse shill on a car with problems- 1000 and over the car could be returned, and there was a very quick hammer at 950. If it wasn't dealers only there'd have been a lot of trouble. (Car dealers don't often get much sympathy in court)
Steve B