Jeff...I'm sorry things didn't work out for you, I know how frustrating it can be when you lose out on a rare opportunity to add elusive items to the collection.
This was my first time bidding in a Clean Sweep Auction. I had previously done some business with them at the National, and on eBay. When I registered to bid in their online auction last week, I saw in pretty plain site a statement to make sure and read their auction rules, because they differ somewhat from other auction house rules. It only took a couple minutes, and the rules were pretty straightforward.
To be eligible to participate in the extended bidding period, one had to place a bid in that specific lot 3 hours prior (8pm est) to the scheduled auction end time (11pm est). If you placed an initial bid on 10 or more lots by the 8pm deadline, you were given VIP status, meaning you could then participate in extended bidding on any lot in the auction, whether or not you had placed a prior initial bid in that specific lot.
After I registered I received a daily email reminding me when the auction was scheduled to close. Those emails included a statement in the very first line reminding me that initial bids had to be made by 8pm. Yesterday, the closing day, I received an email reminder notice early in the day. Here is the first paragraph of that email:
"Our current auction ends TODAY Wednesday February 3. Initial bids must be placed by 8 PM EST TODAY. Bidders who bid on 10 or more lots can bid on any lot at any time, new bidders please check our auction rules as they are different than other auction houses and ebay."
Later yesterday afternoon I received another email with the following subject line:
"FINAL NOTICE - Great Clean Sweep Auction Closes TODAY WED 10/3 - Initial Bids 8 PM EST/Ten Minute Rule 11PM EST - Great Cards and Autographs - Don't Miss Out"
The text of the email again explained the 8pm initial bid deadline.
Not trying to make you feel worse than you already do about it...I only post this to say that as a new bidder who has never participated in an auction with this specific rule, I don't think they could have done much more to make sure I was aware of their unusual initial bid deadline.
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