Quote:
Originally Posted by raulus
Bob: There's at least one auction house today that will accept "TOP ALL BIDS" bids, and there could be more.
I've never attempted it, but I've always been intrigued by the concept. Like you posited, part of the challenge would be the potential for someone to keep bidding it up to the point where even those of us who are willing to pay outrageous prices would finally decide it just isn't worth it.
Proof: https://memorylaneinc.com/site/terms.pdf
Scroll down about halfway down the first page, to where they have a quick sentence about the Top All Bids feature. |
Nic,
There is? Was not aware of that. Not going to ask you to name them, but just out of curiosity, are they headquartered in Texas?
I would hope that the big difference in someone doing/allowing that today is that when someone else bids, they do get immediately told they've been outbid then. If so, it is still pretty much the same thing as putting up a ridiculous max bid.
Silly follow-up question then. Does this auction seller in their bidding rules say what happens if two or more people want to put up a "Tops All Bids" bid then on the same particular item? I imagine that if an item is rare and valuable enough, say like a 1914 Baltimore News Ruth, it wouldn't be too hard to think that two, or maybe even more, people would possibly want to use that "Tops All Bids" option, if it is known to be available. So, am curious then what their rules say if that happens, because they technically, and literally, can't give that option to two different bidders on the same item, can they? And if they end up only allowing one person to put in such a bid on each item, pretty much everyone who knows they even allow the "Tops All Bids" option on items will immediately know someone else beat them to it on a particular item that get told they can't use the "Tops All Bids: option on. And if it were me that got told I couldn't put a "Tops All Bids" bid in because I was too late, I'd have no trouble bidding up that person that beat me to it to the moon and back, and make them pay. The consignor would probably love it, but you'll likely end up with one real pissed off bidder.
Another possible bad result an AH could end up with by allowing "Tops All Bids" bids, would be if I was again too late and got beat out by someone else already using that option on an item. Except in this case, I just didn't waste my time bidding on the item at all then, since I knew I'd never win it. And as a result, the consignor maybe ends up getting screwed because no one else that was bidding would have gone anywhere near as high as I would have. And now the AH has a pissed off consignor. Let us all know what you do know then.