I agree that not disclosing an item has a reserve is poor form, and publishing price realized in those instances where an item actually did not sell is wrong, but I just wanted to drop in a point of clarification as REA uses reserves so very infrequently that it may not be top of mind how exactly they're used here. (For those curious, REA offered 20,312 lots this year and only 38 had reserves.)
REA does not ever place bids on a house account, in any circumstances, and does not ever move up a bid to one increment below a reserve amount to simulate interest in a lot.
If an item has a reserve, it is noted on the item page and the status will not change until the reserve is met. If an item has a $10,000 opening bid and a $25,000 reserve, but bidders only bid up to $20,000, that will show as the last bid with the reserve not met and the item will not sell. Similarly, if an item gets the $10,000 opening bid, that will show as the last bid and the item will not sell. REA does not move the bid up to $24,500. Reserve amounts are always available upon request.
In our terms, these issues are addressed:
10. Each item in the auction is accompanied by an opening bid. Select items may have a confidential reserve placed on them by the consignor. These
items will be clearly designated as such on the individual item pages online. Until such time that the confidential reserve is met, the item page will
display “Reserve Not Met” directly underneath the current bid. Bidders may continue to bid on such items using all available bid increments. Once
the confidential reserve is met, the status of the item will change to “Reserve Met” on the item page. Reserve amounts will not be disclosed on the
item page but are available upon request. Items with a confidential reserve may be accompanied by an estimated value. The confidential reserve
amount will be lower than or equal to this estimated value.
13. There is no circumstance under which Robert Edward Auctions may execute bids on its own “house account,” thereby unfairly competing with
bidders. In fact, to be clear, Robert Edward Auctions does not even have a “house account,” unlike many other auctions.
Brian
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