My B/S/T Live Auction Complaint

[vintagetoppsguy]

Recently there was a T206 Titus for sale in the Live Auction section of the B/S/T (very nice card BTW and congrats to the winner). The minimum bid was $40.

The first bidder opened it up with a bid of $75 ($35 more than the minimum). The next bidder stepped up and bid $100 ($25 more than the previous bidder). The next two bidders also jumped it in $25 increments, bringing it up to $150. All these bidders really stepped up to the plate with their bids.

Next, someone comes along and bids $151, just $1 over the previous bidder when the increments thus far had been $25. One dollar? Seriously? I'm not trying to call out the bidder, but I see this all the time in the Live Auctions. If this were a real auction and the bidding was going in $25 increments and someone bid $1 over the previous bidder, he would probably be laughed at and not taken seriously.

I realize that the bidding is going to slow down once the card starts to reach it's fair market price, but to bid $1 over the previous bid when the previous bidders had all been bidding in $25 increments is very petty IMO. It irritates me when I'm bidding on something and I jump the next guy by $10, $20 or more and some shmuck comes along and outbids me by $1. Does this bother anybody else (especially after you made quite a jump over the previous bidder) or is it just me?

Ok, rant over. Carry on.

[thecatspajamas]

Couldn't the OP just state a minimum bid increment for his auction?

[Exhibitman]

Of course he could...but what fun would that be?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Like the auction in Oklahoma -- "and two bits."

[coolshemp]

I am the OP of the Titus auction. I am happy that people had an interest and made some bids. That being said, I probably should have been more specific about the increments of the bidding. Technically, someone could win by a penny if that bid came in under the allotted timeframe. The one dollar outbidding didn't upset me as a seller, but would anger me as a buyer. I currently have another card listed, and I will see how that one goes before I proceed with more auctions.

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Recently there was a T206 Titus for sale in the Live Auction section of the B/S/T (very nice card BTW and congrats to the winner). The minimum bid was $40.

The first bidder opened it up with a bid of $75 ($35 more than the minimum). The next bidder stepped up and bid $100 ($25 more than the previous bidder). The next two bidders also jumped it in $25 increments, bringing it up to $150. All these bidders really stepped up to the plate with their bids.

Next, someone comes along and bids $151, just $1 over the previous bidder when the increments thus far had been $25. One dollar? Seriously? I'm not trying to call out the bidder, but I see this all the time in the Live Auctions. If this were a real auction and the bidding was going in $25 increments and someone bid $1 over the previous bidder, he would probably be laughed at and not taken seriously.

I realize that the bidding is going to slow down once the card starts to reach it's fair market price, but to bid $1 over the previous bid when the previous bidders had all been bidding in $25 increments is very petty IMO. It irritates me when I'm bidding on something and I jump the next guy by $10, $20 or more and some shmuck comes along and outbids me by $1. Does this bother anybody else (especially after you made quite a jump over the previous bidder) or is it just me?

Ok, rant over. Carry on.

No bidding rules bid what you want to.

Joe

[SMPEP]

Did the person who got overbid by $1 not have a chance to bid another $1 over the other bid?

The guy bidding $1 more took a chance.

Sometimes those payoff. Sometimes they don't.

Think the guy going $1 more would have been pissed if he lost by $1?

Cheers,
Patrick

[LEHR]

IMO if there are no set bidding rules in the auction then all is fair.

[drcy]

After reading the first two paragraphs, I was expecting the complaint to be something about the increments being too large.

Good plot twist.

[frankbmd]

Auction rules and formats at the discretion of the seller seem appropriate. I do understand the complaint and for higher valued items an appropriate incremental bid should be specified.

I have tinkered with the idea of allowing a secret (via PM) max bid option so that the auction would allow bidders not to be available at the end of the auction, which is not the norm here. One would have to have confidence in the seller, in this case me, for this to work. I also think that transparency of all bids after the auction is over would be helpful, so everyone could see how they won or lost. The seller would have to be available to post incremental bids for the max bidders particularly toward the end of the auction. This would eliminate the possibility of a $1 overbid sniping a max bidder toward the end of the auction. There would of course have to be an understanding that a single seller would not be able to handle bids with the speed of auction house or EBay software, but all bids would be timed and the true winner could be determined, with perhaps some time delay and when all the bidding is disclosed, it would be obvious to all.

If this post generates any interest, I would be happy to host such an auction of a card of some value to see how it works, both for the bidders and for me. Obviously it will require a bit more time on the sellers part and all sellers will not be interested in doing it this way, but some others might.

Let me know what you think, either here or by PM.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by jcmtiger

No bidding rules bid what you want to.

Joe

Understood. However, there are many unspoken rules in the B/S/T - just proper B/S/T etiquette. In this particular auction, I wasn't a bidder so it really doesn't affect me.

However, if I were bidding and I jumped the previous bidder by $25, and then someone came along and jumped me by $1, I would think it was discourteous and rude.

As I also said, that crap would fly in a regular auction. The auctioneer would probably give them a ridiculous look and probably wouldn't even acknowledge their bid.

[Sean1125]

I have not read anything past the first post.

I think as long as the auction rules are followed that is fine. If it personally irks you it is just that.

S

[drcy]

Oh, it's an unspoken rule. That must be why I've never heard it.

I don't know what it's like in Texas, but where I come from it's considered showoffy to bid too large an increment. A $25 bid increment from one of my church members would be quite the scandal.

[Tao_Moko]

I don't see an issue. It's not that he bid $1, he bid $1 higher than the previous bidder. The Titus could have had a $10 increment, but it's not that big of a card so I would have done the same as the OP.

[wolf441]

I can definitely see both sides of the argument here. As a seller on the B/S/T auction section, I try to keep the bid increments low ($1) to encourage more people to join in the bidding. But I am generally selling lower priced items in this space.

I think the issue with the SGC 40 Titus is that it sort of straddles the line in terms of pricing. It's a mid grade T206 common that, because of the perceived scarity (due to hoarding, mustache, etc...), carries a premium. If I was the seller, I probably would have still kept the bid increments to $1.

That said, I've never thought of that decision in terms of how it might anger the potential buyers. As you said, at a normal auction, a one dollar bid increase would be laughed at by the auctioneer. That's not the case if the rules state specifically that this is the bid increment.

I placed the opening bid of $75 ($35 over minimum) because that's what I personally would pay for the card. I know it is worth more and I already own a lower graded copy, but that was my price point and I figured why waste time bouncing between $40 and $75. Once it went higher, I was out of the running. And I'm glad that bidders moved it quickly up in price so that the thread didn't have 50 posts bidding the card up incrementally.

But once the card got close to its ceiling, I don't see really see an issue with people using the stated minimum bid to jump into the lead. Should the final bidder at two minutes prior to close spend an extra $25 on the card just so not to insult other bidders? There was also the chance that someone else could have jumped in and out bid him in the last minute as well.

B/S/T auctions aren't perfect, but I think they are fun and it's nice to see some cool cards get put up for bid. The one thing about ebay is that you can put in a large max bid, but not have to pay that amount unless another bidder brings the price up to that max. That is not possible on the B/S/T auction section (although Frank's suggestion would work in this situation).

Sorry for the long post, I was just thinking about the situation and had about five changes of heart while reading the thread. Happy bidding!

[Econteachert205]

When I want something I watch it like a hawk so a one dollar overbid wouldn't bother me really. I do think it's a good idea for the auction to have defined increments though.

[CardboardCollector]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Recently there was a T206 Titus for sale in the Live Auction section of the B/S/T (very nice card BTW and congrats to the winner). The minimum bid was $40.

The first bidder opened it up with a bid of $75 ($35 more than the minimum). The next bidder stepped up and bid $100 ($25 more than the previous bidder). The next two bidders also jumped it in $25 increments, bringing it up to $150. All these bidders really stepped up to the plate with their bids.

Next, someone comes along and bids $151, just $1 over the previous bidder when the increments thus far had been $25. One dollar? Seriously? I'm not trying to call out the bidder, but I see this all the time in the Live Auctions. If this were a real auction and the bidding was going in $25 increments and someone bid $1 over the previous bidder, he would probably be laughed at and not taken seriously.

I realize that the bidding is going to slow down once the card starts to reach it's fair market price, but to bid $1 over the previous bid when the previous bidders had all been bidding in $25 increments is very petty IMO. It irritates me when I'm bidding on something and I jump the next guy by $10, $20 or more and some shmuck comes along and outbids me by $1. Does this bother anybody else (especially after you made quite a jump over the previous bidder) or is it just me?

Ok, rant over. Carry on.

-1 (minus one)

I like the flexibility of the BST live auctions. The seller gets to state their own rules. The bidder works within those rules. If the seller has not stated an opening bid or increments, the bidder can use that in any manner they choose.

It sounds like you have a bit of sour grapes to me.

Dean

[Jcfowler6]

Maybe the bidder should have increased by $26.


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