Auction closing methods - individual vs. simultaneous lot closing

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Posted By: Doug Allen

I have read this discussion with interest.

When you conduct auctions every other month you gain a lot of insight from your customers. We have discussed this at length with our customers and the results were not even close. The vast majority prefers the method we currently employ. Why did we ask? The auction process went through a strange dynamic with the concurrent close. It started with the West Coast having an advantage when the auctions closed at 2:00 a.m. to and East Coast advantage when they would set the alarms for 6:00 a.m. and the bidding was still hot and heavy.

We came to the conclusion that it was better to let the person who was willing to pay the most for the lot win instead of the person who was willing to stay up the longest. With this methodology a majority of the lots close by midnight central time and we are down to a few battles by 1:00 am.

I have to admit I have been thinking about a few modifications...there seems to be a low volume of activity from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm so it may be appropriate to start the 30 minute timer at 10:00 pm.

Beyond a couple tweaks I really believe this methodolgy is superior.

Also sorry Jim but the selling lots individually or as a set has provided some very interesting dynamics. On the 38 Goudey set the individual who wanted the DiMaggio increased his own bid from $90,000 to $125,000 so that the "broken down" set would surpass the set price. Similar things have happened each auction. What has resulted is a true barometer of what something is truly worth. It has yielded a stronger result for consignors and a fair playing field for buyers especially those who don't want to chase something if they can't get the whole set.

All the best,
Doug Allen
President
Mastro Auctions