AUCTION QUESTION

lenray

Well-known Member
Some farm equipment auctions are all on line bidding. No raising you hand at the auction. QUESTION---Does the auction company supply the sellers with the bid numbers so they can raise the price. I understand the current bids are made public on the site and the seller can see them. What about the max bid a buyer will put into the system , but isn't shown to the public and isn't used if the price doesn't go that high......
 
only the auctioneer can see the high bid. Some auctioneers will raise the bid so you get to win at your high bid. seen it too often where my or friends have all put in high bids and always win at the high bid. these are also auctions that were pulling bids out of the air before the online became the normal. Some people just don't believe it if you tell them so they keep going back.
 
I am not aware of any auction service that publishes the value of a proxy bid, if it was higher than the selling price. If the online auction used a third party software service, I would not worry too much about placing a proxy bid.

I will not give a proxy bid to a live auctioneer. I have been burned by that and the auctioneer admitted to such. I have however bought items at an in person auction and won with what would have been my final bid. Bought a hydraulic hammer for my backhoe on a Richie Brothers online auction. Bid $400, got it for the $10 opening bid plus all their fees.
 
I've seen guys at live auctions purposely running up the bid also. I'm assuming they were working with the auctioneer. If an auctioneer is crooked I don't think it matters how the auction is done.
 
We have a local guy that is doing almost all internet auctions. If its a consignment auction he can list the item where it is currently sitting instead of having to bring it to a central site. I've bought several things on his internet auction and overall I like it. He sets a day and time where everyone can go and look over the items. You don't have to put in a max bid if you have time to watch the bidding while its going on. You have to register for each auction and if you bid you can see what previous bidders have bid but only the assigned bidder number shows up so unless you know someones number you don't know who the bidder is. If a bid increases during the last 5 minutes of bidding the bidding gets extended another 5 minutes each time. If you win the bid he sends an email with the invoice and he is on site the next day to receive payment when you go to pick up the item. Nice thing about internet auctions you can bid from anywhere you can get an internet connection. It does take away the social part of auctions that a lot of guys look forward to and worst yet it takes away the food cart. The auctioneer has tried onsite auctions and included internet bidding but that in my opinion doesn't work well as there is too much delay in conveying the information to the on line bidder.
 
You must not be talking about Scott. You could holler out the back door and ask him yourself. LOL
 
I got two sets of wheel wts last week at an on line auction,my max bid on each was $150,got one set for $31 and the other for $47 so not like you are saying.Really I've gotten a good deal of
items for less than the max bid I put in.So no I don't believe your theory.
 
Not all online sales are rigged. I know some that are and the next sale the same items are back up to bid on again. I have been chased up on items and quit and the next month same item is up again. Some auctioneers have been caught at it and always make some excuse or another and keep going.
 
Auction web sites might vary a bit from one to another. But in a nut shell, you have to register to bid. The ones I have watched, show the current bid and perhaps the number of bids that have been placed on the item. I have never noticed a bidder number being shown as to who the current bidder is. Not saying that isn't shown, just that I haven't noticed it. I have never sold anything. So I don't know what the seller actually gets to see.

Max bid can work either way. Probably depends on how honest the outfit is that's running the web-site. I probably wouldn't be placing any max bids. But that's just me. I figure if you do place a max bid, your just opening yourself up to possibly running into some dis-honesty.
 
The experience I have had with online is you have to sign up to bid then put in a max bid or set and watch till the close to bid on it. I have done it both ways. I don't buy much on auctions though some things just beg to come home. No other bidders can not see what your max bid is, and they only see the current bid, and what the next bid would need to be. You can bid more than that next bid for something if you want. Watch one and see how it works before you do bid to see if your comfortable with it.
 
Seems like any time I bid on anything online, more often than not it sells for one bid higher than my high bid.

When you are bidding on something you have a price. Nobody is forcing you to bid. If you get it at or under your price, what does it matter who or what is bidding against you? Sure you had to pay more than you wanted to, but you are not entitled to a cheap price.

But, NO. People's max bids are not made public. Why would they be? Do you announce what your maximum bid is at a live auction? "Hey Mr. Auctioneer, I'll bid up to $11,000 on this lot." No, you don't. You keep it a secret, because you know what will happen.
 
I had a max bid in one auction and watched all day till the item came up. After I saw what similar items were selling for I decided to bid higher and when it hit my limit I clicked but didn't go in and was sold. I'm not sure if I was held to my max in the system or I clicked too late and just pened to be when it sold. Another time I was bidding on a moco for parts and should have had it at $750 then they withdrew it. I went to the yard later to pick up a running gear I bought and negotiated for the moco. It had stuff I needed so I grabbed my ankle and paid the 1600 he would not budge on even when he couldn't get the 750.
 
Well if it is a reserve auction then that could be. But if it is an absolute auction then that is wrong and illegal. There are laws that govern auctions. Different states different laws.
 

I've had good luck with them. I bought a item last week and picked it up. They were real organized. I used to buy and sell quite a bit on Ebay before they quit listing guns and ammo. One time on there I didn't get my stuff after I paid for it for a month. But I got that stuff after I twisted his arm.
 
This. It was easier to figure out the scam at a live auction, if you were used to them. Online everything can happen behind closed bytes. You really dont know.

Online auction you have to drive there and inspect, then if you buy it you have to drive there a second time to pick up. You have the extra fees. Its just not any fun, no social aspect, no home made pies.

I certainly wont stand in the way of progress, but I sure miss real auctions.

Paul
 
Or they know the seller and they know something is going way to cheap and they bid. I do that some - if something that I had no intention of buying is going so cheap that flipping it means easy money - I'll start bidding. I won't go to high because once the easy money is gone I have no interest.

A while back I was at an auction and a car trailer was going so cheap I couldn't believe it. Bidding backed up to $100 and struggled to make headway, I bid once and owned it - $200. After the auction moved on I started to hook up to it and a guy asked what it went for and said It was a bargain at a $1000 I said - $600 and its yours. He paid me in cash and I paid for the trailer and pocketed the $400 without even hooking up to it.

The bigger the auction the less likely there is some fraud going on. I used to question Purple Wave - but they have waaay to much stuff selling to mess with running up bids and ending up with unsold items. Especially if a seller thinks they just sold a high dollar item and the auction house has to go tell them the seller backed out (or never existed) and it will have to sell again at the next sale. Sellers are prevented from bidding on their items but that has its own perils. If I tried to use my personal bid number to run up some items my company is selling and pushed to hard - I'll own them - and I'll have to pay commission on them too. The seller doesn't see the max bids or the names associated with those bid numbers.
 
there are a couple here in northern Indiana doing that. I've bought some stuff from estate sales thru them. both are organized but one is kind of a pain to schedule picking up your stuff. alot of stuff seems to go pretty cheap in my opinion. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up an 8ft (yes 8ft) finishing mower last summer. I don't recall the brand but it was very heavy duty and used condition probably would retail for $5-6000. high bid was $250ish.

one of the local ones has had a farm and Truck consignment auction with stuff scattered around. some of it was listed pretty cheap but i was busy and didn't have time to watch stuff sell.

wish someone had something similar in NE Ohio where the farm is.
 
Unfortunately no matter what you say people will refuse to take off their tinfoil hats and insist that the auctioneer is colluding with every seller.

Why bother going to auctions if you're convinced they're so crooked?
 

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