Online Auction Bidding

How has it worked out for you?

In my first attempt.....not so good. Couldn't be there in person, so decided to give the online a try.

After calling to verify they would not lead with my bid, and was assured they do not.......they led with my bid......and did it twice, as the items sold for exactly my bid, which judging from what similar stuff sold for, was over double what the market was paying that day.

Small items, so it won't break me, but a good lesson learned. I won't be placing any online auction bids anytime soon.

I've done it two or three times for an auction about a half-hour from me. First time I entered a maximum bid but watched on line. After I saw what similar items were bringing I decided to go higher. When it exceeded my bid I clicked to raise but it went sold, would not take my new bid. I drove there the day before to look at the stuff so not sight unseen.

I have done this a lot and sometime they start with my max bib, the next time they start with something lower and the next time the start the bid is higher than my top bid.

Keep in mind if there is another person(s) bidding online they will usually start at that top bid between the online bidders, usually there is a minimum bid increase for the online bids.. So it might not be at the top of your bid, but it will not start off at zero. If you both happen to place a top bid of $100 then usually the first person bid will be the start.

Don't forget you are not the only one bidding online, you are bidding against other online bidders! This all takes place before the live auction happens.


Most places that I have bid on will not take an online bid once the live auction has started. It gets too complicated and the people there assume that the auctioneer is running up the bid as no ones is raising there hands and bidding.

(quoted from post at 22:38:21 01/26/19) I've done it two or three times for an auction about a half-hour from me. First time I entered a maximum bid but watched on line. After I saw what similar items were bringing I decided to go higher. When it exceeded my bid I clicked to raise but it went sold, would not take my new bid. I drove there the day before to look at the stuff so not sight unseen.

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This auction was like that......in reverse. Large consignment auction, with 3 rings running at the same time. First things that went down on my watch list sold cheap. That should have been my clue to go back in and lower my bids by half. But assuming they did what they said, I assumed if someone live bid $25 at the sale, my $100 bid would prevail at $30, or whatever the next bid increment was. Just as would happen if you were there live and YOU were not the one waiting for an opening bid.

That didn't happen. With a thousand items to sell and a need for speed and desire to get the most for their sellers, my guess is they asked for an opening bid, got none, saw my online bid, called that, and immediately called it sold and moved on. Whole thing would have lasted less than 10 seconds.

When I ask, and I will, I'm sure the response will be......"our policy is all bids are final......you entered a max bid and we took it". That would be fair if not for the part about "we don't lead with your max bid". BTW, that policy is not part of their terms and conditions. It should be, but since it's not, you can only go by past actions.

So, past actions being what they are, word to the wise is to ignore the part about "we don't lead with your max bid". They can and will.

So if you decide to try your hand at online bidding, best advice would be to put in a very low starting bid that you would be OK with no matter what, so if they start with your item, you won't get burned. Then wait until the sale starts to get a "remote feel" for what is going on, then adjust bid accordingly.

So if and when you do place an online bid, treat it like a sealed bid.....you will be OK with it regardless of the outcome.

Well if they received no other
bid than yours what should of
they done? Would your bid not of
then become the opening bid? They
have to start somewhere.

I "attended" a retirement auction last fall that offered online bidding. Item was 2 states away. They did offer pre-sale bidding for up to two weeks prior to sale. Current high bid was posted, so you had a feel for the bottom. In this case, when I got started, which was day of sale, high pre-auction bid was $1,500 for an item that eventually sold for $7500. I bid $4,500 and was bumped to high bid of $1,600. When the live auction started, they blew past me within seconds......which was OK.

Because there was a limited number of high dollar items (only 20 or 30 vs 1,000), they went slow enough you could live bid. You had to move fast, but had the opportunity to do so. That one seemed fair enough.

This one also accepted bids prior to the item selling, except when I entered a bid, there was no indication of what else was out there. No "current bid". Eventually, to get a feel for what was going on, I did enter $1 on an item that eventually sold for $600. A notice did pop up for that that said "a higher bid" existed. So perhaps some version of that was in place. But otherwise, you were flying blind.

So one method seemed very fair......the other......not so much.

(quoted from post at 06:25:39 01/27/19) Well if they received no other
bid than yours what should of
they done? Would your bid not of
then become the opening bid? They
have to start somewhere.

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If what they told me is true, "they do not lead with an online bid", then they would have had to get a live bid. It may have been $1, then my bid would have been $2 or whatever the next increment was. If they "do not lead with an online bid", then my bid would remain silent until someone else bid. Then, and only then, it would kick in.

BUT, if they DO lead with an online bid, then that would be what they should tell you.

So you are saying there was no
opening bid from a live bidder?

(quoted from post at 06:53:31 01/27/19) So you are saying there was no
opening bid from a live bidder?

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That is what I believe happened.

There were several nearly identical items that sold. In this case tractor blades and bale forks, that sold for about 1/4th what I paid. I paid my exact online bid.

So if there was a a lower bid.......say $50 on a $200 item. In a true live bid, increments might be $10, so you would expect to see something like $70, $80, $130, etc.

Or, if they did get a $50 live bid, they then jumped to my online bid of $200.

Either way, if the expectation is you are going to get treated as if you were there live bidding, you not starting the opening bid and then participating in an incremental bid process, as how they represented it happen, then you got tricked. Didn't work that way.

Probably sounds like I'm whining, which is not the case. I made the bids and am OK with what I paid for what I got. What bothers me is the misrepresentation of process.

My point for bringing it up is to share the experience so others will be aware of it.

BTW, there is a parallel to this on ebay.

Say an item starts at $1 on a 10 day auction. There is an increment indicated. Say that increment is $10. So each subsequent bid is $10 higher than the posted high bid. Things bump along while the current bid creeps higher. The fallacy of ebay is there is a deadline for bids. Sale concludes today at 11:51:30. A bid that arrives at 11:51:27 may be the final bid. No chance for you to respond if you get outbid.

So what has evolved is the technique of "sniping". You remain silent and get your bid ready and at 11:41:25 hit "bid". Then there are ebay auction sites like esnipe that will do that for you.

So a person who is not sniping, has to either hover right up to the end and then get blown out, or has to enter a "nuclear bid" if they really want it.

Say current bid is $80, and you think item should sell for $100 and would like to have it at that, you can enter $100 and bids will increment up to that level. But you would also be willing to pay $110 because you really want it. So enter $110. If it is a generic item like a Ford hub cap......where there are 10 just like it at any time, all selling for the same amount, then no issue. But if it is a rare hub cap, and you have 3 and need a fourth and really want this one, you might go "nuclear". You bid $500 to get it no matter what, assuming a worse case of having to pay a "ridiculous" amount like $160. But still OK with it. No intention of ever paying $500.

But then some other nut job also goes "nuclear" and also bids $500. One of you is going to pay $500 and suddenly you regret the day you were born. What was I thinking!!!

I once saw a set of rare wood chisels do that. What should have been $500 became $5,000. Two nuclear bids collided. I'm pretty sure someone was sicking up in the toilet when that one ended.

So on these online auctions, avoid any temptation to go nuclear. You may very well get stuck with it.

You are just assuming what the
bid increments are. Say an item
opened for $50 why can't the bid
increments be $25 or $50? Also
you said you are not even sure if
there was a live bid. What if a
bidder there at the auction or
another online bidder opened at
$75 and the auctioneer asked for
$100 for the next bid? Were
online bidders also allowed to
"live" bid during the auction or
where online bidders only allow
proxy bids? Who says it has to be
in $5 or $10 increments? Why not
$1 increments? Point is you don't
know if they opened with your
proxy bid unless you were
watching the auction.

Ok you are now talking about two
entirely different auctions
methods. eBay is not like the
auction you began this post with.

I don't understand this mess. Other than evil bay type stuff were I just enter a bid and that is that. I did look at some of what you describe (online auctions) and find it very confusing. I do not blame an auction company for doing so, to up sales. Seen a lot of technics at auctions but I believe in years to come you wont see to many live ones mostly online. Around me it is popular to do silent ones where they have an ending date and you turn in your bid for the item I.e. town fire truck. The down fall is you get one shot at it.

I didn't know about all that on ebay. When I was developing my 2 N scale train layouts, I bought over 300 items and learned to snipe (didn't know it had a name) winning enough times to be happy
with the experiences. Knew not about any professional sniping sites. Never heard of Nuclear. On some bids I'd put out a max bid and the sale would close at a lower bid, nobody reaching my max
bid and I didn't have to pay the max price. Somewhere in all the gobblegoop of rules and all you agree to be under contract to purchase the item at the price you posted if the bidding gets that far.
So......you dig your own hole.......just how bad do you really want the item????

One of the gimmics sellers use is to post a $50-100+ item at a starting price of $1 suckering in as many potential customers in as possible (why not, you are there to make money). Then they set
the sale date/time out 10 days or such, on a Sunday afternoon when everybody is home getting ready for the week ahead...lots of hits on the item and the price keeps inching up. I usually pass on
those and wait for what I want to show up again which it usually did, maybe same seller, maybe not. I didn't use ebay till 2016 but since starting, I really like to purchase from them now that I have
experience there and know what to expect, both buying outright and bidding, fast shipping, guaranteed purchases and sellers being customer oriented....guaranteed by their feedback system for
both sellers and buyers.

I went to a recent real estate auction, in which the auctioneer opened with a bid someone had ?given?
him, etc. If there was actually a person who gave the bid, they must have been PO?d. They were
obviously going to lose by 1$ more. So, I just see it as an auctioneer ploy. Their job is to get the highest
price and the only way for us to get the best deal is to be there the whole time. I once pre-bid $1,000 for
a baler. I paid that exact price. I was absolutely happy to this day with the purchase and the fact I didn?t
spend hours waiting around and take a day off from work to get it. I consciously weighed that into my bid
price.

Modirt: One thing you have to remember is that in any auction the fiduciary relationship is between the seller and the auctioneer. Not the auctioneer and the buyer. So why/how would any auctioneer sell an item below the maximum bid you listed??? IF I was the seller I would be POed as the auctioneer left money on the table that was really bid.


In the last few years I have bought the majority of the equipment I have bought in online auctions. Just post your bid and walk away is what I do. IF I get it great If I don't not a problem.

I am going to ignore the ebay issue as you are just muddying your own water. I also think a couple of the respondents here are not very experienced in auctions. I have a huge investment in equipment, almost all of it purchased at auctions. If you have a LIVE auction and you arrange a proxy bid with the auction house, that is a contract separate from the contract with the auction seller and they have a responsibility to you to follow the terms of your agreement. If you have an ON LINE auction and you enter a bid amount in the software, the auctioneers/sellers only control over sale price is to bid against you to inflate the price. This is unethical if they have access to and knowledge of your highest bid amount. It is perfectly reasonable if they do not have this knowledge and simply want to buy the item themselves for whatever reason...but they should disclose that they bid on their own auctions. Remember, there have ALWAYS been auction houses that put people in the crowd to run up bids. Once you learn it is going on, put the word out and find another auctioneer.

On ebay you specify your first bid and then a max bid and the increments are known up front. It is set up to be strictly an online auction.

You thought your online bid would be handled as though you were present but you were not present so they took you at your word and you won the auction. Why in the world would you think that since you had bid $100 (your example) they would enter a bid of less than that for you? You are complaining that the led with your $100 bid - why would they start with less than that?

You overbid at an auction because you did not understand the rules. Next time either do not participate or learn the rules. In the meantime you have no legit gripe.

There is a site that is pretty interesting it?s called Liveauctioneers. Not really a equipment site but really interesting. If nothing else you could take a little
time and explore it you can watch live auctions in real time. I have had a good education from watching this and have my self purchased many things
and have had a few experiences that were not so good. Most were my own fault because of my lack of experience. But I have gotten pretty savvy all in
all. There is also a site for Aumann they also do the same thing but they sell a lot of collections of old tractors. Also a great site. Ebay does have its
good and bad but if you are wondering what market value is on something it?s a good place to start. Might not always be realistic but there is enough on
there at least to compare. Anyway don?t throw in the towel yet auctioning is a pretty good way to pick up some pretty good deals good luck

(quoted from post at 08:55:59 01/27/19) Modirt: One thing you have to remember is that in any auction the fiduciary relationship is between the seller and the auctioneer. Not the auctioneer and the buyer. So why/how would any auctioneer sell an item below the maximum bid you listed??? IF I was the seller I would be POed as the auctioneer left money on the table that was really bid.


In the last few years I have bought the majority of the equipment I have bought in online auctions. Just post your bid and walk away is what I do. IF I get it great If I don't not a problem.

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I understand and agree with the duty owed to the seller, but that does not imply anything goes to screw the buyer. Their stated policy is "as is, where is and buyer beware, and all sales are final". That is simple enough to understand.

But, when I called to ask for clarification of the online bidding process and was told "we do not open with your max bid", implication is far different than if I had been told, "yes, we will open with your high bid, so bid accordingly". The later is their actual policy, not what I was told. And for what it's worth, to bid online, you have to click a box that says you have read and understand the rules of the game. That would be fine too, except the rules of the online bidding process are not mentioned in the policy you agree to. Those are unwritten rules and subject to change at any time.

Its all good as long as it is fairly represented as to what will happen. Misrepresentation is not.

What they are using now, as they put into practice, actually works against them. It fosters distrust of the process.

What they should all work towards is to give buyers an opportunity to place "min" or opening bid (or if a bid has been submitted, let it be known what that is) and "max" or ending bid. And stated intervals in value ranges. That is not that much different than what is done on ebay. In fact, ebay should be the model they all follow.

I would do that all day long and I think that being open like that would get them far more online bidders participating and that would be a big benefit to their sellers.

But being told one thing and them doing another is the part I can't abide by. BTW, my view is this is all part of a process in it's infancy and will eventually get sorted out to some type of standard that all are using and is understood. But as is, best to think of online bidding as the Wild, Wild West and buyer beware.

BTW, there was one item I bought where the process did work as they said it would and it worked in my favor. Item had been on Craigslist and I called seller to ask about it, ready to pay his full price. He told me he had taken it to the auction. No worries, I'll look for it there. I did and got it bought for less than my bid price and $150 less than he had been asking for it on CL. So I know their stated policy was working on some items, but not on all of them.

(quoted from post at 09:27:31 01/27/19)
On ebay you specify your first bid and then a max bid and the increments are known up front. It is set up to be strictly an online auction.

You thought your online bid would be handled as though you were present but you were not present so they took you at your word and you won the auction. [b:a41a5a194b]Why in the world would you think that since you had bid $100 (your example) they would enter a bid of less than that for you? You are complaining that the led with your $100 bid - why would they start with less than that?[/b:a41a5a194b]

You overbid at an auction because you did not understand the rules. Next time either do not participate or learn the rules. In the meantime you have no legit gripe.

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Because when I called, I specifically asked them if that is what would happen and was told no.

I was told bids would be entered on my behalf at the bid intervals of the auction, but they would not start with my bid, so feel free to enter a max bid without worry of it starting there.

To say they would not start with an online bid implies they would have to get one at the live auction. That didn't happen.

I think others are right you did not fully understand the process AND YES I HAVE SEEN SOME AUCTIONS THAT HAD NO PROCESS OR ORDER!! One thing I have seen is a bunch of low bids going up a few dollars on say a 20,000 dollar item. So some one goes to $18000 right now. Why would the auction outfit fool around with the 3000 dollar bids or yours if you only bid $10000? IF YOOU FEE FRAUD OR OTHER ISSUES you can call your state auction board.

You keep saying that they started
with your bid but you also say
you don't know if they had a bid
before yours. You said you are
just guessing they did not. If it
was a live auction with bidders
on site and live online bidding
and you were not watching the
auction then there is NO WAY you
know what happened.

This auction company uses their own personal auction system? I've not used the online option when I could go to a sale live, but have been to live sales that had online bidding through Proxibid or Hibid. I've even stood at a sale and watched on my phone as the items sell to see if the auctioneer is using the online bids to pull shill bids or not. These auctions don't work the way you're explaining it.

If you're bidding online through the auction sites I mentioned, it's just like ebay - you bid your maximum, and the auction site automatically bids on your behalf against the live crowd until you are outbid, or the crowd stops and you get the item. The auctioneer supposedly doesn't even know your max bid in this case. They plug the crowd's bid into the same site you did and see if there's another bid there, until there isn't.

It sounds to me like the "online" bidding you did was the same as leaving your max bid with the auctioneer. I wouldn't call that online bidding.

Rockyridgefarms you are so right!

I only bid on online auction if I can clearly see from the pics/video the external state of the item. If possible I go to see the item in the flesh and/or speak to the actual owner. I never leave a ?max bid? but watch the item in the last 10 or 15 minutes if it is not already past my opinion of its value to me. I have bought a number of items, from a JD lawnmower for parts for about $150 to a Hesston swather for $52000. Very happy with my purchases, didn?t waste a day in the cold having driven 2 hours to come home empty handed. Missed way more items that just went beyond my price. Moral of the story, be sure you know what you are bidding on, know its value and its value to you not forgetting what it will cost to get home and don?t click if it goes beyond where you are happy. Online auctions are great, particularly for smaller items and local auctioneers. If you don?t like the pics, don?t bid, its almost certainly worse in the flesh than it looks online.

The thing here is that you have no positive way of knowing whether they started out with your maximum bid or not - at least without an audit. There may have been another online bidder that was close to your bid. There may have been live bidder or two that ran it up to your bid.
Either way, I have found that it is best to attend the auction if you really want to know what is going on. I have also found that it is never in your best interest to want something enough to keep bidding past your own limits.
And, for sure there are crooked auctioneers out there. A LOT of them. I have found myself bidding against the wall at a couple of auctions. The second I suspect that I am being taken for a ride, I stop bidding. Did that at one auction and the auctioneer kept taking bids from me that I WAS NOT MAKING!! I stood up and said VERY LOUDLY when he announced that I had bought the item that I did not make that bid. I never went to another of his auctions. When I see his name, I simply leave.

One thing to know for sure about auctions is that you should never bid more than you are willing to spend on an item. Also not a good idea to get caught up in a bidding war for an item. That is a good way to get auction fever and pay more than you ever would have under "normal" circumstances.

any auctioneer who does that is plainly a crook I only bid at auctions where the auctioneer starts with the 1st bid not the highest

I bid on one item and won on an online auction. I arrived in time to see my back blade being loaded on another guy's trailer. The lot numbers had "blown away" he said. I won the nice one, he won the beat up one. Had I been 10 minutes later, I'd have been stuck with the beat up one. When I made a fuss about it, the other guy didn't argue one bit. In other words he knew what he was doing and didn't want to attract anymore attention. Makes me wonder what else he switched numbers on. Only way I'm bidding anymore is in person only.

(quoted from post at 23:39:11 01/27/19) I bid on one item and won on an online auction. I arrived in time to see my back blade being loaded on another guy's trailer. The lot numbers had "blown away" he said. I won the nice one, he won the beat up one. Had I been 10 minutes later, I'd have been stuck with the beat up one. When I made a fuss about it, the other guy didn't argue one bit. In other words he knew what he was doing and didn't want to attract anymore attention. Makes me wonder what else he switched numbers on. Only way I'm bidding anymore is in person only.

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Brian Jasper co.,

If the auction company wants repeat business and good word-of-mouth, they surely would have refunded your money or hunted the other guy down had that happened. Would not have been hard at all to prove through the online auction pictures that the other guy played the switcharoo game.

But I do agree that I will much more likely go to the live sale if it is offered, and if I can get there. I only bid online if I cannot make the sale or they are selling online only, which is getting a lot more common. Usually the guy bidding online has to pay up to a 15% buyers punishment for the convenience.