Auction house bid increments -- A disservice to themselves??
PROMETHIUS88
Posts: 2,820 ✭✭✭✭✭
I don't bid on many online auctions other than Sirius but I'm assuming they all do it basically the same way. And I apologize if this has been discussed before. But, it seems to me that increasing the bid amounts by 10% is leaving money on the table. Let's take, for example, a card I'm bidding on now. On Ebay I can typically get the card for about $110 via straight auction. So I, or someone else gets the bid to $88. With buyers premium that's $99 plus shipping costs. So if someone has that bid, my only next option would be to bid $97 which with buyers premium would be about $111 plus shipping. Now, I might be tempted to make another bid at $92 thinking I will get the card a little cheaper than on Ebay but no reason to pay more. Obviously only makes the gap larger the higher the bidding goes on a card. So, being pretty much a novice, is there some reason they set these bid increments at these levels? Just curious
Comments
But eBay sets bid increments at certain levels too, right? I think the reason is it's a huge waste of the auctioneer's time, not to mention the bidder if you are to raise a $100,000 bid to $100,000.01. Obviously there is a lot of space in between the extremes; the question is where to draw the line.
Alex Relyea
Not referring to .01 or .05 increments, but maybe 5% instead of 10%. The 10% seems to leave some room to work. I mean, it's good for the person that gets out there and bids early. You can place your bid at the amount that is still a good deal and if the next person bids they are paying more than the average Ebay price.
If you can't afford it don't bid. I don't even bother. Ebay works better for me.
I'm going under the assumption that if someone is bidding, they can afford it. Just thinking that, as a consignor, I would like to see my item get 5% more if there is someone willing to pay it that won't pull the trigger on a 10% jump.
I agree and with automation on the bidding why such a gap. It is certainly a good question and perhaps when it was paper and people it made sense. But yeah, if you don't bid on the next level but would of paid 1-9.99% more, they are losing out on that final value because it will sell at a lower value then it could have.
I like Ebay better too
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I've never done a Heritage card auction, but on the coin auctions they allow each bidder once per auction to place a bid at the midpoint between the current bid and the next increment.
I like that idea....a lot!
I see what you're getting at, but I don't see it as being that big of a deal. If a potential bidder that can afford it, isn't willing to go an additional 10%, he/she doesn't want it that bad.
Looking at it from the auctioneers perspective, who wants to bother with a bunch of bids? People like to play a lot of bidding "games", I don't see 10% increments as a big deal. Possibly on high dollar items, but for the most part 10% seems fair.
I think it's a big deal and AH's are losing out on lots of bids becasue you can't put the market price in. Some veterans know where to bid whereas the next increment is always +5% more than what it's worth. at least for me, have declined to bid on dozens of items due to that.
Collecting Unopened from '72-'83; mostly BBCE certified boxes/cases/racks.
Prefer to buy in bulk.
Possibly on high dollar items, but for the most part 10% seems fair.
These are Ebay's bid increments.
Current Price - Bid Increment
$0.01–$0.99 - $0.05
$1.00–$4.99 - $0.25
$5.00–$24.99 - $0.50
$25.00–$99.99 - $1.00
$100.00–$249.99 - $2.50
$250.00–$499.99 - $5.00
$500.00–$999.99 - $10.00
$1,000.00–$2,499.99 - $25.00
$2,500.00–$4,999.99 - $50.00
$5,000.00 and up - $100.00
In an auction house with a fixed 10% increment, the dollar amount the next increment needs to be is always increasing with every bid. On a $100 item, it's $110, $121, $133, $147, $162 and so on. At some point a bidder cannot "afford" those 10% bumps now costing him $12, $14, $16 and more a pop. But on Ebay the same card can get bumped at $2.50 increments and squeeze a bit more out of cards whose "value" is somewhere in the middle. It's easier to lose Ebay auctions where somebody can bump you by $2.50 increment.
Now in a 10% fixed house, if you plant yourself at the "right increment" it can be much easier to:
1)ensure you get a good deal
2)pay the going rate
3)force somebody to "overpay" if they bump you.
If you bid with a must have it at any cost attitude then the dollar amount of the bid increments only matter to the underbidders.
I can't think of an AH that uses a fixed 10% increment. Here is REA's increment chart. Depending on where you are it's between 5%-10%.
Bidding increment table follows:
Minimum Value Maximum Value Bid Increment
from US $ 0 to US $ 499 US $ 25
from US $500 to US $ 999 US $ 50
from US $ 1000 to US $ 1999 US $ 100
from US $ 2000 to US $ 4999 US $ 250
from US $ 5000 to US $ 9999 US $ 500
from US $ 10000 to US $ 19999 US $ 1000
from US $ 20000 to US $ 49999 US $ 2500
from US $ 50000 to US $ 99999 US $ 5000
from US $ 100000 to US $ 999999 US $ 10000
from US $ 1000000 and above US $ 50000
Arthur
It's obviously never a good idea to generalize but I think it's safe to say that the major AHs and eBay cater to two different customer bases. eBay is where you go to scavenge through 30 examples of the same card until you find the one you like and get it for 10% below VCP average. The major AHs tend to seek out more elite material that comes up for sale far less frequently and that puts the bidder in the unenviable position of asking themselves if they want to pay a little more or wait a few years until another surfaces.
Arthur