Heritage ? - can the high internet bid lose to a matching floor bid?

lava

This happened to me, so I'm guessing it can happen. I was the high bidder at the close of internet trading, the price didn't move, and yet I apparently lost to the floor. Is that in fact the rules of the game?

zzzz

Ties do go to floor bidder.

I would go to Heritages site and look at your bids (My Bids) to make sure you didn't win the auction ..

lava

Thanks for the info -- it's official, I'm a loser, but not too bad of a feeling when it is money I don't have.

walkinstick

In reading Heritage bidding rules the internet bid is the winner. I can find one exception that being the internet bidder exceeded his credit limit. So I would ask for clarification.

USAROK

walkinstick is correct. The exact wording from the Heritage webpage is: Because of the many avenues by which bids may be submitted, there is the real possibility of a tie for the high bid. In the event of a tie, Internet bidders, within their credit limit, will win by default.

lava

Well, I guess I'll inquire. Thanks for the help. Maybe I can go into big time debt after all.

koinkrazy

Same thing happened to me, shows I am high bidder, but nothing says I am the winner. My bid is in red, so that means I did not win, right?

walkinstick

Koinkrazy. Last night it took Heritage 12 Hrs to notify me I had won. So you could still be the winner Big weekend for heritage could be you are the winner. Check heritage lot number and see if your bid amount matches the winning bid.

Shamika

What then should the auction house do if they, in fact, sold the coin to the wrong bidder?

jonathanb

I had a weirder result. At the close of internet bidding, I was listed as the high bidder on one item, at my max of $425. I managed to catch the item on the live bidding, and it closed with a single bid of $425, which I assumed was mine. When I went to the Heritage site a few minutes later, indeed that item was listed in green in the My Bids column, indicating that I won. But it read like this:

Your bid Current bid
(with BP) (with BP)
$425.00 $603.75
($488.75)

...and then it listed $603.75 in the Winning Bids column since I got totally blown out of the water on everything else.

Today it shows my bid in red, indicating that I didn't win after all. The Current bid is unchanged.


Any ideas what happened on that one?


jonathan

morgannut2

Something is very wrong with the Heritage Website. This has happened to me too and I'm done bidding until they fix it, or explain it.

Barry

Something's definitely screwy at Heritage. I've gotten 3 of the same emails over the last 2 days announcing the end of various auctions I bid on.

cosmicdebris

That's news to me. I as the Internet bidder tied with the floor bidder and lost.

USAROK

"Internet" bids through the Heritage website show up on eBay Live as "Floor Bids" while those submitted via eBay Live show up as "Internet" bids. Heritage considers both to be "Internet" bids and I believe that ties go to the bid submitted through their site since that "Internet" bid was placed first.

lava

UPDATE: I have since received two communications from Heritage. One is called a "winner notification," and reflects my purchases but NOT the coin that triggered this post, so sounds like I lost. BUT, I also received an email entitled "end of auction status" which has the coin in question in green, as if to indicate I won. I don't have a clue whether I'm a winner or a loser, but I'm not the type to get stressed over it either way. By the way, there were no ebay bids on the coin in question, and I certainly was the high bidder at the end of the internet bidding.

Interesting to see other stories surface re: uncertainty.

Conder101

This gets discussed here after every major Heritage auction. After one of the first auctions with the live internet bidding they came here and gave the order in which they take the bids for settling tie bids. They said that internet bids take preferance over floor bids, but that sometimes the bid does get awarded to the floor bidder in error. So in theory the Internet bid prevails, but in practice it is possible to lose a tie bid to the floor.

From their terms of sale, (all highlights are mine)

10. The Auctioneer cannot be responsible for your errors in bidding, so carefully check that your bid is entered correctly. When identical mail or FAX bids are submitted, preference is given to the first received; Internet bids are evaluated as received first. The decision of the Auctioneer and declaration of the winning Bidder is FINAL. The Auctioneer is not responsible for executing mail bids or FAX bids received on or after the day the first lot is sold, nor Internet bids submitted after the published closing time; nor is the Auctioneer responsible for proper execution of bids submitted by telephone, mail, FAX, e-mail, Internet, or in person once the auction begins.

So the auctioneer is not responsible for proper execution of the bids and his decision of who the winner is is the final word.

mercurydimeguy

First and foremost, I've found out through personal expreience that bidding through Heritage on a "live" auction is different then their electronic auctions. I firs found this out last year when it took nearly 10 days to get notified that I won something and for the item to ship. In calling customer service they said that sometimes their entire staff goes to these things so no one is around, and also sometimes they ship everything back from the show and it takes a while for it to arrive back at their offices.

I won something (at FUN) on Wednesday but didn't get notified 'till Sunday, if that's of any help. I knew I had won it though because I've learned to login and go to "MyInvoices" and check "Open Invoices" a couple of times per day. Eventually they'll get it entered and eventually you'll get notified, but looking under MyInvoices allows me to know a bit in advance that I've won it.

CarsonCityGold

Here's my experience with Heritage Friday. Around 3 in the afternoon, I bid $2010 on an item that had a current high bid of $1800 with increments of $100 at that time. It took my bid, showing me high bidder at $2000 and the next acceptable bid increment of $2200 (minimun increments change at $2000 to $200). Thirty two minutes later (according to times on the emails) I had been overbid and the new high bid was $2011 ($1 over my max)with the next acceptable bid $2200. I was shocked!! Why was the new high bid not $2200?? This is the day before live bidding on this item. I called customer service and was originally told the computer didn't look at all the bids at one time and someone elses bid was opened and had a high bid of $2011. I politely stated computers didn't work like that and could I speak to someone else. Two reps later a gentleman stated that someone in Florida had accepted a "podium bid". I asked why it was accepted at $1 over my bid at NOT at the next minimun increment. He couldn't give me an answer until he spoke to the person in Florida. I asked if he understood that this had the impression of being HIGHLY unethical in my opinion?? He said he understood and would check it out and get back to me. I have decided not to place any more bids with Heritage until a logical, ethical answer is given to me.

Shamika

<< <i>The Auctioneer is not responsible for executing mail bids or FAX bids received on or after the day the first lot is sold, nor Internet bids submitted after the published closing time; nor is the Auctioneer responsible for proper execution of bids submitted by telephone, mail, FAX, e-mail, Internet, or in person once the auction begins. >>


This is total BS!!! How can the auction house excuse their own incompetence?

lloydmincy

Condor101 is correct, Shamika's info correct too. The highest bid winner through Heritage if a tie is USUALLY the first one submitted. But let's say a Morgan dollar high bid was $425 from FIVE bidders, all CLOSE to the same time submitted through the Heritage Internet, Ebay and Fax. The Heritage Internet is the fastest. They get that bid on-line the minute you confirm yes. If it is too close call who was first, Heritage decides, and it is no rocket science. They do not have enough time to worry about who was first ONLY IF IT IS A CLOSE CALL AND NOT A HIGH VALUE LOT. If the coin is $100,000, they double check to see who was technically first.

lloydmincy

Jonathamb:

Your $425 bid was not/should not have been in green if the CURRENT bid was higher than yours.