At what point do you form a "contract" with an auction firm, esp. if they call you after t
Longacre
Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
In another thread, a poster made the following statement, in relation to getting contacted by Stack's after the auction was closed:
"I placed several bids in the Schaumburg sale but didn't win anything. Tonight, Stacks emailed asking if I'd be interested in buying one of the lots I bid on for my maximum bid."
Does anyone know when a contract is formed between the bidder and the auction house? I don't have the terms and conditions in front of me, but when you bid on an auction lot, it is my understanding that you are entering into a contract if you are the highest bidder.
However, what happens in the situation above? Can the bidder now renegotiate the bid and say that he does not want to pay is max bid? Because he now senses that the auction house is desperate, can he negotiate for a lower price and cut a sharp deal? If he is allowed to do that, is the auction house now obligated to go to the next highest bidder and get a buy offer from them, especially if the newly negotiated price is less than what the second underbidder bid?
"I placed several bids in the Schaumburg sale but didn't win anything. Tonight, Stacks emailed asking if I'd be interested in buying one of the lots I bid on for my maximum bid."
Does anyone know when a contract is formed between the bidder and the auction house? I don't have the terms and conditions in front of me, but when you bid on an auction lot, it is my understanding that you are entering into a contract if you are the highest bidder.
However, what happens in the situation above? Can the bidder now renegotiate the bid and say that he does not want to pay is max bid? Because he now senses that the auction house is desperate, can he negotiate for a lower price and cut a sharp deal? If he is allowed to do that, is the auction house now obligated to go to the next highest bidder and get a buy offer from them, especially if the newly negotiated price is less than what the second underbidder bid?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
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Comments
What is the winning bidder had bid ten times, would you feel that you want to pay your high bid then? I think not, since if they were removing his top bid, then they should remove all of his bids entirely.
If the auction house owned it, which you will not necessarily know, then you can make another offer.
I have been contacted by eBay sellers, offering me items that I had been underbidder on for my high bid and when I went to look at the history, the winning bidder had been the underbidder a number of times. I just pass those items and wait until they are offered again.
One caveat is that if something that you really wanted was being offered to you again, you should probably rethink the above, as maybe it will not come up again so quickly.
Never make any concrete rules!!
I firmly believe in numismatics as the world's greatest hobby, but recognize that this is a luxury and without collectors, we can all spend/melt our collections/inventories.
eBaystore
What did upset me once was when Stack's--after notifying me that my max did not meet reserve decided after live bidding was over to drop the reserve to my max and declare me the winner of the lot without bothering to ask if I still wanted it. As it happened, I did still want it, but if in the meantime I had spent that money on a different coin I would have been up the creek.