Do you lock in your bids @ Heritage?

TopographicOceans

I've placed some token bids on some coins that will hammer in the $5,000 - $9,999 range on the 9th.



I only want one of these for my collection, but would buy them all at the current prices that are 6 days away.



Since the bid increment is $500 is it better to focus on one or two of my favorites and place my max bid now or wait until it goes live?



I may not be able to be online when they close, but if I can hit the sweet spot on my bid and win at less than one bid increment letting others hack away at it might work out the best.

JeffMTampa

Some folks don't like to bid too high early for fear shill bidders will drive the price up. I'm sure it does happen, but I'm typically more concerned I'll have a memory loss and miss the live Auction. I typically put in my max. bid after internet bidding ends; I feel I'm fairly safe that way.

TommyType

If you figure out the "best" way to bid, please let the rest of us know.



I've gone back and forth, round and round, up and down, thinking they way you indicate here. "Set the mark early, and let others get tired of trying to nickel and dime their way to your bid as under bidders", or "Don't show your cards NOW, just wait until the last minute."



After a lot of testing and thinking, I've come to the obvious conclusion: He who wants it the most will win it.

kaz

I just bid what I'm willing to pay and let it ride. If someone else wants it more, good on 'em!

BillJones

I have locked my bids in at Heritage when I really wanted the lot and didn't want to get caught on the "wrong" side of the bid back and forth. In that case the increment was $5,000 and even a cut bid was $2,500. It locked in my max, which was tied but not exceeded on the floor. I got the lot.

These days seems if I bid my max on the book, I am always topped and a couple of times I felt like I was shilled on dark side items. When you place what would be a cut bid that shows in the website on an item you have bid upon several times, you feel as if the under bidder quit when he or she sensed you would go no higher. That might wrong, that's the way I felt.

oih82w8

If I want to keep an eye on something I will set a "reminder" to inform me when it is coming up for bid...usually it it way out of my reach by then.



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keyman64

I only bid in the last few seconds...so if it is a live Heritage auction then I will bid live.

BillJones

Originally posted by: keyman64
I only bid in the last few seconds...so if it is a live Heritage auction then I will bid live.

That's great if you can be there. I've been cut out of a couple auctions when the bidding got crazy, the item I wanted sold at 3 AM. I was at auction, but would stay that late and cut out from making an iPad bid.

BillJones

Originally posted by: Hydrant
I feel a little better now that I know there is at least one other person trying to solve the unknowable bidding dilemma. TopographicOcean, you and I are thinking the EXACT same thoughts. What I've decided to do is track the three lots I want, then put in max bids at the last minute. Hoping, of course, that there are no computer problems.

Many people think the only way to bid is to bid live or bid live via "Heritage Live."

BryceM

I dunno. The very first time I tried live bidding at HA it bit me in the netherquarters. The coin was slowly working upwards from $400 where it opened. The coin stalled out at $550, and I pushed the button to bid $600 (which was my upper limit). The software or the Internet glitched, and suddenly a flurry of bids popped up. In the confusion, my single click was somehow entered as a bid of $850, and of course I won (and was immediately buried in) the coin. I eventually sold the coin at about $650, whereupon it crossed, beaned, and was made crown prince of the frustrating part of numismatics - at least in my book.



Since that little adventure, I usually wait for the on-line bids to close and then enter my maximum proxy bid once the live auction starts. Then if I happen to be watching, I sit on my hands until the lot is either won or lost. On a couple of coins that were absolutely essential to my collection I used a phone bid, but that has its own issues too.



There are exceptions though........ For reasons that escape me, lowish-grade generic pre-33 gold is sometimes sold at auction. How anyone but the auction company comes out ahead on items with such a narrow margin is beyond me, but the final sale price is often pretty well established by the spot price of gold and the bid increment. The first one to hit that level will usually win it, unless someone else just has to have it an an above-market price.

stman

What about the "buyers" fee? 17.5% I sure wouldn't pay it.

TopographicOceans

The problem with the live bid is when the lot comes up, it goes so fast.
And I also suffer from "can't-lose-itis" and bid again when I get outbid and wind up paying more than I planned.

TommyType

I think the reason that we will never find the "best way" to bid is that we have no idea who we are bidding against! And it will change from lot to lot, auction to auction.



- Sometimes, a coin I am interested in will flounder for days at some silly low bid. So, I'm thinking, there must not be much interest! I can snag this baby with a couple of bid increments! No.....it jumps past "retail" in the last hour, to some obscene price, and I'm sitting with my head spinning.



- Other times, vigorous early bidding takes place with multiple bidders, and slowly raising bids. There's just no way I'm going to have a chance! But I drop in my best bid, and suddenly, activity disappears and I get the coin a couple of increments below my max.



I do agree that for that SPECIAL coin that you just must have, being there for the "live" bidding ends up being the best way to go. There's nothing worse than being outbid by a few bucks....





I'm currently perplexed by a coin on GC. It's sitting at 1/3 of PCGS website value, and has been for days. I put in a bid about twice that, and am waiting for the sharks to blow me away. (It's actually a higher grade than I'm looking for...but I'm taking a shot with MY limit).



About 2 1/2 hours to go.....we shall see.

OnlyGoldIsMoney

I place my bids as soon as internet bidding opens. Those bids represent the maximum I am willing to pay. If someone wants the item for more than I am willing to pay they're welcome to it.

Boosibri

Why tip you hand and give other buyers affirmation in the process. I understand trying to hit bid increments but just dropping bids and walking away doesn't seem like the most successful strategy which could be employed.

OldIndianNutKase

I tend not to set any maximums that I will bid. I see an auction as usually an honest representation of a coin's value. And the price at auction is usually significantly less than the amount you would have to pay a dealer in the retail channel. Case in point is a coin in which I had an interest that sold for $4,000 at a Heritage auction last August but is now being offered for sale by a dealer for almost $10,000. But this was not a coin that only shows up for sale every ten years or so. I priortize coins that rarely are available and just have to make a rational decision on the price in the heat of the auction. Hoping, of course, that they appear early in the auction, rather than later when I may have over extended myself already.



OINK

Elcontador

Originally posted by: OnlyGoldIsMoney
I place my bids as soon as internet bidding opens. Those bids represent the maximum I am willing to pay. If someone wants the item for more than I am willing to pay they're welcome to it.

This. Set it and forget it.