Options
How secret do you think your secret maximum bid is ?

For any of the auction houses.
Do you think they tell others?
Do you think they run up the bid to your max?
What is your comfort level?
I try to bid live or have someone there bid for me, so no biggie. Just wondering if others think about this.
Do you think they tell others?
Do you think they run up the bid to your max?
What is your comfort level?
I try to bid live or have someone there bid for me, so no biggie. Just wondering if others think about this.
Doug
0
Comments
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
The rest is tactical to get to my number, or punk out, or stretch.
below my max bid.
Remember, employees don't stay at companies forever and sometimes they get fired or angry at the company for other reasons. So if an auction house is screwing around they would have to keep that knowledge to only a few trusted employees. And soon they won't know who to trust.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
<< <i>I had a collector call me one time and tell me he saved me big $$$$ because when he called the auction house and found out what my "secret maximum bid" was, he decided he wouldn't bid at all or run up the price on me. >>
I have a hard time buying the above FOR MOST people. Most will not get that info, but some biggies might. I did have a friend that was low on the totem pole that worked for the largest equiptment house in the US. He had the numbers of what the actual sale price was going to be unless you felt the need to top it.
All that said I try to bid live or skip it. I will not leave a monster bid on the internet.
I would say a large steady consigner will do better than a 1 timer or one that only sells random times at auction.
NGC registry V-Nickel proof #6!!!!
working on proof shield nickels # 8 with a bullet!!!!
RIP "BEAR"
I trust the Heritage online auctions.
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
Latin American Collection
<< <i>I've had several instances with Heritage where I won coins for several bid increments
below my max bid. >>
So have I. I just bought a lot for less that half of my maximum bid, although it was in a political items auction.
<< <i>I know within 25%. How can "they" know more?
The rest is tactical to get to my number, or punk out, or stretch. >>
Pretty sure they can print out a bid history for any lot. I know TeleTrade could. One was sent to me one time when I had a question about a consigned lot. I may still have the email somewhere. The "potted plant" aka computer did at least one "incremental" bid.
I don't believe in mega bids.
As far as I'm concerned, once you said, "reserve not met", my bid is null and void! No fair trying to make my bid active at a later date!!
Auction house still has it in their rules that they can do that....so I refuse to bid until the reserve is met.
<< <i>About the only auction activity that ever ticked me off was once when the reserve was moved down to match my previously rejected bid.
As far as I'm concerned, once you said, "reserve not met", my bid is null and void! No fair trying to make my bid active at a later date!!
Auction house still has it in their rules that they can do that....so I refuse to bid until the reserve is met.
Had that happen once. Promptly returned the coin.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
<< <i>About the only auction activity that ever ticked me off was once when the reserve was moved down to match my previously rejected bid.
As far as I'm concerned, once you said, "reserve not met", my bid is null and void! No fair trying to make my bid active at a later date!!
Auction house still has it in their rules that they can do that....so I refuse to bid until the reserve is met.
About fifteen years ago, I was told I was outbid at the close of an auction, then I got an e-mail that I won the coin.. I was happy to get the coin, for which I paid $1,075, and sold it a number of years later for $1,800.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
<< <i>
<< <i>About the only auction activity that ever ticked me off was once when the reserve was moved down to match my previously rejected bid.
As far as I'm concerned, once you said, "reserve not met", my bid is null and void! No fair trying to make my bid active at a later date!!
Auction house still has it in their rules that they can do that....so I refuse to bid until the reserve is met.
About fifteen years ago, I was told I was outbid at the close of an auction, then I got an e-mail that I won the coin.. I was happy to get the coin, for which I paid $1,075, and sold it a number of years later for $1,800. >>
Yeah, I actually bought and paid for the coin in question in my case. It was just the principle of the whole thing that bothered me. When I have a pending bid in play, I consider that money "spent", until I hear different. When I DON'T have any pending bids, whatever funds I have set aside for coin purchases is available, in my mind. So having a "non-pending" bid suddenly become valid means I could be forced into a situation, independent of any action on my part, where I end up over-extended. Not cool.
I exchanged some nasty emails on the topic, was told the auction rules allowed it, and vowed to never put myself in that position again. Have they lost business from me because of it? Maybe....we'll never know. I do know I've been MUCH less active in their auctions ever since then.....
I had a suspicious heritage experience a while ago. Had put in a previous bid on heritage and was later watching the live auction for it. It was going for about 700 or so less than my max when all of a sudden someone yelled out they had a bid for my amount and the coin went right to that amount. I guess bid increments went out the door.
One of the reasons I've moved away from coin collecting.
In the end, I can't see any reasonably popular auction house jeopardizing their reputation over increasing a bid by a small amount: in the end, they will only net a fraction of the actual bid increase anyway. I still generally prefer to bid live just so that online bidders can't bid against my max and end up becoming emotional before the auction at being automatically outbid and bid over me out of spite.
I implicitly trust Heritage and many other auction houses, even some of the obscure ones from which I buy ancient coins, as they've shown that they play fair.
<< <i>Coin collectors are a paranoid group >>
LOL, you are so right...I see more conspiracy theories on theses boards in a month than on the SyFy channel in a year.
I've won scores of coins at all auction houses well below my max bid.
Suggesting that they run up a bid would mean that they would be committing fraud...
Come to think of it, if your "secret" maximum bid isn't what you were "willing to pay" for the coin, then why'd you bid in the first place?
The name is LEE!
<< <i>Have you whiners ever stopped to think that perhaps your "secret" maximum bid might be market value? Or maybe someone else had a "secret" maximum bid somewhere on the same general area as your but just a bit lower?
Come to think of it, if your "secret" maximum bid isn't what you were "willing to pay" for the coin, then why'd you bid in the first place?
I think the situation I described, and the the initial posting was different than what you are talking about. 99% of my experiences with bidding at auction have been positive, whether I won or lost. However there was just that one time about 6-7 years ago where an employee of one of the auction firms told my competitor what my "secret maximum bid" was. Ticked me off.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
How hard would it be for an employee of one of these services to pass along max bid information to another buyer or seller? Or to track cherry picking buyers who have a coin in their sniping queue? Like a previous poster mentioned, nothing in cyberspace is off limits, so be careful what personal information you offer.
"La Vostra Nonna Ha Faccia Del Fungo"
<< <i>Typing on phone...
I had a suspicious heritage experience a while ago. Had put in a previous bid on heritage and was later watching the live auction for it. It was going for about 700 or so less than my max when all of a sudden someone yelled out they had a bid for my amount and the coin went right to that amount. I guess bid increments went out the door.
One of the reasons I've moved away from coin collecting. >>
Potted plants can talk?
In general I have had good experiences leaving bids online.
Yesterday however I won two separate lots for my max bid…..for some esoteric foreign currency…should not have been a lot of interest…but they were both run up to my max. The bids I left were less than I was willing to spend by 1/2… I just was not sure about the auction company (new to me). I was online ready to bid but did not need to. It left me feeling good about the bid strategy I used but wondering…..
<< <i> >>
+1
Chris' Complete Lincoln Variety Set 1909-date
Your early "secret" bids are stored in a database that some people certainly have access to prior to live bidding. Even if it's a select few individuals, such as a database administrator or certain privileged employees/executives, your "secret" bids can be accessed.
Whether those individuals share that data or utilize it to maximize returns is pure speculation, but the opportunity is clearly there.
I bid on a bunch of lots in a good sized exonumia auction with a real catalog. When they sent my winnings there was a note in the package that my bid on a small lot of 39 unsearched CWT's was not the winner. BUT..................they had "found" another lot of 39 unsearched average VF CWT's that I could have for my bid.
I thought this was really strange and just wrong in several ways. But I decided what the heck, it was only $3.50 per token and opened it up. I ended up very pleased with the lot and had hours of fun identifying each piece. I do think it was really unsearched because aside from the grades being mostly VF-XF more than half of them were R-2 or higher including two R-5's and two R-6's.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
I was PI$$ed to say the least and still think I got hosed. It shook my faith in the auction company, although I sill deal with them. No, I don't think that the "secret" bids are really all that secret, but it's sometimes you best or only option for bidding.
The coin was sent back to me. After smarting for a few months I decided the only option was to consign it once again. This time I put in a BB bid of $200 just to be sure it covered my expenses to date.
Guess what? I bought it back once again, this time at exactly $200. Another BB fee. The coin was sent back to me one more time. After another month or 2 of smarting real bad, I stuck it back in a 3rd time with no reserve. The coin finally sold at around $120.
You can't make up a story like this. My original cost in the coin was about $20 + slab fee of $8. In the end I lost about $80 because of all the BB fees. A classic TT tale. Next time I saw one of the TT guys I asked him how the heck could this happen. He had no explanation. But I knew it was Colonel Mustard in the Library with a Potted Plant. Nope....no one knew my max buy backs.