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Lie, Cheat & Steal 2006: PART 4
MrEureka
Posts: 23,955 ✭✭✭✭✭
Some of you probably saw this one coming....
Max Guppo, an old-time collector, submits a long list of mail bids to a well-respected auctioneer. After the auction, he finds that he has spent fifty grand on three dozen rare tokens and medals. Of the lots purchased, all were precisely at his maximum bids. He suspects that the auctioneer treated him unfairly and confronts him. The auctioneer surprises Max by not denying a thing. Instead, he explains that “floor bidding was so strong that opening lots at lower prices would have just been a waste of time.” The auctioneer also reminds Max that the terms of sale make no promises about helping mail bidders save money. Max is livid. He guesses that he could have saved $8000 or more if he had attended the auction and bid for himself. Does he have recourse against the auctioneer?
Max Guppo, an old-time collector, submits a long list of mail bids to a well-respected auctioneer. After the auction, he finds that he has spent fifty grand on three dozen rare tokens and medals. Of the lots purchased, all were precisely at his maximum bids. He suspects that the auctioneer treated him unfairly and confronts him. The auctioneer surprises Max by not denying a thing. Instead, he explains that “floor bidding was so strong that opening lots at lower prices would have just been a waste of time.” The auctioneer also reminds Max that the terms of sale make no promises about helping mail bidders save money. Max is livid. He guesses that he could have saved $8000 or more if he had attended the auction and bid for himself. Does he have recourse against the auctioneer?
Andy Lustig
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
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tell him to shove the bids after he pummels him into the ground.
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)
Andy, what, if anything, DO the terms of sale say about how mail bids will be handled/executed (no pun intended)?
https://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/collectors-showcase/world-coins/one-coin-per-year-1600-2017/2422
Let's say that the terms of sale are silent on this issue.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>Let's say that the terms of sale are silent on this issue. >>
Then I would think it might default to the particular jurisdiction's consumer protection laws where auctions are concerned.
Ken
"Auctioneer reserves the right to refuse any bid, to reduce any mail bid received, to open the bidding of a lot at any level deemed appropriate by the auctioneer.....".
I would think that unless the laws of the state which the company operates under supersede the terms as stated, a bidder whose bids are automatically taken to their maximums might very well be out of luck.
Additionally, if there is no language in the terms of sale regarding the above, the bidder might still be out of luck?
But the auctioneer is an idiot! Ticking off bidders with $50 grand to throw around isn't a good way to stay in business!
Wow after reading this, I guess when/if I get into auction have to read and re-read all the fine print a few times.....
Good to learn how this is potential applicable before hand
<< <i>Never having been in an auction before not sure how it works, but I thought they opening bid listed is what they started at period and you as a mail bidder where treated like anybody else....
Wow after reading this, I guess when/if I get into auction have to read and re-read all the fine print a few times.....
Good to learn how this is potential applicable before hand >>
Those live auctions I have attended since the advent of online pre-bids have usually seemed to open either 1 bid below closing online bid or 1 bid below reserve whichever is higher. If I were the bidder in the original question , I would not be a happy camper, but don't see much recourse given the TOS Mr Eureka has listed.
But maybe some of those closing on line bids were the bidders' maximum bids and there were no under-bidders anywhere close to those levels?
<< <i><<Those live auctions I have attended since the advent of online pre-bids have usually seemed to open either 1 bid below closing online bid or 1 bid below reserve whichever is higher.>>
But maybe some of those closing on line bids were the bidders' maximum bids and there were no under-bidders anywhere close to those levels? >>
And I can picture that actually happening...luckily (I guess)just never to me.
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
See ebay is good for something. You can set your max bid and not be around when the auction closes, by using a snipper program. And NOT have it automaticly go to your max bid.
(Priest) BLASPHEMY he said it again, did you hear him?
David