As I mentioned elsewhere I am watching the Meuser lathe that is up for auction at UVic. I registered so that I can bid and found a cheap item to test the process on. The site said bid $11 or more, I did and I instantly get a message that I had been out bid. Bid 12 and same thing. The instant out bidding suggests to me that there is some sort of automatic option somewhere, somehow. Can anyone enlighten me on how these things work, and what the secret strategies are ?
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Auction advice.
- Thread starter jorogi
- Start date
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
You enter your maximum and if it's more than the current maximum then you are the high bidder.
I just put in the amount I'm willing to pay. If I get out bid then I have to decide if I want to increase my maximum.
I bet the reserve on that is $4000
I just put in the amount I'm willing to pay. If I get out bid then I have to decide if I want to increase my maximum.
I bet the reserve on that is $4000
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
BC Auction has an FAQ that explains how the bidding works:
FAQ
FAQ
- Q. How Does Proxy Bidding work?
A. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from other bidders and the seller until your maximum bid has been exceeded by another bidder.
-The BC Auction system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
-The system places bids on your behalf based on bid increments (see below), using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position.
-The system will bid up to your maximum amount.
-If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid right away. BUT, if no other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could pay significantly less than your maximum price! This means you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.
Ah, thanks. And yes that's the one.
Probably no reserve. But, the OP IS bidding against someone that posted a Maximum amount they were supposedly willing to pay, and when a bid under that, is submitted, the system automatically adds the next Bid Increment to THAT persons account, and tells you you have failed to outbid the high bidder.
Online auctions are not at all like auction sales where the last guy with his hand (or bidding number) in the air wins (pays more than anyone else was willing to!).
There is a level of psychology involved too, on both sides. The Auctioneer would like to have at least two people creep the price up a little at a time (whats another ten bucks gonna hurt anyway?), while a smarter bidder plays the game to bid fast and fearless up to what they are willing to pay, in increments that make the other bidders flinch (like raising $100, while the auctioneer is fishing for five dollar raises). Someone takes it home. They always pay more than anyone else would! But, if it falls under what you were actually willing to pay, you are golden. And, that is where you have to "Win" an Auction. Get it for less than you were willing to pay for it, despite paying more than anyone else was willing to pay.
I play a different game than @David. If I really want something, I wait till the last second to bid and then submit my bid. Others hate me when I do that. It forces them to do the same. I will always lose to guys like @David unless his high bid is lower than mine. My strategy is based on finding things other bidders want for cheap or stuff nobody noticed. I have more or less stopped bidding on auctions now. Life is too short.
There are tools on line now that will bid for you using whatever strategy you want. I don't use them.
There are tools on line now that will bid for you using whatever strategy you want. I don't use them.
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
Post #3
At the time I posted the screen shot of the item in question it states "reserve price not met".
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That's another issue totally. Some auctions have reserves. That means the seller won't accept bids lower than his reserved amount. It's the sellers way of making sure he doesn't get burned. Not all auctions have that.
When the auctions don't have a reserved amount, the seller just gets a buddy to bid until his ask is met. If it doesn't happen, the seller just gives his buddy his private reserve back. All bull sheist.
There's some weird community in the auction houses. I'm not going to say shady. But auction companies buying from auction companies to auction stuff again, I can't figure it out. If auction company A gets so much percent buyers/sellers commission then auction company B gets to resell it and gains the same buyers/sellers commission, then maybe they don't make a direct profit from the items themselves?
You're also getting into taxes, so they could be buying stuff to put into sales for a loss, while still profiting off the commissions?
It's one of those areas I'm probably smarter to not poke my nose into
You're also getting into taxes, so they could be buying stuff to put into sales for a loss, while still profiting off the commissions?
It's one of those areas I'm probably smarter to not poke my nose into
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
I am familiar with pre internet farm auctions, as I am sure you are, too. Got introduced to the sometimes wild and wooly world of farm auctions through my father-in-law who was a very well known attendee and eventually worked for a small auction company.
I have been to the family farm auction where they have a "plant", somebody who is supposed to be inconspicuously bidding up items. Never worked for long. Those old auction pros would eventually sniff them out and people would start talking and pointing. Some people would then play the game in reverse, try sticking the family with their own item for an inflated price. Still have to pay a commission to the auction company when you buy it back.
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That's the guy I described earlier. The trouble with these new on-line auctions is that the "plant" could be in Iceland and could have 20 different profiles. I just don't like it. I've pretty much stopped doing live auctions anymore. I can't see standing in the rain with a bunch of other poor old farmers while some guy from Mexico with untaxed drug money out bids me on a computer screen.
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
Since we're talking about auctions...
Trying to remember - years ago was GCSurplus closed bidding only? I am thinking back to about 10 years ago.
Myself and a few co-workers used to peruse the Saskatchewan items and occasionally bid. If my memory is correct we would look-up the results and see weird winning bids like $137.23.
Maybe it was a bidding strategy but I recall that we thought it to be a little sketchy.
Now I see the site has a variety of bidding that includes "open" and "closed".
GCSurplus
Trying to remember - years ago was GCSurplus closed bidding only? I am thinking back to about 10 years ago.
Myself and a few co-workers used to peruse the Saskatchewan items and occasionally bid. If my memory is correct we would look-up the results and see weird winning bids like $137.23.
Maybe it was a bidding strategy but I recall that we thought it to be a little sketchy.
Now I see the site has a variety of bidding that includes "open" and "closed".
GCSurplus
I'm pretty sure it was less than ten years ago that hey went to the "Auction" format, vs. "Sealed Bids".
Probably half my shop was bought that way. Eg:, I bought an Acklands labeled (painted orange instead of blue) Miller 225D Bobcat Diesel welder, complete with cables, a Tig box, regs, and a torch (they had it listed as an "Air Compressor")and a grand total of 12 hours on the run meter, for under $1K, including my gas and ferry fees to get on and off the Island, out of a Coast Guard Station in Victoria. It was listed as "For Parts!" When I asked the guy said, "Oh we list them for parts so nobody can come back on us, if something doesn't work!" started and ran, when I turned the switch, after they slung it into my truck. Had to do a little troubleshooting, as it had power to the outlet plugs 110v/220v, but no arc. Turned out in the years it sat on the shop floor, the grease in the main power level selector switch had dried enough that it snot-balled and held the wipers out of contact. Net cost to repair, about three hours of internet research, an hour of troubleshooting and repair, and about 5 dollars worth of dielectric grease and a squirt of solvent to clean the old stuff away.
Some folk get really brain-locked into the idea that you have to bid in a perfect increment. In a sealed bids situation, adding a couple dollars and some loose change can often get you the prize, if you and the other guy are working around the same (in your case above) more or less $135 bid. You only had to bid a penny more than the next lowest guy, to get the item. So I almost always added some odd number of dollars and cents. Sometimes the guys at the payment place would tell you what the next lower bid was (but not who), and you could learn a little about the field you were playing in, so it paid off to do that, as well as paid to ask how much higher you were than the competing bids. About the only time I would play with large rounded off numbers, was when I REALLY wanted something, and was willing to put a large bid in. Then, it became all about who wanted to pay more for it. Some buys, some not...
Elektrishun
Ultra Member
Good info. Maybe if one of us had studied it more closely we might have reached that conclusion. Strategically it makes sense.
This is an interesting insider bit of info:
"Oh we list them for parts so nobody can come back on us, if something doesn't work!"
I always assumed that when you buy something under those circumstances it's "buyer beware" or buying "as is" which means you can't go back regardless.
It generally is, but in some cases, like when the item presented is clearly not the item that was listed (one such cost me 5 hour worth of driving, only to be presented with an item that was most definitely NOT the heat treat oven I had bid upon! I was refunded my purchase, but it still kinda sucked.)
As in all aspects of life in general, there are gonna be complainers. In the case of my welder, it worked VERY well in my favor, and I had a pretty good idea that unless the engine was crapped out or the windings were fried, it would be reasonably inexpensive to fix almost anything that might be wrong with it, also factored into my final bid.