Live Auction Test

We've been getting calls about not winning an item although the item was sold at your max bid. The main reasons for that are:

1) Although our system is capable of increasing your own bid, we dislike doing so. It most likely causes us more troubles than benefits us. Also, increasing own bids in a live auction generally does not happen in our auctions. Thus, if we allow this on online bidders, online bidders get unfair advantage over floor bidders. If we allow this on the floor bidder, the floor bidders have to announce what their max bid is. This makes the simulcast auction unnecessarily complex.

          - example of increasing own bid. When a bid history shows:

               Your bid: $100

               Your bid: $110

2) Due to bidding increments, your max bid was not recognized.

          - example

               Your bid: $95 (your max bid is $100)

               - bidding increment is $5

               Another bidder: $100

In this example, your max bid was not recognized because we dislike increasing your own bid. Without a video backup of the simulcast auction, the bid history would

show your bid was increased for no apparent reason. If the bidding increment was $2.50, your max bid would have been recognized since another bidder would be at $97.50.

3) Tie at your max bid. 

          - example

               Your bid: $80 (your max bid is $100)

               - bidding increment is $10

               Another bidder 1: $90

               Another bidder 2 & Your bid: $100

In this example, the outcome depends on when your bid was recognized by an auctioneer unlike online only bidding. With online only bidding, usually whoever placed the max bid first wins, but that's not how simulcast/live auction works. At simulcast/live auction, if an auctioneer doesn't see your bid, your bid is not recognized although you may have been the first to raise your hand.