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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Quote:
Let's assume multiple items are up for bid and the auctioneer is selling choice for these items. Then when the auction ends for these items let's assume that you have lost the auction but an item still remains that interests you in this lot.
In this particular example you were bidding against only one other bidder (the winner).
A sharp auctioneer will ask you if you would like to choose one of the remaining items at the price that the winner just received it at.
For 'fear' of losing the item nine out of ten bidders will usually take one of the remaining items at the recent win price that the initial winner just won it at.
The auctioneer might even classify you as a ‘backup' bidder which gives you the right to purchase the item at this recent price.
The sharp bidder, however, will decline the auctioneer's request to buy now and instead wait until the item is run again by the auctioneer.
Because in this example only one other person was bidding against you it is probable that this same scenario will exist the second time around but the winning price will be lower (99% of the time) when the auction ends with you as the winner.
Because you waited until the item was put up for auction for a second time you saved $s and allowed the emotion of ‘fear' of losing the item to be secondary to any other thoughts.
This is good advice but can also work against you. I have seen items put back on the block only to gain several more bidders and sell for even higher money. If it is a choice auction, I will sometimes drop from bidding if I only have one other bidder and take any leftovers as the back up bidder. My success rate with approach is about 50/50. I was bidding on a lot of 11 Morgans a couple of years ago against 2 others, one I knew was stacked with cash so I could not out bid him. He knew nothing of coin but had seen me buy at several auctions so he ws diving in. I just made sure I was back up bidder. Final sale price was $11, I had bid $10 and the other guy dropped out at $7 or $8. The winning bid took only one coin. A nice shinny 1921 so I had choice of the other 10 of which I took seven. The other 3 went back to block only to sell for the same price as before to another bidder. Again more people had decided to bid the second time around. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2049 Posts |
They are fun but for some reason every coin auction I have gone to have had the prices end up well above fair market value. Whether it's just uneducated buyers thinking that things have to be worth alot because they're old or other shady things going on, every auction has turned out that way. On one auction when silver was much much lower, and melt value for silver dollars was around $12, the beat up Peace and Morgan dollars were going for $20-$25. One guy kept bidding them up so we asked him why he was paying so much. His claim was that he was buying them to resell to a local refiner and that the refiner was paying MORE than melt. So his story was b.s. from 2 standpoints....one that refiners dont do that as far as I have ever seen, and two that the melt value was closer to $9 and he was paying $20 or more for each. Even if the dollars were one pure ounce of silver, he was still paying well over what he should be based on his claim. We pointed out the error in his ways and he became VERY defensive. It made us all wonder if he was a shill bidder for the auction house, and many of us walked away without buying anything. Anyway, it's still fun to see the coins and other things so like others mentioned above, if you plan to bid you need to pick your max and stick with it. Dont get caught up in the auction fever and get carried away. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
524 Posts |
It's a waste of time going to auctions for coins in my area. I can get deals on other things but not on coins. There are 6-8 old farmers and retired guys that buy almost everything for over what it's worth. In hindsight I guess they did pretty well on the silver they over paid for last year but the other items will never get to where they paid. I guess my point is don't get too worked up before you go because you might not have much of a chance to get a good deal.
I hope you hit a good one. Let us know how it goes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1745 Posts |
I attend quite a few coin auctions and offer the following:
- make sure you examine the coin(s) before hand, more that once I have been surprised after I got the coin in hand and gave it a good look.
- don't get caught up in the excitement, have a price in mind and stick to it. There will be more coins to come today and in the future
- do keep good notes to establish where trends. Is silver selling at melt, below or above?
- look for deals, even if you don't need something picking some stuff which is clearly a deal, can be rewarding
- if it's a long auction, the later in the day can be best. Some bidders may be out of money or tired
- coin only auctions will have the best selection but also the most dealers/serious collectors.
Good luck and have fun.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Auctions are a great place to go and if nothing else but to look at coins. I agree that you can get caught up in the moment and end up in a bidding war and pay to much for an item (doesn't have to be coins). I would do as was mentioned and have a sst price in your mind and stick to it. its easy to say to yourself maybe they saw something I missed if the bidding gets crazy but chances are they didn't and your first impression was correct. This may not be the case 100% of the time but I would say it is at least 98% of the time so the odds are against you that your first impression were wrong
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2448 Posts |
My wife would force me to go with her! (Amazing how a 115 lb lamb can convince a 225 lb lion into doing things.) Point is, I always ended up having more fun than her. Go figure!
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
Don't ever take any advice on auctions from me. I once bought a rusty coathanger for 75 cents to open an auction. Duh!
I've bid in several internet auctions run through Proxibid and have had a good experience (but keep in mind just about everything that mpbmedia posted). As long as the photos of individual coins are clear, I can avoid "problem" coins and most counterfeits. I've actually discovered a few sleepers in mixed lots I've won, and although the usual Internet bidders' premium runs between 5 and 15 percent, I've never felt that I've overpaid for anything that I've won. Most auction houses will bend over backwards to point out deficiencies in lots that they sell, too, and will even pull lots when something has been described incorrectly.
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Valued Member
United States
439 Posts |
I tried Auctionzip a few times. Make sure you look at the FEES and the SHIPPING.
You have to be careful. You might think you are buying silver under melt but by the time they add 15% and a $12 minimum shipping and handling fee and a 3% credit card fee you pay way over. I always bid low hoping something would come my way but it never did. I think it is kind of a scam, be careful. But what do I know..
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
Hello... This is steve johnson, the co-founder of auctionzip. If anyone has any questions about our site or how it works, I would be glad to answer.
Thank you,
Steve
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19949 Posts |
Welcome to CC Steve!
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
KNOW WHAT YOU'RE BUYING!
In most jurisdictions, the auctioneer is assumed to be little more than a cashier in terms of product knowledge. If he holds up a brass buck and says it's gold, it's up to you to know better.
In person auctions, especially farm and estate sales, are a great place to dump fakes. Even if you can find the auctioneer later, he's usually under no obligation to refund your money. You had your chance to examine the coin.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
And of course, you're bidding against retail buyers, which means that dealers have a tough time making money buying at auction.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Auctions can be fun/profitable, for really strange reasons.
One auction was starting at a crawl. He'd ask a starting price, lower it four or fives times to get the first bid, then they'd eventually bid it up to near or above his original asking price. This was on every single lot.
After a few minutes, they brought up a box of stuff I noticed several people were interested in. I figured I'd at least save him the trouble of riding the price down to the first bid. He asked for $20, I said "one dollar", he slammed the hammer in a fraction of a second and yelled "sold! for one dollar!"
Other bidders were ticked off royally, and you could hear them griping back and forth. The auctioneer simply said "folks, we're here to sell this stuff, and I don't want to be here all night playing games. If you want something, bid and let's go."
From that point on, things moved considerably faster.
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Valued Member
United States
186 Posts |
And of course there is a nice auction website.........
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Valued Member
United States
62 Posts |
I've been to in person auctions where I ended up with coins for pennies on the dollar. I have been to others where everything was hitting 3 times retail. It just depends on the buyers and the auctioneer. A good auctioneer can drive the price up more than double what it should sell for by prodding the right people. I've seen it done countless times. I've also seen terrible auctioneering. One that comes to mind was a coin and sports card auction where the turnout was so terrible and bidding was so weak he should have cancelled the entire auction. I was the top bidder, taking about 90 percent of the collection, and I paid no more than 5 cents on the dollar for anything.
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Replies: 20 / Views: 3,499 |
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Posted 02/18/2011 08:16 am
