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 Replies: 13 / Views: 12,143 |
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Valued Member
United States
327 Posts |
I have recently been bidding at this site and today I found out I made some big mistakes. I was bidding on items and I bid the highest amount that I was willing to pay. Well, there were items that were around $10 when I bid and I bid $60. I got an invoice from the auctioneer tonight for a very large amount. I checked the auctions and found that even though the bid below me was $10, the invoice I was sent charged me $60. I guess if this is the way that they do business, this was a very expensive lesson learned. Just wondering if anyone else has made this mistake.
John
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
That's one heck of a way to find that out! I've never bid there and I'm certainly not going to now, unless someone can explain what happened. Good thing you weren't willing to pay 600! Geez!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
I got caught up in that sort of thing before. Reviewing that site, I see some double talk.
I didn't see where you could go nuts with a huge bid, seeing how the auctions have set increments. If you didn't follow those guidelines, there may be an out. "Bids are increased in set bid increments, and odd bids not conforming to these increments, will not be accepted." This is stated a couple times in different ways. Can't you retract a bid? O.K; enough! I'm getting worked up remembering the 130.00 sunglasses I bought for a kid.
Edited by fioti
06/01/2010 09:23 am
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Valued Member
United States
294 Posts |
I use AuctionZip to find live auctions in my area, but have never bid online through them. Read through the forums on that site, as some of it is pretty interesting. One thread talked about absentee bids, and how some auctioneers think it's okay to use the absentee bidder's high bid as the starting point, rather than starting low and working the bid up. The forum is dominated by auctioneers, and reading some of these threads gave me a whole new insight into how an action runs.
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Valued Member
 United States
327 Posts |
Thanks for that info omahaorange. I was sent an invoice from this very auctioneer this morning. There were 11 items and every item used my highest bid to invoice me for. I called him for an explanation and he simply told me that the live bidders had bid all 11 items up to my max bid. That it was just a coincidence. Needless to say, I will not be bidding high any longer. It's a shame because I have used auctionzip before and had good experiences. Oh well.
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Valued Member
United States
294 Posts |
I was amazed at what they said in that thread. They justify it by saying "we work for the seller, it's our responsibility to get as much money as we can" while noting their profit is a percentage of the selling price. That's fine, I understand everybody wants to make a buck. Then they further justify this practice by saying they assume that your high bid is the price you're willing to pay, so they start the bidding there, hoping the live audience will up the price. My problem is, I am now locked into that high bid, with no chance to go higher if I feel I should do so. When I attend an auction and view the merchandise, I decide what I want, and how much I'm willing to spend. Sometimes I say, never mind to my set high bid, usually not going as high (especially if I see the bidding getting out of control) or maybe I'll go a little higher if I think the other bidders are hesitating when they bid near my set price. This is why I like attending the auctions, rather than leaving absentee bids or online bids. I think not being there puts me at a disadvantage, at least I can see who my competition is. I like auctions because I'm looking for bargains. If I wanted to pay retail, I'd just go to the store. But some of these guys think they need to (and sometimes do) get these kinds of prices for what amounts to used merchandise.
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Valued Member
United States
327 Posts |
Omaha, I am right there with you. Clearly there is a relationship between auctionzip and the auctioneers. Below is my email to auctionzip and their response and then my response to them: To Auctionzip: Hello, I am writing today in regards to an auction that I bid on a couple of days ago. The auctioneer information is as follows: XXXXXXXXXXXXX I will try and be as brief as possible. They sent me an invoice for 11 auctions that I had won. The problem I am having is that the invoice is showing my high bid for each item! There are auctions listed here where I had placed a high amount of $30.00 and the bid below me was $6.50. Another on had my high bid at $60 and the bid below me was $30. I realize that I am only able to see bids that were placed online but it is just to coincidental that my high bid for each auction ended up as the invoice amount. I do not want to harm my reputation and so I agreed to pay them but I did speak with Bob Summers and told him exactly what I have told you. That this is beyond coincidence. I thank you for your time and will obviously have to be more careful in future situations. I have also shared my story with a coin community website to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else. Best Regards, John Auctionzip response: Hi John, I'm very sorry to hear about the problems you're having with Bob Summers. You may want to contact the Board of Agriculture. That is the entity in charge of auctioneer licensing in the state of West Virginia. Their web site is https://www.wvagriculture.org/progr...ers/Rule.htmUnfortunately, Auctionzip cannot enforce any policies for auctioneers, but the Board of Agriculture is the one who can implement any rules & regulations. Again, I apologize for the situation & I hope it is resolved quickly. Thank you very much for using Auctionzip. Sincerely, Bill Defibaugh And then finally, my response: Bill, Thanks for the response. I wanted to comment on what you wrote. I am a little disappointed that you would advise a person using your site to contact a government agecy for investigation of an auction on your own site. I do realize that your company is probably handling thousands of auctions a month and that none of these issues are of your responsibility, I would ask you to consider that while you are not the auctioneer, your reputation is affected nonetheless. When customers are defrauded they are not going to necessarily remember the specific auctioneer, but they will remember auctionzip. When someone in our coin forum asks about auctionzip, I will likely reflect on my entire experience with auctionzip. I won't remember every auctioneers name. People will want to know if it is safe to use auctionzip. I hope your understand what I'm saying. I'm sure that my email is just one of many with the same type of issue. I guess I'm just another customer that needs to vent. Regards, John I have left off the auctioneer's information in case by some miracle there was a misunderstanding. I am hoping to still find coins on this site with reputable auctioneers. The main point here is to NEVER ever enter a high bid amount unless you are prepared to pay it because you likely will! Peace |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1733 Posts |
You've been hosed. Don't tender payment is my honest advice.
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Valued Member
United States
294 Posts |
John-
Sounds like auctionZip just passed the buck. They deny responsibility, and refer you to the governing agency to file a complaint. However, what the auctioneer did is probably legal, though not ethical.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
"The main point here is to NEVER ever enter a high bid amount unless you are prepared to pay it because you likely will!"
This covers just about any type of auction
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
Hello... This is steve johnson, the co-founder of auctionzip.com. I just came across this forum post and wanted to stop in and post a reply and answer any questions directly that you may have.
I am an auction buyer, so I understand the frustration when absentee bids are handled this way... Absentee bidding is an awkward situation for the auctioneer as they are an agent of the seller. Always make surento ask the auctioneer how they handle bids... Most that do it this way will tell you.
We have made some recent changes at auctionzip and this will no longer happen when using our platform. You may place bids through our absentee/live system, and the bid is never revealed to the auctioneer... Our system will bid on your behalf and get the item for you for as little as possible. I see frequent coin auctions posted...
Auctionzip itself is loaded with coin auctions... If anybody has any questions on how to find them, feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Steve Johnson
Auctionzip CEO and auction buyer
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
I too learned the hard way with auction zip. I have always used the site to find local auctions. It has always been quite helpful. I thought I should give there on line auctions a try I won a gold piece, it immediately went to my top bid. Much to my surprise when I received my invoice I noticed I was charged an extra 21% premium on the purchase equaling 315.00.
When I contacted the company 8 times I finally received a response that was less than professional, it seemed that they didn't really care if I had a problem with my auction. I am still currently waiting for my items, at audion close they withdrew all but 66.00 required to pay my invoice. Shortly after my cc# was stolen and my account had to be closed, may just be a coincidence but with such high premiums, horrible customer service, and lack of good ethics I learned a hard lesson I hope I still st least receive my item.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
In a postal auction I use quite often, the successful bidder gets the lot for 10% above the second highest bidder.
Say the second highest bidder bids $10, highest bidder bids $60. The highest bidder wins but only pays $10 + 10% = $11. Buyer commission + tax is added to $11, + Shipping on top of that.
$11= 15% + 10% tax on buyers commission, plus say $8 for shipping = $11+$1.50+$.015+$8 = $20.80 delivered.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
It's a "coincidence" that in all 11 cases the live bidders bid things up to your high bid amount and no live bidder went higher on any item? That's a pretty low mathematical probability of happening, probably close to zero. Ugly's first sentence is on the mark. Mr. Johnson, this deserves further attention from you.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 12,143 |
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Posted 06/01/2010 12:07 am
