About live/online auctions?

Ive been to dozens and dozens of live auctions over the years and have logged into several online only auctions. As a matter of fact I have been unloading a bunch of junk and parts at our local online auction house and that process works good. I recently had my first opportunity to bid online at a combined live/online farm auction. There was an implement I was a little interested in. I logged into the sale before the big online items started...jewelry was not online. My first question is, isnt there audio so you can hear the live bidding? The bids were just posted in real time as floor bids or online but you could not hear so there was a little delay. I understand the part where you can place a high bid online ahead of time and the auction holds your bid and the sale works up and your bid is automatically upped until it gets to your high or you buy the item. But, if you cant hear the sale, what keeps an unscrupulous auctioneer from taking fake bids until your max is reached? I guess that can happen even if you can hear the sale. My nephew bought a tractor online recently. He placed a high bid of 3500 since he had to be away from the computer. Amazingly, he got it for exactly 3500. Now whats the odds of that. I smell something fishy there. It appears they held his high bid as they should and then just the right amount of bids came in to get to his 3500. Highly unlikely. Years ago, I helped an elderly friend set up for a sale. He had a few tractors, etc. Before the sale the auctioneer knew I was the mans helper and he said the old man wanted protection on one of his tractors. the auctioneer told me to bid to 3700 on the tractor. I said what if I buy it? He said dont worry. I bid to 3700 as directed and stopped. Suddenly the auctioneer was looking at me and taking bids from me like I was still bidding-but I wasnt. The auctioneer continued to take pretend bids from me until it got higher and sold to someone. At the selling point I think he actually had to back up one bid because he had me high. That was my first experience at shifty auctioneering.

I have never seen a online live auction that didn't have audio. Who was the online auction company?

I have purchased a few items at both live, and on line sales. But I don't like any of it. I don't care what kind of auction it is, there's so much room for monkey business.

Small local auction company. When I first logged on there was an ask a question box. And someone had asked where is the audio. After a few minutes that question disappeared.

Sounds like a small time auction company. Not very sophisticated.

I've bought that way. There was audio. Some use a third party. Scott uses Proxy Bid. I bought a bull on the tested bull sale in Remus in March. United Producers handled that one, but the online bidding was handled through D V Auctions. They have several cattle sales all over the country every day. The bid was on screen as well as having live audio. I bought a feed wagon on Honest John Stamm's going out of business sale . Miedema had that one. They handle their own through their website.

I was at one of Scott's sales a few weeks ago that was live only, but John was taking bids on his cell phone on a few items. I've never seen anything as sleezy as what you experienced.

This was Sherwood from Alma st Louis area I think

The one my nephew bought at was out of state

So when you are selling your stuff online auction you wouldnt be tempted to bid it up some? I think its pretty much a given that quite often whether it be online or live or combination of both people are going to try and get the most they can for stuff. Really when you think about it its not much different than trying to barter with someone on a private deal. Sometimes you just have to walk away. I was bidding on a 2-70 white last week on an online auction. I was pretty sure it was the owner running it up on me, but you know what I would have done the same thing as there didnt seem to be anyone else getting in on it. I bid to 6500 so with the commision that would have been over 7k. I stopped and he bid tractor in as he wasnt up to what he thought he needed out if it I guess, as he has it for sale on market place now! I guess my point is there aint no one forcing you to go any higher than what you are willing to pay.

Their sign is out in front of the UPI sale barn in St Louis. Is their office in the feed store out in front of the sale barn or what? I've seen their sale bills, but I can't honestly say I remember going to one of their auctions.

I've only placed a maximum bid with an auctioneer, one time. It was a short notice sale and there was an Oliver that I didn't want to go to scrap. I didn't know how many other Oliver guys had seen it and didn't want to take a chance, so I gave him a bid that was higher than scrap, but not by a lot. With what that one ended up bringing, it probably started for more than what my maximum was.

redtom, i dont doubt for a second that he got it at exactly his hi bid, the first person to bid 3500 is going to be the high bidder, so if he placed his high bid and walked away, then is someone on site bid 3500, the onsite person isnt going to win. i almost always bid 100 bucks or so less than a normal stopping point, so if i think the high bid will be 3500 and i am on the fence etc, then i bid 3400. its almost always a race to a magic number on an item. people online and onsite always have a value. as for audio, i bet there was an audio button somewhere on there. normally they will post if they lost audio on the site so you know.

Any livestock auction that I have ever been to in person that was also presented online, the auctioneer has said things to the online bidders. Like 'internet, your out' and stuff like that.

Live or online auctions either one, I don't think they are any more honest than the people themselves that are running them.

I always wondered what you would witness if you went to a combination auction in person, but did your bidding online on your phone even though you were in attendance. Your bid would be the same as if made by raising your hand, but you would be there to see if any bids were taken out of the sky.

One sale I was at, the live bids seemed to slow down and or halt when the auctioneer claimed to have an internet bid. It really seemed as if the live audience questioned if the auctioneers internet bid was legit. As in, the auctioneer may of been taking a bid from out of the sky and saying it was an internet bid. I remember thinking during the sale that if the live audience is gonna quite bidding against internet bidding, you might be better off to make a legitimate online bid instead of bidding in person while there.

About the only way to safeguard yourself, is to not bid more than your willing to pay, and at the same time, no more than the item is worth to ya. This goes for both live and online. Only way to insure that you don't get hurt.

When placing a max online bid, it might be best to make a somewhat odd bid. And maybe a tad less than what you think the item is worth. Like 2,850 instead of an even 3,000. That way, if you win the bid at 2,850, you can assume you got milked out of the entire 2,850, but you still got a good deal considering you got it for 150 less than you were really willing to pay.

Always keep in mind auctions are held for two reasons 1)For the seller to make as much money as they can make 2)For the auctioneer to make as much money as they can make.Auctions are the Wild West of the buying and selling business.

I loved live farm auctions, was a hobby of dad and then me to go to any around. Fun for noon and maybe get a deal, at least get a lunch and some gossip.

Online auctions have nothing to offer me. I cant look at the item, I have to pay extra fees to buy anything, no social interaction.

I know, its progress.

Auctioneers job is to make the most money for the seller and themselves.

Of course things are manipulated to get top dollar. It always was that way, in live auctions also, way back when and now as well.

Online auctions allow more stuff to happen out of sight so more options to manipulate the sell price.

Up to the buyer to bid what they think they should and then walk away, so it works out. Is what it is.

Paul

It always amazes me how "personal accountability" types are so quick to throw blame on the auctioneer when they are in complete control of how much THEY bid.

You want it. You have a price in mind. If you pay that price or less, it's a win, regardless of how you got there. If it isn't the auctioneer, it's the seller or a shill for the seller, or some random crazy old guy. Sometimes it's actually someone that wants it as much as you do.

It's also funny how the "anti entitlement" types get their hamhocks in a twist when their auction buy isn't the bargain of a lifetime.

You're only being run up because you keep raising your hand. The easy solution is to stop raising your hand.

This post was edited by BarnyardEngineering on 05/04/2023 at 05:20 am.

When I think an auctioneer is taking fake bids or if I think someone is bidding just to run me up my first move is to stop bidding like I'm thinking about if I've hit my maximum. That tends to shake out the fake bids or the people bidding with no intention of buying.

When we first got married we were at an estate sale. It was a smallish household estate held in the evening during the work week - it was small crowd. They had a lost quite a few people when they got to a washer and dryer set - actually pretty nice and fairly new. The auctioneer tried to start at $500 for the pair then backed up to $50 - I bid. He knew I had spent a lot of time looking them over (and I was the only one) and he immediately had a second bid for $100 then $125 and turned and looked hard at me waiting for my $150 bid - I didn't. My wife whispered ,Its still a good price, and I told her back - ,He doesn't have any bids but mine,. When he realized I wasn't biting and he couldn't get another bid (we both knew they were still cheap at $150), he yells SOLD and points to some poor guy walking away and says ,Its yours, the guy walking away looks at him and protests ,I wasn't bidding,. The auctioneer says OK we'll back her up to the next bid - completely skipping over the other fake $100 bid he goes back to my $50 bid and quickly says SOLD! This auctioneer was pretty well respected in the community but I learned my lesson.

I've been to an auction or two where I was bidding against the wall, the sky, or something else - but not a real bidder. Once I see that happening, I leave and never return to that auctioneer.
I have noticed that there are several types at auctions. Those that have to win - no matter how high the bid goes, and the ones that are just there to bid up the others. Then there are the ones that always drop out early without any meaningful bids.
Personally, if I see an item I like, I figure a price I am willing to pay - including any taxes and buyer premiums. Once that price is exceeded, I stop. I haven't caught auction fever yet.

Let me get this straight. Years ago you were a shill for a seller yet called the auctioneer crooked and you are now complaining because the same thing happened to your nephew?

(quoted from post at 07:30:10 05/04/23) Let me get this straight. Years ago you were a shill for a seller yet called the auctioneer crooked and you are now complaining because the same thing happened to your nephew?

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It's called being young and naive and impressionable. Glad you came out of the womb with all your old man wisdom already ingrained in your head.

Let me tell a little story about a few famous shills that I knew. Most folks knew that if either of these guys was bidding, there was at least a 50% chance they were bidding things up or bidding them in. A neighbor had cancer and had a farm auction. He must have told both of them that he'd changed his mind about selling his skid steer after he'd listed it. It was pretty rough. There might have been one or two legitimate bids at the start, but these two got locked in and must not have known they were bidding against each other. They ran that thing up to four times what any sane person would have given. The owner kept his skid steer, but it sure was comical watching those two going at it and not knowing they were bidding against each other.

A few years later, one of the shills had an auction of his own. He had the other one raising bids for him. The one having the sale owed me some money for some calves and I was going to get it back in merchandise. I'd told him that ahead of time. There was a lawn tractor that I wanted. The other shill was bidding on it, so I quit. He got it. The owner came over to me and said ''I got it for you''. I don't remember what the price was, something like $125 or some such thing. Anyway, a few minutes later, he came over to me and said he'd have to have $200 for it. I was ticked, but I figured it was the only way I'd get my money, so I told him I'd do it.

I loaded it up and brought it home. The next night, the other shill drove in while I was eating supper. He walked right in to the house yelling ''Where's that thieving Randy Lund that stole my lawn mower?''. I could tell he was serious. Apparently he'd bought it for himself and not for me and the owner thought if he offered him the difference, he'd be happy with it. Problem was, he must not have even talked to him about it, he just told him that I took it. I told him the whole story about him owing me money and telling me that he ''got it for me''. Well, that took the wind out of his sails a little bit, but he still wanted his lawn mower and I was back to the first guy still owing me $200.