Auction Frustration

[KenDorney]

No, this is not the usual complaint of high prices being hammered the last year or so.  This complaint is regarding a lot of shenanigans going on with the lower tier auctions.  As many expect, there is a lot of shill bidding happening.  One dealer was put on hiatus by Biddr as they were caught red handed.  But that's not my issue. Just this past week:

One dealer advertised a drop in their commission rates, a big 5%.  Not bad, I think.  I will throw some bids in.  I only won a few lots, but when I got the invoice it showed that while the commission did go down their shipping fees tripled!  That is a big red flag for me to never do business with them again.

Next up, I entered about a hundred bids in an auction, all proxy.  I didn't watch the auction live but did periodically check my bid status throughout the day.  It was showing the usual, I was winning about 20% or so of my bids.  Near the end of the sale I look and see I have won about 20 lots.  OK, not a bad days work.  When I get the invoice I see it only has three lots.  Huh?  What happened to the 17 others?  As a dealer on Biddr I know how their system works and I assume the seller must have been unhappy with the hammer price and cancelled my other bids.

I think I will be giving small auctions a rest for a very long while.

[filolif]

Sorry you had to deal with this. 😞 I tend to avoid the smaller auctions because I fear the shenanigans you've encountered. Just not worth the hassle to me. Willing to name any names so that others might avoid some of the unscrupulous actors?
 

[Ryro]

Yeah, I had the same experience with N&N London over the weekend. Take buyer's fees down to 15%, great. 45£ F%&@ on shipping, when last time I paid 10£! I'll be really thinking if I NEED the next coins I buy from them. 

Admittedly, I'd have still bid just to get this wacky MSC:

But I've never had a firm cancel my winning bids before🤬 What firm was that?

[Magnus Maximus]

That’s pretty bad behavior on the auction house’s part. Would the dealer in question happen to have connections to Turkey? 

[red_spork]

Name and shame. That's the only way to make these dealers care.

[Steppenfool]

As someone currently on a tight budget, I am terrified to bid on anything that isn't from an auction house in my home country of the UK. There seems to be no end to the problems and costs that can arise nowadays.

I appreciate the warnings about certain auction houses too. The last thing I want is unpleasant surprises.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Steppenfool

[jfp7375]

1 hour ago, red_spork said:

Name and shame. That's the only way to make these dealers care.

+1 on this - if you are confident the allegations are true, I say let them fly.

Otherwise auction houses will continue to take advantage of bidders... all of the bidding mechanics happen behind closed doors for online auctions, so we as consumers place a lot of trust in the auction houses. Most are fine, I think, but you never really know. 

[KenDorney]

After being contacted by Biddr I was asked to clarify some things.  First, it looks like I mixed up two different auctions, so the one I thought had many winning bids was actually a previous one. Oops!  Also, Sellers cannot see a proxy bid in any way, those are completely protected and invisible to the auction house.  I had not intended to suggest that proxy bids were visible.

Perhaps I am simply suffering from auction exhaustion...

[KenDorney]

Additionally, I should mention Biddr is my preferred auction platform, both as a seller and buyer.  

[akeady]

1 hour ago, KenDorney said:

After being contacted by Biddr I was asked to clarify some things.  First, it looks like I mixed up two different auctions, so the one I thought had many winning bids was actually a previous one. Oops!  Also, Sellers cannot see a proxy bid in any way, those are completely protected and invisible to the auction house.  I had not intended to suggest that proxy bids were visible.

Perhaps I am simply suffering from auction exhaustion...

It happens (auction exhaustion!)

Funnily, in January I had an auction house bill me for a coin didn't bid on - when I said this, they forwarded the bid sheet (from biddr) - it was from a previous auction and had the auction number as well as the lot number for each lot!   So, it was easy to point that out.   As well as the coin they had me winning, I was the supposed underbidder on some other coins - I don't know if they unwound all my imaginary bids and gave the other coins to their winners at lower prices.

ATB,
Aidan.

[maridvnvm]

A few years back MA-Shops had an auction arm MA-Auctions. I saw a few bit on there that I liked the look of and placed some bids. I wasn't expecting to win but when I went back to watch them closed was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had won all my lots and at a fraction of my maximum bids. I contacted the seller for an invoice and was met with a response accusing me of being a crook if I expected the seller to sell me the coins for such a low price. I quoted the Ts & Cs of the auction site to him and as a result of this I was given negative feedback accusing me of being a crook and a trouble maker. I escalated to the site admins and they stated that there was really no obligation on the seller to sell and that it was out of their control regardless what the Ts & Cs stated.

I had no dealing with MA-Shops for some time after that experience. MA-Auctions no longer exists.

[Marcosx]

On 9/27/2022 at 5:23 PM, Magnus Maximus said:

That’s pretty bad behavior on the auction house’s part. Would the dealer in question happen to have connections to Turkey? 

they almost all do It is the new Bulgaria