I accidentally bid on a lot that I was not interested in buying what can I do?

[seth77]

Well, I logged into my biddr app as Savoca Blue Auction 157 was taking place (it still is) and my app froze for a few seconds. Apparently that was right when lot 54 (a new style owl) was going live and those few seconds of me trying to figure out what was wrong with my app were enough for me to have inadvertently become the highest bidder on that lot. 

The coin is considerably more than my usual coin budget and I was not even following it, it is not in my areas of interest and I know nothing about these types. I contacted the auction house to explain the situation and I wonder if there is anything more that I could do to try to have my bid cancelled or find out if there is another way to fix this situation.

Any ideas? Has anyone had this happen to them?

I'd really like to get some help in fixing this, so I could get back to bidding on the stuff that I was actually following.

Thank you.

[ambr0zie]

Not good. I discussed with Savoca staff more than a few times and they are decent people. However, if you want to bid on other coins from the current auction and pay them, but not this one, I don't think they will accept this. 

My best advice would be to keep trying to win the coins you want in this auction, pay the entire invoice and then sell/consign the new style tetradrachm after. 
I am saying this because, judging after the prices obtained for these coins in the last months, you will get your money back in the worst case scenario. 

[UkrainiiVityaz]

I'm lucky that when I accidently bid on something I was not interested in it was only €15 and I turned around and sold it a couple of years later for about €120 or so. For €240 I'd eat it and consign it for a future sale.

[Ryro]

Send them an email and explain what happened. They are incredibly polite and customer friendly. 

That said, great coin at a good price...

[seth77]

Thanks for your thoughts and the additional ideas. I already contacted them, I know they are very customer friendly and polite, I have been buying with them for 8 or so years and have greatly enjoyed their offers and customer service, which is why I'd like not to let this mistake of mine become a major inconvenience. I'll see what they reply and hopefully we can reach an understanding.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Bad luck sort of. I hope you can get it squared away. And they can always re-list it in the next auction and maybe realize an even higher price.

[John Conduitt]

I think auctions like this should take responsibility. They could easily put an 'unlock bidding' button on the page to stop it happening, as other auctions do. At least Savoca have a budget limit, so you couldn't blow your house.

[JayAg47]

Congratulations on being a new owner of a new style owl!

Either you contact them hoping for them to cancel the bid or hoping you don't win that coin!

[Romancollector]

Something sort of similar happened to me with a Kuenker auction about 2 years ago. I was interested in a solidus in their fall sale. The opening bid was low, and I threw in a few bids, but kept getting outbid....I thought ok, why not throw in one more bid....I did, and then the screen froze for a solid 5-7 seconds. The screen then said something to the effect that I was winning, the only problem is that my winning bid was 1,200 euro over my intended max....I began to panic since the coin was not attracting any additional bids and it began to close....3,2....just before it hit 1, someone else threw in one final bid and I was saved....

[El Cazador]

10 hours ago, Romancollector said:

Something sort of similar happened to me with a Kuenker auction about 2 years ago. I was interested in a solidus in their fall sale. The opening bid was low, and I threw in a few bids, but kept getting outbid....I thought ok, why not throw in one more bid....I did, and then the screen froze for a solid 5-7 seconds. The screen then said something to the effect that I was winning, the only problem is that my winning bid was 1,200 euro over my intended max....I began to panic since the coin was not attracting any additional bids and it began to close....3,2....just before it hit 1, someone else threw in one final bid and I was saved....

Not a big deal at 1,200, no??

Edited February 26, 2023 by El Cazador

[sand]

@seth77 Perhaps, they will allow you to return the coin, because you are a long time customer, and perhaps they will accept your word, about what happened. If not, then perhaps, they will allow you to immediately consign the coin to their next auction. Rather than shipping the coin to you, perhaps they would simply put the coin in their next auction, with you as the consigner. Perhaps, they would not charge you the usual consigner fee, because perhaps it's less work than a usual consignment.

Edited February 26, 2023 by sand

[kapphnwn]

I would say the same thing. Contact them right away and explain the situation. I am certain they have dealt with this situation before and perhaps could contact the underbidder. and offer them the coin. I would make a point of not having this problem again in the future. I have never had this happen to me. There have been a couple of times my computer froze, but that meant I was unable to bid. Curses foiled again. Good luck 

[Prieure de Sion]

17 hours ago, seth77 said:

Thanks for your thoughts and the additional ideas. I already contacted them, I know they are very customer friendly and polite, I have been buying with them for 8 or so years and have greatly enjoyed their offers and customer service, which is why I'd like not to let this mistake of mine become a major inconvenience. I'll see what they reply and hopefully we can reach an understanding.

I also had this once with Oslo Myntgallery where my browser would freeze or spin around. I bid on a lot (and won) and it showed that the lot was not yet closed. So I kept on bidding. What I didn't know was that I had already bid (and won) on the next lot. But it didn't matter to me - because in addition to the Claudius bronze, I also got a beautiful Nero bronze. I was lucky in my misfortune.

If the auction is not yet finished, you can ask most auction houses to take back your bid. Most of them will do this even if the live auction has not yet started. Only Artemide was very unfriendly once. I had made a mistake in the lot number and placed the wrong bid weeks (!) before the live auction and immediately wrote to Artemide. The answer was - I can decide - either the bid stays and everything is fine - or the bid is cancelled but I am banned from all future auctions. And that was weeks before the live auction! I then left the bid and was later outbid, thank goodness. But that was the only unfriendly case.

 

After an auction - when the lot is closed and you have won - the whole thing is very difficult.

Of course, many auction houses are friendly and accommodating. But you also have to understand that if the auction house refuses, then you have to accept it and not complain about the auction house. Because it depends on what kind of lot it is. If it is a coin owned by the auction house, then the coin can simply be taken back in at the next auction. The auction house is only accountable to itself.

 

But if a coin of a consignor / customer has been auctioned, it is almost impossible to withdraw. 

Transfer to the second highest bidder. If I consign a coin and see that the coin was auctioned for 1500 euros - it is rather unthinkable that I as a customer agree to get less money. Whereby I think that auction houses do not even bother their customers with this question. It's not a good image to ask the customer / consignor after the auction - you know your coin was auctioned for 1500 euros, but is 1400 euros ok too, because the highest bidder made a mistake. That is not good advertising.

And cancel the "purchase" altogether? That's not an option for me as a consignor and customer either. Because if I consign a coin today, until it comes up for auction and until I finally get my money - sometimes it takes 3-6 months. So if a bidder withdraws from a winning lot, do I as a customer have to wait another 3-6 months? Again? No, I wouldn't want that. 

Long story short. Goodwill also matters. And above all, was the coin the property of the auction house or was this coin a consignment from a customer? I think the reaction will depend on that.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and please report back.

[seth77]

I immediately wrote to them to explain the situation, but being an automated auction on a Saturday evening, of course there was no reply, being outside business hours. I am rather bummed about this situation, but the more I get the chance to think about it the less the issue is about the price, even if it's clearly more than I'd be ok with as a coin budget, and the more it becomes about the actual coin: I know nothing about this collecting area, owls are one field that I never even considered going into partly because of prices (they are now down a notch or two) and partly because these coins are so famous and common; with the risk of sounding like a hipster, they are the epitome of mainstream lol. And that also raises another issue for me: there are so many fakes after these owls that I am not sure if I'd ever be sure enough of the authenticity of one particular piece if I'd ever do decide to own one.

After all your helpful ideas, I have a couple of courses of action in mind now:

1. the auction house decides to cancel my win and accept my apologies and allow me to continue bidding on their auctions and everything goes back to normal

2. they cannot accommodate my request (which would be totally understandable, after all the mistake was on my side even if it was totally unintentional) at which point I will see if they accept a settlement that might fit both them and allow me to keep some of my coin budget for things that I am actually interested in. The idea of paying for the coin and at the same time leaving it in consignment with them for a future auction is also very appealing if they decide that they can't get me off the hook for my winning bid.

They'll probably respond tomorrow morning to my yesterday's contact. If it's of interest I will keep you in the loop about the whole thing.

Edited February 26, 2023 by seth77

[sand]

5 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

And cancel the "purchase" altogether? That's not an option for me as a consignor and customer either. Because if I consign a coin today, until it comes up for auction and until I finally get my money - sometimes it takes 3-6 months. So if a bidder withdraws from a winning lot, do I as a customer have to wait another 3-6 months? Again? No, I wouldn't want that. 

Theoretically, the auction house could cancel the purchase, and still make the consigner happy, by paying the full amount of the highest bid, to the consigner. Then, the auction house would own the coin. Then, the auction house could auction the coin at a future auction. Of course, this would be a risk, to the auction house. If the coin gets a lower hammer price at the future auction, then the auction house would lose money on that coin.

However, whether the auction house should do that, or would want to do that, is something which, I won't try to figure out. I guess, it would depend on various factors, such as whether the coin is extremely expensive, and how often this sort of thing happens for that auction house, and whether the error was caused by the app, or caused by the bidder, or both.

I have no idea, if auction houses ever do such a thing.

Edited February 26, 2023 by sand

[Prieure de Sion]

12 minutes ago, sand said:

Theoretically, the auction house could cancel the purchase, and still make the consigner happy, by paying the full amount of the highest bid, to the consigner. Then, the auction house would own the coin. Then, the auction house could auction the coin at a future auction. Of course, this would be a risk, to the auction house. If the coin gets a lower hammer price at the future auction, then the auction house would lose money on that coin.

No offence meant by me 🙂 - yes, the auction house could do that - but I understand if they don't do it. Why should I bear the risk for someone else's mistake? And above all - if word gets around in the end, why should anyone else stick to winning an auction? Then lots of other winners can come in the future and want the cancellation. And in the end, you as the auction house have a warehouse full of coins that were not accepted. Including the financial risk of getting less at the next auction.

Of course, I hope that the auction house will cancel the "purchase" as a gesture of goodwill. One can only hope. But you also have to understand if the auction house doesn't do it.

[sand]

23 minutes ago, Prieure de Sion said:

No offence meant by me 🙂 - yes, the auction house could do that - but I understand if they don't do it. Why should I bear the risk for someone else's mistake? And above all - if word gets around in the end, why should anyone else stick to winning an auction? Then lots of other winners can come in the future and want the cancellation. And in the end, you as the auction house have a warehouse full of coins that were not accepted. Including the financial risk of getting less at the next auction.

Of course, I hope that the auction house will cancel the "purchase" as a gesture of goodwill. One can only hope. But you also have to understand if the auction house doesn't do it.

I agree. I don't know, if auction houses ever do such a thing, as cancelling a purchase, in such a situation. Perhaps, if the auction house could prove, that the app caused the error, then the auction house may decide to cancel the purchase, and still pay the highest bid to the consigner. Perhaps this situation is covered, in the fine print, of the agreement to which the bidder agrees, before the auction. I guess, it's a risk we all take, when we bid at electronic auctions. I sometimes wonder, if this sort of thing will happen to me, someday. Luckily for @seth77, at least, it wasn't a $10,000 coin (not likely in a Savoca Blue auction, I guess).

Edited February 26, 2023 by sand

[robinjojo]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:53 AM, seth77 said:

Well, I logged into my biddr app as Savoca Blue Auction 157 was taking place (it still is) and my app froze for a few seconds. Apparently that was right when lot 54 (a new style owl) was going live and those few seconds of me trying to figure out what was wrong with my app were enough for me to have inadvertently become the highest bidder on that lot. 

The coin is considerably more than my usual coin budget and I was not even following it, it is not in my areas of interest and I know nothing about these types. I contacted the auction house to explain the situation and I wonder if there is anything more that I could do to try to have my bid cancelled or find out if there is another way to fix this situation.

Any ideas? Has anyone had this happen to them?

I'd really like to get some help in fixing this, so I could get back to bidding on the stuff that I was actually following.

Thank you.

That's actually a decent new style owl, and good type coin, but I understand the problem.  If you've been a customer in the past, perhaps they will give you a waiver on lot 54.  After all, glitches happen, and I would assume that they want to maintain customer loyalty.

I've experienced a "lock up" sometimes with these live e-auctions.  I think that often happens when several bidders made last minute bids, creating a traffic jam of sorts at the auction house end. 

[seth77]

Problem solved. Savoca was very understanding and accepted my apologies and decided to cancel the purchase. I wouldnt be surprised if they thought the coin might actually fare better in another auction. I was already a fan of their company but now I'm even more of a satisfied customer.

Thank you so much for your thoughts again, this morning I was rather ready to bite the bullet, pay for the coin and leave it under consignment with them for a future auction. Maybe that would've earned me a few Euros but I'm happy that they understood that what happened was a mistake and accepted my apologies. 

Savoca fan forever.

Edited February 27, 2023 by seth77

[John Conduitt]

Just now, seth77 said:

Problem solved. Savoca was very understanding and accepted my apologies and decided to cancel the purchase. I wouldnt be surprised if they thought the coin might actually fare better in another auction. I was already a fan of their company but now I'm even more of a satisfied customer.

Thank you so much for your thoughts again, this morning I was rather ready to bite the bullet, pay for the coin and leave it under consignment with the for a future auction. Maybe that would've earned me a few Euros but I'm happy that they understood that what happened was a mistake and accepted my apologies. 

Savoca fan forever.

That's great. I wish they sold a few more things I collect 🤣

[Prieure de Sion]

12 minutes ago, seth77 said:

Problem solved. Savoca was very understanding and accepted my apologies and decided to cancel the purchase. I wouldnt be surprised if they thought the coin might actually fare better in another auction. I was already a fan of their company but now I'm even more of a satisfied customer.

Thank you so much for your thoughts again, this morning I was rather ready to bite the bullet, pay for the coin and leave it under consignment with them for a future auction. Maybe that would've earned me a few Euros but I'm happy that they understood that what happened was a mistake and accepted my apologies. 

Savoca fan forever.

That's a fantastic service! they didn't have to. Everyone would have understood if they hadn't. 

But as it is, it's a terrific service! Great. I'm really happy for you. You must be very relieved now.

A good (deserved) advertisement for Savoca. Great for you and really 1a service from Savoca.

[seth77]

Yes, they didn't have to accommodate me for my mistake and I would've remained their customer if they had declined my request, their Blue Auctions are likely the best thing that happened to my collecting interests.

[Prieure de Sion]

14 minutes ago, seth77 said:

Yes, they didn't have to accommodate me for my mistake and I would've remained their customer if they had declined my request, their Blue Auctions are likely the best thing that happened to my collecting interests.

I like to shop at Savoca Province Coins. I also like to buy cheaper ones. Because Savoca charges an honest 7 euros for parcel shipping! An honest 7 euros! Not like others (see my other thread). It seems to be a serious auction house.

[Severus Alexander]

Savoca’s great, I figured they’d come through for you.

Meanwhile, my vote for the least cooperative auction house goes to Naumann.  I recently gave them another chance after giving up on them a couple of years ago, and have gone through another bad experience. They do nothing to accommodate the customer’s needs.

[seth77]

3 minutes ago, Severus Alexander said:

Savoca’s great, I figured they’d come through for you.

Meanwhile, my vote for the least cooperative auction house goes to Naumann.  I recently gave them another chance after giving up on them a couple of years ago, and have gone through another bad experience. They do nothing to accommodate the customer’s needs.

I was a regular with them when they were G&N on ebay and Pecunem (I was there, Gandalf, 3000 years ago) and I remember they were open to suggestions and willing to help. But that was back in 2014-2015.