posted 01-25-2026 05:42 PM               

Specifically, why do bidders wait until within the last 2 minutes or when the live auctioneer states "Fair Warning" to place their bid? Since in RR Auction the clock just resets for another 30 minutes, Lunar Legacies resets for another 5 minutes, in Heritage Live resets to another round of "Going Once, Going Twice, Fair Warning" etc.

Why not just go back and forth until there is a winner instead of dragging the time out? I watched bidders doing this for about 50 minutes over a photo lot in the Lunar Legacies auction with only about 10 to 15 bids in that whole time period as about every 4 minutes as the time wound down another bid would be placed.

Thus the question, what is gained by waiting to bid rather than an immediate response bid or just bidding the maximum you are willing to pay and let the other bidders keep responding to that until you win or a higher bid is placed.

posted 01-25-2026 06:21 PM               

The other part of this strategy can be that you hope your competition gets distracted while waiting for the clock to tick down and miss the close of the auction. Sometimes it is even another lot that pulls the bidder away.

posted 01-26-2026 06:48 PM               

Going Once:
Going Twice:
Final Warning:

This gives everyone in attendance the opportunity to up the bid. There is no way to pass on an item and revisit it at a later time. the item must be sold in lot order. In Florida this procedure is State Law as Auctioneers are licensed and regulated.

Only timed auctions can have timers extending the time for the lot to sell. The computer tracks the time to close the item and no live people are involved. Time resets when any new bid is received.

posted 01-26-2026 10:26 PM               

1. A surprisingly high amount of people don't actually pay attention to auction rules. They think it'll just end at the stated time, like on eBay. They don't realize that dropping in a bid at the last second merely extends the clock.

2. I think some bidders intentionally want to annoy you, by letting you think you won right up until the last moment. They're hoping you'll be frustrated enough to walk away. But personally, I think that getting the other person's hopes up will just motivate them want the item even more badly. I think this is a stupid strategy. (I also think that some people have watched too many movies where the main character jumps in at the last second to dramatically win an auction, and they have the delusion that it somehow increases one's chances to swoop in at the end.)

3. In some cases (notably RR), this can be the result of shifting strategy as multiple lots end at the same time. This will take a bit of explanation. I use a very specific strategy on RR, which I'll share below.

For example, suppose I have a budget of $1000 for the next RR space auction. There are three items I like: Item A is my favorite, and it's expected to go for around $1000. Item B is less important to me, but it's expected to go for $300. And Item C is least important, and it's expected to go for $800.

My strategy is to place the lowest possible bid on all three items as soon as possible, knowing that I'll be outbid. That doesn't matter. The key is that I now have the opportunity to bid on all three, right up to the end. I don't want to place my initial bids later, because the prices will be high enough by that point that I might win all three and go over my budget. I don't actually want to win all three, because I cannot afford that. So it's very important to bid early, when the items are in their early prices closer to $100.

Then on the afternoon of the auction's end, I'll return during the last 30 minutes and check the prices. If Item A is still within my $1000 budget, I focus on that and enter my final bid of $1000. But suppose that one minute before the auction ends, someone else puts in a bid of $1200. Item A is now out of my reach. But because I placed those initial bids on Items B and C, I can now focus on those. So now, I'm going to head to those listings and drop in a bid. There's now less than a minute, and my bid is going to extend the clock. I didn't want that to happen, but I was forced to shift priorities at the last moment because the other auction went too high. And now, because Item B and Item C are potentially both within my budget, I might be stuck doing it again. Maybe I'll try for B and C, but then lose C, leaving me slightly more money to try on B. It's annoying to keep extending the clock, but my budget for specific items keeps shifting as my list narrows down.

posted 01-26-2026 10:30 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Chuckster01:
I hope this helps.

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I was more inquiring why do the bidders make you go through the Going Once, Twice, Fair Warning... multiple times as they wait until after the "Fair Warning" to place their bid instead of battling bids until all the bidders except the high bidder stop bidding.

As in: Bidder place new high bid, time passes ... Going Once, Twice, Fair Warning ... new high bidder, time passes ... Going Once, Twice, Fair Warning ... new high bidder, time passes ... Going Once, Twice, Fair Warning ... new high bidder, time passes ... Going Once, Twice, Fair Warning ... sold.

posted 01-26-2026 10:42 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by hbw60:
A surprisingly high amount of people don't actually pay attention to auction rules...

I think some bidders intentionally want to annoy you, by letting you think you won right up until the last moment. They're hoping you'll be frustrated enough to walk away. But personally, I think that getting the other person's hopes up will just motivate them want the item even more badly.

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posted 01-27-2026 07:07 AM               

I bid on them all. RR is my favorite way of ending an auction. It outs the real players in the game, Also, for those who live outside the eastern time zone it gives them a chance to really participate. I know for me and it is just my opinion/input, sometimes it takes me a good bit of soul searching to decide if I want to place the next bid. Especially when it is high dollar item.

Timed auctions are good as well. Gives time to think and allows numerous bidding at the same time.

eBay bidding is almost a waste of time as there are too many who use automatic bidding at the last millisecond. You see it in the time it gets posted and when there is more than one doing it the one with the fastest computer wins.

I am OK with going once, twice, fair warning as it allows the computer and cyberspace to catch up. Also for the seller they want extra time for those with "auction fervor" to jump in. My frustration is with this:

Fair Warning
Fair Warning
Fair Warning
Fair Warning

Just how many Fair Warning notes do they need? That gets frustrating.

posted 01-27-2026 09:01 AM               

Highest bidder wins, although the maximum bid is both hidden and the bid itself is unknown to others. If two identical snipe bids enter at the last second only then is it a matter of fastest computer first.

And, if the snipe bid is identical to a bid placed previously, even though it has not been reached yet, the previous bid wins.