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Author
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Topic: Last minute bids and auction time extensions
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yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 979
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 01-25-2026 05:42 PM
   
I am curious to hear about the strategy of auction bidding I observe while watching auctions — and it is in all auctions, such as live or timed, i.e., where there is not a strict time ending like eBay.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. Inquiring mind wants to know. Thanks. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 55836
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-25-2026 06:21 PM
It is probably not the only reason, but one strategy is to try to out wait your competition. The thought is that, eventually, the other bidder(s) will get tired of waiting and go away, leaving you as the winner. 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. I have fallen victim to the latter, whether intentional or not, where because of the delay two lots I was interested in overlapped and while I was busy bidding on the second, I lost out on the first. |
Liembo
Member Posts: 913
From: Bothell, WA
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 01-25-2026 08:32 PM
It is the same mentality that drives penny auction sites. It's hoping that the other parties will fall asleep at the wheel. Penny auction sites are the finest distillation of this behavior, but it applies elsewhere. | |
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