Morphy's Auction: On line bidding

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Heads Up reminder to all on line bidders: In yesterdays auction, I placed 2 bids on items that were the winning dollar bids, HOWEVER, there was a "Tie"  floor bidder who walked away with the items.Online Bidders beware! Perhaps it is in the fine print. They recommended coming in person or bid by phone ( "given second priority under "in person" bidder" ). This may be a policy of other auction houses?
Hurricane

[490roundball]

It's in the policy blurb for every one of the auction house I deal with

Floor beats sealed/absentee/internet bids in a tie

First in line breaks the tie when the floor is not involved

I aways try to be on he phone if it something i really want. 

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Just another thought as I reflected again.... perhaps not bidding "even" numbers would make a tie less likely . This you can often do when bidding on line; the software will accept  ex: 1501.00 or similar.
Hurricane

[Seth Isaacson]

I doubt many auction houses are going to allow you to bid $1 more than the asking bid.

[490roundball]

Right.  They normally have an increments table

The higher the price the bigger the individual increment

Some have what they call a " plus" system

So for example you bid 1k. Plus 1.  Or plus 2

If you are the second bidder at 1k. They will automatically up your bid by one or two increments to break the tie

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Never hurts to try...may depend on their software. Skinners just accepted such a bid.
Hurricane

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Just to follow. The same horn showed up by an ebay seller. When I tried to buy it for the same auction bid, I was told it was "called in" because of a " reserve"....probably the same with the gun I "lost" as well since my bid was the winning dollar bid. As stated above on the phone" floor bidder wins." which it is now alleged by the owner not to be true.  Note: THERE WAS NO RESERVE ANNOUNCED ON THE AUCTION ADVERTISEMENT ON THE INTERNET.

Email quote: "The horn did not meet my reserve at auction. Thank you for your interest but I cannot accept your offer."

Morphys has a "Reserve policy" but it seems without obligation to announce  . At any rate they misrepresented the result verbally and the item has now been removed from the catalog on line, just after I copied the pictures today and posted this comment..

Hurricane

[Seth Isaacson]

Lots of live auctions do not tell you if there are reserves or what the reserves are. I can't recall ever hearing any live auction house announce a reserved item come to think of it. Did you hear the announcement that it sold to the floor or was it announced via an online third party like Proxibid or Invaluable via text? Might have just been the default response for those programs if the item isn't sold to an online bidder.

The Ebay thing is weird. Here is their reserve policy:
"A reserve price is a hidden minimum price—essentially, the lowest price that the seller is willing to accept for the item. If the listing ends without any bids that meet the reserve price, the seller is not required to sell the item.

As a buyer, you are not shown the reserve price. As you bid on an auction-style listing with a reserve price, pay attention to the label next to the current bid price to see if the reserve has been met. Once the reserve has been met, the "reserve not met" label will be removed."

Was there a reserve not met label?

[Shreckmeister]

So if I have an absentee bid of $500, why does the auction house allow a tie.  Why don't they force the other bidder up another increment?

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

"Was there a reserve not met label?" I was told by a direct phone call by me to Morphys. An employee told me it went to the bidder who was present on the floor as it was a tie.
Hurricane

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Schreck: I can't answer your question. I am just hoping you keep the "fraternity " of collectors updated so they don't get disappointed as I was.

[Seth Isaacson]

"Was there a reserve not met label?" I was told by a direct phone call by me to Morphys. An employee told me it went to the bidder who was present on the floor as it was a tie.
Hurricane

I was talking about the Ebay listing. Was that also Morphys?

[Mtn Meek]

So if I have an absentee bid of $500, why does the auction house allow a tie.  Why don't they force the other bidder up another increment?

The tie can occur like this.  Your absentee bid of $500 is your max bid. In the sequence of bidding, the last bid made for you is $450 with $50 increment. The floor bidder bids the next increment of $500. This is your max and they cannot go higher on your behalf. It's not really a tie because th floor bidder got to your max first.