Quick rant ...
I had my eye on a Winchester Bull Gun in 30-06 with Redfield sights. The stock was chopped, then glued back together, so the collector value was gone. Opening bid on Proxibid was $800, which I bid before the auction started. I check in later, says it was sold on-site for .... $800. WTF? How can it be sold onsite if I put that bid in first? And this was an Amoskeag auction, which I thought had a decent reputation.
Now I will say I'm familiar enough with Proxibid to keep an eye on their premiums which can border extraordinary at times. And I know that if you put in a "max" bid, even though the website says it will bid up to that amount, they just go straight to your high bid.
Is it possible that there was an $800.00 telephone/internet bid placed directly with the auction house before you placed the $800.00 Proxibid? In the event of identical maximum bids, the first bid placed will be the winner.
I placed my bid before the bidding started for the day.
It’s not possible that someone placed a bid before you did before bidding opened for the day?
Have you contacted the auction house for an explanation?
I've encountered the same situation. Bids are time stamped according to my understanding and in the case of both bids in the same amount, the earliest bid rules. Telephone bids can be called in as soon as the catalog becomes available, so it could have happened a couple weeks or so earlier.
Phil
Go figure I haven't heard anything back from Proxibid or Amoskeag. I did find these little nuggets in their "Special Terms"
• The highest bidder acknowledged by the auctioneer shall become the owner upon the fall of the hammer. The auctioneer has sole discretion in the case of a dispute among bidders.
• Amoskeag Auction Company, Inc. reserves the right to reject any bid in order to protect our consignors interests.
Basically, the auctioneer has the right to do whatever they want and to hell with your bids.
Could it be that Amoskeag protected their consignor's interest by avoiding extra fees charged by Proxibid?
A bid on the floor of most auctions I am aware of, of equal value to a telephone or internet bid is the winner.
Your bid has to be higher than the floor bidder or you lose, don't matter when you placed it.
Took this directly off Amoskeag's website:
"Absentee bids will be bid in a competitive manner and an absentee bidder needs only to outbid another buyer"
Found this example on RIA website:
Explains it better:
: An absentee bid is placed on a lot for $1000. Live bidders and other absentee bids at the auction bid the lot up to $900. At that point, we advance the bid on the sealed bidder’s behalf to $950. If there is no raise, the sealed bidder wins the lot for $950. However, the auctioneer asks for $1000 and if a competing live bidder bids $1000, we of course will take the bid. Looking at the sealed bid in this case, the sealed bidder told us not to spend more than $1,000. We are not authorized to go to $1,100 for the absentee bidder, so the live bidder is the successful buyer at the $1000 bid point even though it is exactly the same as the sealed bidder
I’ve always understood that my bid as an absentee bidder had to outbid any live bidder and all absentee bids would be time stamped in order to settle a tie.