Car and Classic Auction - shifting end time

[lornemalvo]

I've just been watching a Car and Classic online auction (for a very nice mk 2 jag). It was counting down close to the end and every time someone put an extra bid in, it added three minutes to the end time. Anyone experienced this? It seems very strange.

[interstellar]

Some auction sites do that and some don’t. It gets a stronger price for the seller if two people are bidding and both want to run it on for a while.

Often people lose on eBay and think I would have gone another couple of bids higher but didn’t. This way they can and it will only extend within a set time period like 3 minutes before the end as you say.

[thegreenhell]

Traditional live auctions don't have an arbitrary countdown clock. They just milk the bids until there are no more. This is the same.

It stops last second snipers and gives everyone who wants to bid a fair chance to respond with a higher bid. This brings the seller the best possible price and thus also the most commission for the auction house. It seems a sensible solution all round.

[Turbobanana]

It's quite common. BCA do it for the timed DVLA cherished plate auctions and explain that it's to help prevent bid snipers.

[tonyvid]

I've been watching the Palmen Barnfind Collection auction and they brought the cut-off time forward by a day because of all the interest, which must have peed a few people off! A bit annoying as I was interested in the bidding value of a couple of the cars and now it has all disappeared once the auction ended.

(I tell a lie, on my phone they have gone but the main website is showing the lots)

Edited by tonyvid on Wednesday 7th June 14:22