How do you bid on the online auctions?

[sparky 274]

I used to be a bit of sniper bidder on the online auctions, however this would often end up with me acting like angry german kid (you tube it if you have not seen it) after being out sniped at the last second, suffering from a technical hitch with seconds to go or simply forgetting about the auction until it was too late.

Last month was the final straw and so in the interests of low blood pressure from now on I'm a proxy bidder. I whack my bid on and then it's a case of Que Sera.

I'm also adopting this policy with BCA and Manheim - saves time and also takes away the temptation to 'go one more'.

So, how do you bid?

[Rory RSC 596]

Proxy bids are good I do that and then thats my price I am prepared to pay. Every so often though I 'win' one and its a good bit lower than the proxy and I end up thinking oh dear what have I got myself into here.

Are you ever winning the auction when using livebid and say you are on a car at £7000 the auctioneer suddenly starts saying £7k, £7k, £7k for what feels like eternity yet flies through every other lot? Winds me right up.

[Tom 164]

42 minutes ago, RS Car Sales said:

 

Are you ever winning the auction when using livebid and say you are on a car at £7000 the auctioneer suddenly starts saying £7k, £7k, £7k for what feels like eternity yet flies through every other lot? Winds me right up.

Yes I find this sometimes hammer goes down really quickly but if I bid it's "any other bids?" "Are you sure" no mate just put the hammer down. 

[Phil H 124]

I've often wondered if they do it on purpose just to wind you up and they get a kick out of the thought you screaming and shouting at your computer, playing with your emotions and causing your stress levels to go through the roof.

[Phil H 124]

And then when the hammer goes down the doubts set in, why was it so cheap? what did I miss? and 2 days of anguish until it gets delivered. Any wonder  why our industry has a high level of strokes, heart attacks and lots of grey hair (if you're lucky enough to still have some). 

Edited March 14, 2016 by Phil H
didn't want to get shouted at by GG for my grammah mistakes

[Velicular 10]

I have to say as an auctioneer it is not easy just the slam the hammer down. You have a duty to realise the best price for an item for the seller. Also if you do not charge buyers commission which I strongly disagree with you are earning all your money form the seller. Thus you want to achieve the best price so you get more pay. I know most auctions now have fixed fees for entrance and sale which is wrong in a lot of ways.

The car auction game in the US is a scam in some ways. That is why I started working on a solution for car dealers. I am back in the UK now and am trying to finish off my idea.

Just like to say as an auctioneer it is bad when you look at a car of what ever you are selling and think I can get x number of pounds for that and you open the bid and not a soul bids. Then you have to work backwards until some one bites. That is nearly as bad as waiting for the hammer to fall.

[Max Branning 149]

What winds me up with online auctions is at the bottom of the listing it will say " payment and collection within 72 hours - no exceptions "

But...You email the seller for their bank details and get no reply....

So you ring up after giving them a little while to respond say 24 hrs and after being passed to about 3 different people and getting spoke to like you are wasting their time you finally get the payment details....All this takes up half of the "collection time allowed"

Why cant they all just list the bank details to make payment to on the confirmation email you get once the auction is won?

Rant over.

[SC Derby 259]

22 minutes ago, Max Branning said:

What winds me up with online auctions is at the bottom of the listing it will say " payment and collection within 72 hours - no exceptions "

But...You email the seller for their bank details and get no reply....

So you ring up after giving them a little while to respond say 24 hrs and after being passed to about 3 different people and getting spoke to like you are wasting their time you finally get the payment details....All this takes up half of the "collection time allowed"

Why cant they all just list the bank details to make payment to on the confirmation email you get once the auction is won?

Rant over.

Sytner Auction does as you ask, I have suggested to Dealer Auction how amazing it would be if they could implement this and they said they like us to communicate with the sellers once a car is won so would be leaving it as it is!

[MDR95 1]

I just put a bid in for what I think the car is worth and leave it, I find that especially in the cheap sector some cars go for ridiculous money leaving minimal margins!