My highest praise - for Audiogon


All too often, we hear the negative. Of everything in life. But today, I wanted to put forth my story. One that is positive. Of excellent thinking, planning, and execution when it comes to customer service.

My highest praise. My deepest thanks and appreciation. For who, for what? For Audiogon auctions!

Last night, I was involved in an auction here on Audiogon, and put in my bid for about as high as I would go on the item. A pair of Manley SE/PP tube amps(fabulous amps, congratulations to their lucky new owner). It was bested close to the end of the auction. I decided to stand pat. I will probably go with a new Rogue Magnum instead. Just a judgement call, trying to use my head along with my heart. But, I did see a bit more activity, and wanted to see how things ended up. So, at the close of the auction, I tried to check the winning bid.

To my surprise, it went into OT. Cool!

It goes like this, if there is activity in the waning moments, it goes to OT. No sniping. The winner will be the true winner. The honest and fair winner.

I remember Audiogon's real time auctions back a couple of years ago. Very cool. My biggest complaint about auctions is how someone swoops in the last 5 or 10 seconds, and steals something I was set on. All's fair in love and war? BS. It's low down and cowardly. In fact, last year I lost a pair of black pearl earrings for my fiance on ebay. Believe me, if I ever come across the person who did this, I am still mad enough to tar and feather them. I honestly mean this. With all my fiber. They will pay...

Auctions should be where the person who wins is the one willing to pay the highest price. The highest bid. Auctions should not end precisely at a certain time, but should end once the highest bid has been submitted.

As I said, I did not end up with the amps, but I would have had I WANTED to. And, THAT is the only fair way to play.

THANK YOU Audiogon!!! You are doing it right!
trelja

Showing 1 response by jawiseman

Yes, I love this place! :-)

I would like to comment on the Auctions here. The rules for Audiogon auctions are closer to what an auction is intended to do than the way eBay does it. Remember, fairness is established by BOTH sides of an agreement. An auction is defined specifically to maximize the potential selling price for the SELLER, not to lower the price for the buyer. However, it does so at an increased RISK to the seller. In the presence of a low-ball bid, if nobody is around willing to pay a higher price, the seller doesn't have the ability to say "Ahh, I've changed my mind so I'm gonna wait a couple weeks and try again". He has to give it away for the low-ball price. This is why auctions work--the same as the stock market. If you are willing to risk more, the potential for greater gains are there, but the potential for lower prices by the buyer are there as well. Note my use of the word "POTENTIAL" :-)

A normal auction (in order to maximize the seller's income) does not end at a particular time or bell. It goes until everyone has decided that they have made the highest bid that they are comfortable with. THEN the auctioneer closes the auction. Everyone has had a fair and equal chance to put in their highest bid. The auctioneer judges this by the SLOWDOWN in bidding. Why should an auctioneer ever stop the bidding at the peak of activity (as happens on eBay when the clock times out). The overtime concept of the Audiogon auctions allows the bidding to wind down the way it should.

The time limit is only an artificial constraint necessary to mimick the decision made by the auctioneer since a live autioneer is problematic for E-autions. The assumption is that everyone has put in their bid by the closing time. If the assumption is incorrect, then the "equal chance" component of an auction is violated and the potential for maximum income that the seller should have, is lost. Sniping at the end of an eBay auction not only can prevent a person that may have been willing to buy from achieving the purchase, it ALSO robs potential funds from the seller (Remember him? He's the guy that took the higher risk so that the bidders in return had an increased potential at getting a lower price)

Frequently a person bids higher than they wanted for a "great" price but until that bid is challanged, they don't know whether they are willing to go higher or not. This is where proxy bidding is flawed, it does not allow for this. As a result, when "brick-wall" timeout terminated auctions are used, a flurry of activity can ensue and techniques to "beat the system" become prevalent. My personal preference is for a more civilized approach :-) Bravo Audiogon for civility enforcement!! :-)

BTW, I have been guilty of sniping (although not maliciously). I discover at the last minute that I've been overbid but I could possibly obtain what I want by bidding another buck or two. I may win, but the person who may have been willing to pay many times more than me has been shut out simply because they weren't present at closing. IMHO, sniping has a predatorial feel to it that I don't personally like.

I prefer a system that is fair to everyone and doesn't tend to create large amounts of frustration. Saying that I could have made a much higher proxy bid 8 days ago isn't justification, but again, that is only my personal opinion. Obviously, it can be made to work anyway that the website developers choose. However, I don't like the frustrations that can start due to the "cabbage-patch doll syndrome" that occurs at the end of an eBay auction without overtime, so I tend to avoid them.

Anyway, there's a few thoughts for Y'all :-)

- Jeff