Live Stamp Auction Etiquette

Perhaps the agents were keeping in touch with their clients?

Just a note here ----I was a phone bidder at the Daniel Kelleher Stamp Auction which was at World Stamp Show in N.Y. . It was easy for me being a long time client of the firm both attending and phone bidding over the last 15 years. You have to establish a account a week or more before ,the week of the auction is a bad time to establish yourself as a phone bidder . I gave the staff a list over the phone on the lots that I am interested in .
They called four or six lots ahead ,to get me on the line and ready to bid . My list included lots that was interesting to me at around opening bid and other lots that I was willing to fight for . As always there are lots after the ones that I really want ,these I bid only if I get very little of what I want ,just kind of something to play with . If I get what I wanted then I tell the phone person ,don't call me on the rest of the list .
What did I buy ? I purchased a few lots ,mostly stuff you don't see in other auctions as nice as in the Adolph J. Capurro collection , I went after the Colonies Lots they had good runs of complete sets ,I went after the Italian ,French ,Spanish and Portuguse small Colonies material. What I didn't get I made sure someone else paid up for them .

I have been on the other side, working phone bidding for some auctions over the last few years. It can be fun helping collectors get things they want.

They don't have time in the middle of an auction to be chatting with clients as they are bidding for other clients and even if they have a lill they have to be paying attention lest they miss the next lot they are supposed to be bidding on.

Some phone bidders can be a joy to deal with (have their act together, are pleasant), others can be a real pain (no clue what they want to bid, slow to respond and/or a difficult personality). In other words, you get the usuaul cross section of types you see in society, some good, some bad.

True, but mostly they have been fairly pleasant experiences. Once or twice it turned out to be someone I knew.

Chatting?

How about reporting (eMail, SMS, instant messaging, whatever) how much the client has spent so far. so the client can re-prioritize the remaining bids?

How about reporting which areas are hot? In which areas bargains are to be found?

Never been an agent, eh?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

My experience in watching agents is that they do most of their communicating with clients by phone, and use the PC for bids and other auction related areas. I would think an email during an auction would be a risky way to communicate something important.

I sat up front and watched these agents during stamp auctions some like Frank Mandel and Chuck Cwiakala,they are very good and professional and look out for their clients, Chuck has done bidding for me and it was worth any fees paid to his firm .

Agreed, but the agent is limited by the tech savvy of the client ... okay, let's not go there, again ... clearly, something more interactive would be more better.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for contributing to this interesting thread. Hope the discussion continues

One of my moments of out rage at a stamp auction --------I attend a lot of stamp auctions and you start to develop a sense of what is going on between the firm and the bidders. This both agents and phone bidders interacting with all the customers attending the auction .
I notice something at one auction and didn't put or read a lot into it ,but remembered it . The next auction it was happening again . I will not mention the name of the phone bidder because I don't want to get sued by NYSTAMPS .
What they were doing is listening to the floor action over the phone and if three or more bidders where running up the price on any kind of worldwide ,dealer lot or junk lot ,they would hold back and then throw in their bid to over bid the high bidder on the last call before the hammer dropped.
Sure you can be sleeping when the lot opened and throw in a late bid ---but ---come on do it time and time again just to take it away from someone who fought and held their card up from the opening bid -----I THINK THIS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL ,but it is not . I wanted to stand up and stop the auction and slap someone for continuously screwing around the room of bidders .

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT ----As a general rule I will not bid against a youngster or a family at their first auction . After buying the lots in the collections section ,I usually leave some money to buy a junk lot or dealer box at the end of the auction but a few times there have been families or young people who build up their hopes of winning a lot . If the dad and kid put up their card for a lot ,my card will drop quickly .I want them to have a happy experience together .

Floortrader, that behavior is very generous. Which also reminds me when I attended my first stamp auctions from an age of 12. At one point I was bidding on a box lot against some other youngsters - and one much older man. The auctioneer actually suggested the old man to stand down and leave the youngsters bid against each other - and the elderly did so.

Is that the live action version of the last second sniping that goes on on ebay or is there something more sinister at work here?