Siegel Changing Auction Platforms

I was at Kelleher last February and after waiting for 3 hours the lot I really wanted finally came up. I was high bidder and then there was that pause. Suddenly folks started laughing and I realized I was making hammering motions with my invisible hammer trying to get him to close the lot. He looked up and laughed and hammered it home to me!

Not yet sure about auction mobility. As mentioned, it does have a more up-to-date look and feel, which is nice. However, I can't find a way to "jump" bid increments like SAN. If bidding looks to be slowing down but still going, sometimes you could jump increments to stop other bidders. It doesn't always work, but it could.

Another thing I can't seem to do in auction mobility is message the auction. I usually do this to request an extension.

Still hate it when John takes the floor over the online bids. He is consistent with that and stops me from bidding when he's the auctioneer.

Yes, missing features include: pass button, skip bid, and message the floor. Message the floor saved me once from a miss-click - I bid too late and ended up bidding on the wrong lot - a quick message to the floor got them to withdraw my bid. I suspect the lack of a "bid now" button on the phone may be intentional since they clearly do have a mobile site. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.

Another thing that I will miss on Auction Mobility is a downloadable log of the bidding. If a dealer tells me their paddle number, I can quickly see what they acquired and where I can potentially make a deal with them after the auction. I'm often not fully prepared to bid on every lot I might like to buy during live bidding, and if I can strike a deal for a couple of increments over the dealer's cost, it can work for both of us.

filled a couple holes today - used the mobility site with success

I think that they are trying to level the playing field and some of the ???? BIG BOYS don't like it because they can't manipulate the bid. This will allow more common/new collectors to have a chance.

ZMAN -----There are no BIG BOYS ,nobody out there has nothing to gain by manipulating the bid .I bid at 5 auctions on a regular basis ,the only way you beat me is by raising your bid .

For years I meet a lot of "BIG BOYS" in the hobby but I don't see them bidding on a regular basis ,sure they may buy a special stamp or a cover but they are not sitting at auctions and cleaning up lots .

ZMAN - If there are any BIG BOYS, they are the auction houses themselves. The auction houses are really just dealers with a different business model than traditional dealers. To the extent that any "manipulation" of the bidding occurs, it is the auction houses that are in the best position to do so. They can pass on a lot or enter their own bids whenever they think it in their financial interest. In most cases, they know who is bidding on the lot, and that may influence their strategy, too.

FLOORTRADER is right - the only way to beat him or any other top bid is by raising your own bid.

Manipulation isn't even needed with a 20% rake. The winning model is trust. This is why I get concerned with shoddy lot listings.

I logged on to SAN yesterday and went to the Siegel auction. It seems like bidding was allowed still on SAN. Does anyone know if the bidding on SAN synced with the bidding on Siegel's site. There's some items coming up I'm interested in and was wondering if I could just bid on SAN or if I actually had to bid on Siegel's site?

It is not a 20% take, it is closer to 35-40%. They eat from both ends. The bidder pays 20% and the seller, 15-20%.

There are certainly "big boys"; dealers who show up at every major house auction willing and able to spend six figures. And yes, in theory anyone can be outbid, but it is more difficult to outbid someone who knows they have a customer waiting, or who knows that they can sell a significant portion of a large lot for 2 or 3 or 4 times what they pay for it.

1typesetter: At yesterday's sale bids were accepted from both platforms, and it seemed the auctioneer at times had difficulty juggling and keeping track. You can still use SAN.

1typesetter, you can still bid on SAN without going to the Siegel site. The auctioneer tracks both SAN and auction mobility separately.

I went back to SAN for the second session yesterday and it was fine.

Thanks all. Just a little apprehensive that Siegel will try to keep the bids straight.