Did Not Win My Desired Lot Even Though Auctioneer Say I Won It And San Log Says So Too

100% this. Any auction house making changes to the awarded winners post-session is *EXTREMELY* unethical in my opinion, and is worthy of reporting to the APS, ASDA, etc. In fact it may be against their state's licensure guidelines for being an auctioneer.

Mail bid/postal sales are a completely different animal, a rife opportunity for unscrupulous houses *cough*Aldrich*cough* to manipulate and raise bids after the fact. I don't recommend those sorts of auctions unless you know and trust the house extensively.

Live auctions are supposed to go by the results of the LIVE session. Mail/book bids are supposed to be finalized PRIOR to live bidding. The only possible valid exception would be a LOWERING of the final bid if the winning bidder backed out for whatever reason, and the house contacted the underbidder asking if they wanted the lot at their previous bid. This too is a minefield to be wary of, as it can be an indication of shill bidding by the house.

Years ago, before internet auctions were in vogue, I would occasionally be a telephone bidder. The way that works usually, is the auction house calls you a few lots before your first lot is coming up for sale. Then you bid, interactively via phone.

In this instance, I was called 5-10 lots after the key item I wanted had already sold. I believe that it had sold to an agent who was still on the floor. It was summarily re-opened, and I got to bid, and win the item. It felt a little weird, but I was happy to get the item. Does this come under the umbrella of "the house made a mistake and this is how they correct it?".

I also watched a floor bidder in front of me once, who, for a couple lots, bid on a couple of items by mistake. They hammered, and he won them. A few lots later, he realized his mistake and notified the house, who immediately re-opened them.

One thing to be aware of is that auctions are real-time events where lots of things can go wrong. It seems as though for some of these, at least, the house should have some latitude to try and do the right thing - whatever that is. When does that cross a line? I don't know.

Reopening lots during the session is common enough that I ALWAYS stay online listening for at least 30 minutes following the last item I bid on, just in case incidents like the above happen.

From what the OP is stating, that isn't what happened here (unless he immediately signed off following his win and the lot was reopened... the auction transcript would indicate this).

As a follow-up, I want to say that I once heard an auctioneer say that he was ok re-opening lots in general, as long as the winner was still present and didn't object. Most of the time, in that sale, the winner was an 'agent' for whomever, and I don't recall them objecting on numerous occasions.

My answer to that is if I had won the lot, I wouldn't want it re-opened, and if my agent allowed it to be re-opened, I'd hire a different agent.

A friend of mine doing floor-bidding once had an auctioneer try to re-open a lot he had just won, and he told him he'd sue, if the auctioneer did that. The lot was not re-opened and the hammer stood as originally dropped.

In my humble opinion, the auction house will lose a ton more money, by sticking to their guns instead of correcting their own mistake by offering some restitution. Why. because this poster/bidder will probably bid on less auctions in this auction house unless absolutely necessary. And one lost bidder is worth thousands of dollars in the long run. Even when bidders don't win any lots, they make the auction house money by bidding up the prices.

I do think they owe an explanation.

Hi all,

I can accept that a mistake has been made - we have all made mistakes at some point of our lives. It just irked me that there was no explanation as to how and why the error happened, which was why I posted this on the board asking if anyone had experienced something similar and what such an 'accident' could be. As suggested by Bobby, it could have been simply that a postal bid (or email bid) was received on time but the auctioneer failed to mark it down in the book.

It would also have been nice if the auction house had informed me of the error as soon as possible, instead of letting me discover only some days later (I had to deal with the aftermath - the lot was obviously important enough for me such that I had to sit through the live bidding). Unless the auction house was not aware of the error, or forgot to inform me, or worse - hope that I do not find out about it and forget about it.

I do hope that this is a one-off unhappy experience that no other bidder has to go through, and that future bidding experiences will be pleasant again as before.

I've had a number of bad experiences, usually on auctions running multiple platforms at once. You go to one Site before the auction even starts, and it will have a Lot with 0 bids. You go to another Site and that exact Lot may already have 5 bids and be out of your budget. I have been the lone Bidder on an item and positive I've won just to find out that someone else bid the same amount and they went home with it. A few times I have won a small Lot for say less than $10 and never heard a peep from the auction. Never had a chance to pay or made contact. I won a lot last week in fact for $8 and have not heard back yet.

"I can accept that a mistake has been made" This is true. We all make mistakes but the auction house is a real business. They might not be able to fix their mistake, but they can at least try to give some restitution (even if small) to leave a good feeling and acknowledgement to the buyer that a mistake was made. "I am sorry" is for the stranger that runs into you accidentally in the park. A reputable seller, says I am sorry and says here is something for your trouble. I mean the buyer's premium which we all pay is for the auction house to handle the auction. If they did not handle the auction well...... There needs to be more sensitivity to the buyer here from the auction house. More transparency of what happened. Just my 2cents. I am sorry that happened to you. I think we all are.

"I can accept that a mistake has been made "
I doubt it was a mistake and suspect it was intentional.

I had two related issues, albeit a number of years ago. I once was the high SAN bidder with an auction house and got a call from the auctioneer later in the day that SAN had apparently reported to another bidder that he also was the high bidder. The auctioneer said the other bidder had the screenshot to prove it. We conducted a mini-auction as two phone bidders talking to two different staff members of the auction house bidding on our behalf with the auctioneer. I did not ultimately win the lot but I don't have any reason to believe that anything funny was afoot (it seems like there would be easier ways to engage in funny business). I continue to bid with this house.

With another house, I bid in their live SAN auction, and a couple days later got an invoice, and then a few days after that I called to pay the invoice. I was told then that I did not win the lot because they were still putting in mail bids (more than a week after the auction) and my top SAN bid had been bested. I vowed never to bid with this house again and never have.

I have had a few cases where I was called the high bidder during the auction but the SAN record did not show it, but later communication with the house always confirmed I did win the lot.

Yet when one has the high bid BY AUCTION HOUSE RULES, that bidder needs to win the lot, even if that means correcting what everyone may have seen, was announced from the podium, and/or video taped. Auctioneers are human, auction firms are run by humans and humans make mistakes, mistakes that should be corrected.

Yes, mistakes do happen and do need to be corrected, but this is no proof one way or the other as to whether it was a mistake or intentional.

When the auction house clams up, more likely they have broken the rules to cater to a "preferred" customer. I'm not saying it happened here, but I am definitely saying it happens often.