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Little rant about auctions....

Mark020
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Couple of weeks ago I bid on a book set. Auction house from Poland. I had to submit a KYC form before I could bid anyway, which was already annoying. Estimate was EUR 3-5k but estimates are useless anyway. So guess what my bid was (and if you any doubt on auctioneers knowing what your bid is this is your proof...)

Knipselrfwefwe.webp

Another remarkable one was this: https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...etrieved-italy-after-canada-theft-2024-09-19/

So Sotheby's completely missed they were auctioning the #1 print. The buyer imported it into Italy and when he returned he picture - which he basically owned legally - they could not even bother to reimburse him the extra costs he made....


1733311606286.webp
 
Dan S
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I am definitely skeptical about entering my maximum bid in advance. If I can possibly bid live, I much prefer doing that.
 
Mark020
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#metoo. But in this case I could not be bothered. Assumed I would not get it anyway
 
STANDY
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Auctions…….about the only platform where the buyer and seller both payed to get screwed. 😉
 
Ron_W
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Schuler Auktionen even wants money in advance now when registering trough Invaluable.... not just a 0.10 reservation on your CC but 2K 🤪 deposit !

Dear Madam/Dear Sir

Thank you for your interest in our auction. Since you are a new bidder to us, please send me:
  • a copy of your passport,
  • and a deposit payment of CHF 2000.-.

For a deposit by credit card, please contact us to receive the secure payment link. You can also pay via paypal
 
SpeedyPhill
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There's a well-documented case of an artwork auction where an unknown brandnew client was asked to deposit 10% of what he/she was going to bid for a certain item... Overnight the brand new bidder made a deposit of 100 Million US $ ... the rest was really auction history !
 
jsducote
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The things I buy from auctions are rarely extremely unique or valuable, so any house that wants a deposit up front doesn't get my business. What I want will eventually turn up elsewhere. I register for a lot more auctions than I actually enter bids in, so I can kind of see their point to limit looky-loos like me.

I have also seen auctioneers approve a low bid limit, then want a deposit to increase it. At least once, I cancelled the process and they increased my limit anyway.
 
Mark020
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Indeed.
 
fibonacci
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I have the book so I started getting excited when I first read the OP 😅. Lots of nice stuff in there I’ve never seen anywhere else, incidentally, along with some obvious redials.
 
Mark020
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Can't wait to get it but the auction house gave an estimate of 30 days for shipping and so far they have not confirmed they shipped (nor given me a T&T)
 
cristos71
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Mark020 Mark020
Can't wait to get it but the auction house gave an estimate of 30 days for shipping and so far they have not confirmed they shipped (nor given me a T&T)
I once waited almost 30 days for a purchase to arrive from a Parisian auction house...dreadfully slow shipping company they used. I also had the pleasure of paying about €100 for the privilege of this dreadful service....I could have walked the 950km there and back way faster.
 
Mark020
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Well the auction was on November 13. I paid 15 or 16 November. They managed to ship Wednesday. And that was - coincidentally - after I sent them a mail about WTF was going on
 
cristos71
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I guess they didn't see a significant enough upturn in business to justify the diminished margin so thought, 'Fu** it, let's get the margin back at least'
 
Mark020
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The preferences of the buyers and sellers 😜
 
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