Tag Archives: transparency notices

Who can explain timed auctions with bid viewing?

Posted on by

timed_seebids

What benefit does maximum bid viewing have for the auction house in a timed event on Proxibid? Perhaps the option should be banned because unintentionally it leaves the impression that someone is engaged in shill bidding without the proper transparency notice.


Perhaps we don’t understand the dynamics of seeing maximum bids in an auction that is timed technologically. True, the auctioneer can get a sense of how much bidders are willing to spend on a lot; but that transparency does no one any good if the session is run fair and square on the portal. It could be that the auction house can withdraw a lot that doesn’t seem to be doing well as time runs out; but we seldom, if ever, see that happen.

timed_maximumsWe hate to think that this option allows offsite shill bidding.

Proxibid has a brand of trust. We just don’t trust this option and think it should be banned … unless, of course, we are mistaken in our suspicion.

What do you think, if you are a bidder? If an auctioneer, what are we missing with this practice that can ease our concern?

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.

Should Proxibid Require Reserve Policies in Terms of Service?

Posted on by

Our first installment in the series below analyzed the pros and cons of reserves. A second post looked at the issue of hidden reserves from the bidders’ perspective, and our third profiled the reserve policy of a top coin auction house. This last post asks Proxibid and our viewers to weigh in on whether reserve policies should be included in terms of service.

Why not? We routinely get news releases from auction houses soliciting us for coins and sharing their reserve policies with us, either informally via email or formally with a contract. Sometimes, as with RJ’s Auction Service, we learn about reserve policies in a news release.

Some reserves are set with opening bids. Those are transparent. In such case, the auction company had better have a consignment policy that charges sellers fees for unsold lots. Otherwise, the auction company stands to lose revenue.

Some reserves are hidden, with minimum bids set as low as $1, even though a reserve may actually be $300. The goal here is to inspire bidding so that bidder competition hits the reserve. In that case, the auction company also should have a consignment form that sets buyback fees or an agreement with sellers that the auction company has a right to sell lots at any price at its discretion.

And a few reserves are ghost-bid by auction companies that allow maximum-bid viewing. Proxibid allows those to engage in the practice, which we discourage, because of transparency notices–showcased in the terms of service, by the way (and for good ethical reason).

Some online auctions set high opening reserves on all except on 5-10% of select lots, luring viewers with bids and then, shortly before the live auction, setting equally high opening reserves, a practice that Proxibid should disallow pursuant to the Unified User Agreement. (See this post.)

A few timed auctions allow maximum-bid viewing–a combination we find suspect, by the way–because Proxibid’s technology should be running the show. Again, this is a practice that Proxibid should ban, even if the auction company believes it is harmless, because it sends a chilling message. Why view bids if your auction is timed? Just wait until it is concluded, and you’ll see how lots sold!

Finally, we understand that the auctioneer’s primary concern is pleasing the consignor. That can be done in a variety of ways, other than ceding your rights to reserve. You can advertise. You can invest in superior photography. You can learn how to write accurate numismatic descriptions. You can advertise in your local newspaper for coins, purchase them, and then offer them in Proxibid auctions, completely bypassing the consignor.

That said, we wonder how our viewers–both auctioneers and bidders–feel about reserve policies being listed in terms of service. Should Proxibid require this? Is it the bidders’ right to know?

We think it is. Proxibid’s brand functions on one word, and one word only: TRUST. Trust requires transparency.

What’s your opinion?

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.

Timed Transparencies Troubling

Posted on by

While Proxibid has taken proactive steps to advance quality control, so that the portal retains its reputation for trust–a corporate brand–we still find some aspects of online auctions troubling, particularly transparency notices in timed auctions.

Viewers of Proxiblog understand our objections to maximum-bid viewing and ghost-bidding in online auctions. We reject justifications that these are absentee bids and believe that both activities undermine the age-old auctioneering maximum of “bidding with confidence.” See our three-part article about the topic by clicking here.

We bid with confidence in top coin auctions listed in the right-hand sidebar. If we want a $100-retail-value coin in a Weaver or Western auction, for instance, we may bid over retail at $110 because we need the lot for a collection or client. We know that Dave Weaver or David Zwonitzer, auctioneers of those houses, are going to approach our maximums by increments, and that frees us on two counts:

  1. We can bid similarly at retail for more desirable lots in an auction, knowing that only a few will reach or surpass our maximums.
  2. We have a chance to secure an attractive lot at wholesale (or under greysheet), which is, after all, the motivating reason that people attend auctions online or onsite, for that matter.

Maximuum-bid viewing and ghost bidding cause us to bid lower or not at all. This is why we recommend to bidders viewing Proxiblog to think twice about bidding in any auction that posts transparency notices. This is why we urge auctioneers to lose transparency notices and compete in the auctioneering tradition by advertising your lots and securing choice consignments. Anything else is an excuse if your aim is to engage Internet bidders.

However, a new wrinkle has occurred in our past arguments against maximum-bid viewing and ghost-bidding, and that is, posting of transparency notices in timed auctions. A timed auction, theoretically at least, is run by Proxibid technology with little an auctioneer can do other than set reserves and then sit back to see if they are reached.

Proxibid, in fact, has rules about timed auctions in its Unified User Agreement, including this clause:


    Once a timed Auction Event has started, Seller may not cancel, add, or remove any lots or modify the end time of the Auction Event unless Seller has obtained Proxibid’s prior written approval (which may be withheld in Proxibid’s sole discretion and may require an additional fee paid by Seller).

We are not accusing any auction house of ghost-bidding in a timed auction. We are advocating two actions, however:

  1. If you are an auctioneer posting transparencies in a timed auction, we encourage you to stop the practice, as it undermines bidding with confidence–essential in timed sessions. If you are not doing anything unethical, why keep the transparency?
  2. Proxibid should ban the use of maximum-bid and ghost-bidding in a timed auction, ensuring that the intent of its service terms as documented above are met and enhancing the company’s reputation for trust. Why allow it when it only opens an avenue for potential future unethical behavior?

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.

Coin Update News Focuses on Proxibid

Posted on by


As more people purchase coins online, especially from auction portals, it is vital that they read terms of service. Overpaying for coins on television has hurt the hobby in the past. Overpaying on Internet can do more damage because the auction company may have access to buyers’ data, including credit card information.

We continue to see practices online that concern us, from over-graded coins by self-slabbers to counterfeit and altered lots by questionable sellers.

Coin Update viewers might be interested in recent developments on one of the largest auction portals in the country, Proxibid.

For the rest of the article, click here.

Auctions Unlimited Earns Our Trust

Posted on by

Proxiblog has tested several auctions that have transparency notices for maximum-bid viewing and auctioneer/consignor bidding. As anticipated, some houses jumped to maximums and others sold at retail. But one house in particular stood out from the rest. It not only featured a 10% buyer’s fee but also consistently sold under our maximums and, often, at wholesale–Auctions Unlimited of Shreveport, La.

First, some background: We bid more than 25 coins at high retail in select auctions during the past week, seeing whether houses bearing Proxibid transparency notices would sell below our maximums. Three houses sold close to or at our maximums; but Auctions Unlimited did not. In fact, it disregarded maximums and sold eight of eleven lots at or below wholesale.

To give you an example of the test, we bid $100 on this common but high mint state 1921 Morgan. Auctions Unlimited sold it for $50. We know other houses that would have jumped to our maximum.

Debra Johnson, Auctions Unlimited main auctioneer, is a member of the Louisiana Auctioneer’s Association and the National Auctioneer’s Association. In a telephone conversation, she disclosed that the company didn’t even look at the maximum bids as the onsite crowd kept callers too busy for that.

If this was the case, I replied, she might rethink whether she really needed to see maximum bids. And if so, perhaps she might explain why in her terms of service so that folks could bid with confidence.

She thought this was a good idea.

We remain baffled at why some auctions with 18%++ buyer’s fees and high opening bids and reserves–whose owners know coins, no less–still want to see maximum bids and/or raise bids themselves. When you open above Grey Sheet and charge a steep online buyer’s premium, what could the auctioneer possibly be trying to avoid–other than Proxibid fees?

In any case, we encourage all of our bidders to give Auctions Unlimited a try. You can bet that we will be online during the live auction ready to give you a run for your money in the auctioneering tradition of competition, which Debra Johnson upholds.

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.