Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmustang
I was not there, but rumor from those that were stated that real bidding stalled around $950,000  |
If you read the fine print in most auction companies' policy papers, you will find that they reserve the right to bid on items they are selling "up to, but not beyond" their reserve prices. In other words, the auctioneer has the right to - and will - raise the called price on things without an actual bid being placed by anyone in the audience. Once they get within spitting distance of the reserve price, this practice stops, as it doesn't pay to have a shill bid win the auction. Which is also how one can often determine if the bidding is real or fake: when the auction company pleads with the seller to drop his reserve, the bid is usually genuine. If there is no such activity, chances are there was no real bidding anywhere close to the reserve price.