But you will never know if that bargin you missed at $300 could have been picked up for $310 or if you bidding would have pushed that particular buyer up to $600. And some auctions have anti-snipe by extending the auction for a few minutes every time a bid comes in. Just remember, the auctioneer's first loyalty is to themselves, then to their customer - the seller.
First part is true, not knowing just adds to the aggravation. The second part, I'm talking about Rock Island, a real action, they have a guy with a gavel, there is no behind the scenes. To be honest, I don't think the auctioneer is loyal to anyone other then the auction house, as it should be.
I just can't think of GB as a real auction, I've been to all kinds of auction and they are just very different from what GB and eBay do. Not all is good or bad. GB and eBay have "sellers", you pay the seller and deal with them, at auctions you pay and deal with the auction house. And at an auction the auctioneer's word is final, if he sa7ys something and it conflicts with the catalog, it's his word that binds. And sales are final, you bid, you, win, you get off the property by X day, if it doesn't work or isn't what you expected, too F'ing bad. There are exceptions for clear mistakes in facts, if they say it was made in 1945 and it was made in 1946 they will probably take it back. It's these risks that keep the prices down and make some winning bids great deals.
I wish they stil did the live postal auctions in NYC, that was an experience, 4K-5K items in a day lightning fast, can't actually touch anything before hand, and all cash sales. There were guys there that would buy bin after bin of music and video CD/DVDs they had to be lined up outside in the morning with 100K in cash, going into a building that didn't allow guns. Always wondered why some criminal didn't go for it.