John D Schultz

It’s becoming increasingly common for auction companies to offer online bidding at their auctions. There are a multitude of types of auctions with online bidding. However, I’d like to focus on live auctions that have an online bidding component (i.e. pre-bidding, live bidding, or a combination thereof). In particular, I’d like to examine the registration requirements of two fictitious bidders at an auction with live online bidding. Let’s call the bidders Online Guy, and Onsite Gal. The auction can be of any asset class you’d like, for arguments sake it doesn’t matter.

Online Guy and Onsite Gal both come across an auction that they’d like to attend. They both notice it has online bidding. Onsite Gal has an entire day to spend at the auction. Online Guy on the other hand is taking care of his two toddlers, and finds it more convenient to stay at home than go to the auction with the two toddlers. Online Guy still wants to participate so he decides he’ll bid live online from his home.

Let’s examine the registration process for each bidder.

Onsite Gal
Onsite Gal shows up about twenty minutes before the auction is to begin. She heads over to the clerking trailer and asks for a bidding number. In most cases, the cashier asks for a picture ID. In exchange for the information on the ID, and verification that Onsite Gal is really who she says she is, Onsite Gal is given a bidding number. When Onsite Gal makes a purchase and is ready to leave she is asked to stop and make payment with the cashier. Payment can be in the form of cash, check, or credit card, and once payment is made, she can take her purchases home. However, there is nothing stopping Onsite Gal from leaving the auction with her purchases and not paying.

Online Guy
Online Guy registers a few days before the auction is to begin. He logs in online, and is asked for his address, multiple phone numbers, credit card information, and in some instances is required to provide a bank letter of credit. In exchange for this information, the auction company issues a bidding number. When Online Guy makes a purchase, he is emailed an invoice, and his credit card is typically processed for the purchase (in some instances alternative arrangements are made). Only once payment has been secured and verified as in the account of the auctioneer is Online Guy allowed his purchases. In addition, every transaction that Online Guy makes is tallied and tracked. His complete purchasing history and payment history is logged in a database.

Something Doesn’t Add Up
Somewhere along the line, because we can look a buyer in the face, we’ll give them a credit card (i.e. bidder’s number) with no credit limit, allow them to take their purchase home prior to verification that the funds are good (i.e. bounced check). However, in instances where we can not look a buyer in the face, we require additional safeguards, and in actuality have more historical data about the online buyer (i.e. purchase and payment history) than the onsite buyer. Somehow that just doesn’t add up, and in fact seems backwards.

Auction companies need to apply the same set of registration terms to both online and onsite bidders. In fact, approving an online bidder to participate in your auction that has a history of purchasing and paying for items is safer than handing bidding numbers out to anyone that produces a valid photo ID in person. By overly restricting online buyers, auctioneers are dampening the impact online buyers will have on the bottom line of an auction, and are not serving the seller’s best interest.