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A designed process, very efficient at extracting the maximum price out of a stressful situation. It's a sad state of affairs in Australia right now.

alistairSH 4y ago
But it's an open process. That it's close to optimal efficiency isn't a bad thing. Imagine the same level of stress, but you have to guess what the other buyers are bidding. Do you bid low and hope everybody else does? Bid high, but risk overpaying?
- fratlas 4y ago
  There are new systems to bid online, and over the course of a week. Much less stressful, no emotion and heat of the moment bidding. Nothing wrong with open bidding, all about the techniques used in person.
  - alistairSH 4y ago
    That still suffers from the stress at the end of the week. Say an auction closes at 5pm Friday... I bod $500k on Wednesday. Somebody bids $501 Friday 4:50. I bid 502... they 503, right up to the last moment. And if the site is like some online car auctions, any activity in the last 5 minutes extends the auction by another 5 minutes. So, 504... 505... and on up until somebody walks away. A home purchase is the largest single thing most people will ever buy. It's going to be emotional, even if the buyer manages to stay calm.
    - fratlas 4y ago
      In my experience it was less emotional than in person auctions I've attended. I knew my limit and stuck to it, there was no agent talking me into bidding higher.
- hallway_monitor 4y ago
  That's what I was thinking. In theory it should be a better system. Submitting a bid significantly over the asking price and then losing to another higher secret bid is very disheartening.
  - __alexs 4y ago
    They should use a Vickrey auction. Then you can bid very high and only pay as much as the 2nd highest bid.
- throwaway2037 4y ago
  Can you hire professionals to do the bidding on your behalf? That would be ideal. Get some a wolf in sheep's clothing. Some old gran who is actually a bidding shark.
- FireBeyond 4y ago
  There's been a bunch of issues, though. When I grew up in Australia, there were regular news/investigative reports of auctioneers pulling bids from trees, etc., to kick the price up a bit. Not without risk, but definitely possible.

alistairSH 4y ago

But it's an open process. That it's close to optimal efficiency isn't a bad thing. Imagine the same level of stress, but you have to guess what the other buyers are bidding. Do you bid low and hope everybody else does? Bid high, but risk overpaying?

fratlas 4y ago
There are new systems to bid online, and over the course of a week. Much less stressful, no emotion and heat of the moment bidding. Nothing wrong with open bidding, all about the techniques used in person.
- alistairSH 4y ago
  That still suffers from the stress at the end of the week. Say an auction closes at 5pm Friday... I bod $500k on Wednesday. Somebody bids $501 Friday 4:50. I bid 502... they 503, right up to the last moment. And if the site is like some online car auctions, any activity in the last 5 minutes extends the auction by another 5 minutes. So, 504... 505... and on up until somebody walks away. A home purchase is the largest single thing most people will ever buy. It's going to be emotional, even if the buyer manages to stay calm.
  - fratlas 4y ago
    In my experience it was less emotional than in person auctions I've attended. I knew my limit and stuck to it, there was no agent talking me into bidding higher.
hallway_monitor 4y ago
That's what I was thinking. In theory it should be a better system. Submitting a bid significantly over the asking price and then losing to another higher secret bid is very disheartening.
- __alexs 4y ago
  They should use a Vickrey auction. Then you can bid very high and only pay as much as the 2nd highest bid.
throwaway2037 4y ago
Can you hire professionals to do the bidding on your behalf? That would be ideal. Get some a wolf in sheep's clothing. Some old gran who is actually a bidding shark.
FireBeyond 4y ago
There's been a bunch of issues, though. When I grew up in Australia, there were regular news/investigative reports of auctioneers pulling bids from trees, etc., to kick the price up a bit. Not without risk, but definitely possible.