Do I want to do "Live Proxy Bidding Open" or do I want to place a "Secret Maximum Bid"? Don't they both basically have the same effect? The only difference as I understand it is that the "Live Proxy" bid won't change the "Current Bid" until the auction actually goes live...?
I have 3 strategies for Heritage auctions. Strategy #1: I set an unrealistically low "Secret Maximum". If I win, great! But that has never happened -- I'm outbid before Live bidding starts. Then why bother? I like that Heritage sends me an email reminder. Then I bid Live if it doesn't get too pricey. Strategy #2: Set a "Secret Maximum" that is really my maximum. Then I watch the Live bidding. Or sometimes I don't watch. Doesn't matter -- my maximum is locked-in. If I'm outbid, game over. This is not a Live bidding strategy. Strategy #3: Live bidding only. Fun & exciting. Live bidding can go quickly -- especially if you're not accustomed to the pace. Regardless of your strategy, be prepared! Thoroughly research the coins that interest you. Recent auction results are helpful -- for starters, Heritage has a searchable database. Enjoy!
I like the excitement of the live auction so I don't use the secret maximum. At the very end there might be a flurry of bids and you may get block out because of a late bid. Now if your on vacation and enjoy the sound of the surf or a view from on high, the Secret Maximum is great. Then your enjoying yourself as much as you can. At this point, I really don't care what's happening in the real world. (Except where I'm at.) I never exceed, and rarely buy, coins in the four figures.
The live bidding is easy to get sucked into. It takes a disciplined trigger finger, but it's fun -- win or lose.
Caution, Will Robinson! Live bidding can be dangerous to your bank balance. It's all too easy to decide at the last second that a coin is really worth a bit more and go for it. That said, live bidding has its uses. Some advantages: You can make a cut bid once per lot where you can go up one-half the normal increment. If there are several of the same type, date, grade, etc. coins in a row, but you want only one, then you can do a secret max bid in advance, then if you don't get the first, then you can live bid on a subsequent coin. If there are multiple coins of the same type, date, mint, but different grades, Heritage typically lists them in order of descending grade. So say you want, based on inherent desirability and your wallet, a MS64 and are willing to pay for it. However, there is a MS65 just ahead of the MS64. You can do a secret max bid that is the highest you would pay for a MS64 on the MS65 and might get it. But if you don't, then in live bidding you can go for a MS64. If you have a fixed amount you're willing to spend in an auction, but see more coins you'd like than that amount, then you can bid up to the fixed amount with secret max bid on earlier lots. If you don't spend limit on the earlier lots, then use live bidding. I almost always do my max on secret max bids and only use live bidding where one of the situations described above exists. I used to do the lowball bid thing to get coins in which I'm interested into the "My Bids" section. But these days, I just use tracking. You can review them quickly and will get email reminders. Cal
I've found that sometimes their times seem to be off for when live bidding begins/ends, and other friends of mine have noticed this as well. Due to that, I don't bother with live bidding and just put my real maximum in as my bid. I can't prove this, but I think I've gotten some really cheap wins on valuable coins because the auction actually ended before the live bid time expired, giving me the win.
Thanks for starting this thread, I have been wondering about the best ways to approach bidding on these big auction sites. I will sit back and check out some experienced methods.
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 You're welcome. FWIW, I decided to go with the "Live Proxy Bidding" so that my highest bid will not be known until the live bidding starts. Makes it seem more, oh, I don't know... "James Bond"...!
Most of the time I put in my max bid and let it ride. Won some, lost a bunch. I wouldn't get in a bidding war.
I think you already figured it out, but I like the Live Proxy Bid thing. You can do it in advance of the auction start and it hides your bid. I only wouldn't do it if it was around on of my work days (I work in short bursts and then I'm either busy or sleeping and might forget). The tracking/watch system sends reminders, so no need to bid early to get a notification. If it's one I want to bid on rather than just watch I might add a 'note' so it stands out when it's time to lay in a bid. Used to think it didn't matter if I used the early/secret bid thing but had it explained--and pretty sure I watched it happen--that it is more likely to get nibbled on by other watchers, if not shills.
17.5% buyer's fee plus shipping. And possibly sales tax depending on where you live. You can avoid the shipping if you happen to be at the auction venue. Cal
Well, better to have lost than to have overpaid. Sometimes bidders get into a one-upmanship battle, and the coin goes for a ridiculous amount. Unless it was a 1933 double eagle, should get a chance at another soon. Curious to know what you were after. Cal
@calcol, this was the white whale I was chasing: https://www.ha.com/1253*17893 @Santinidollar, yeah, but there don't seem to be many Draped Bust Dollars problem-free in lower grades. As a rule, I avoid "problem coins", but this one was an exception.
@Dougmeister If you haven't tried them out, check on auctions from Great Collections and David Lawrence Rare Coins. Both have one every Sunday night. GC's buyer premium is 10 percent; DLRC has no fee. I've picked up nice coins at nice prices from both.
@Santinidollar thanks, I will check them out. They are on my regular rotation, but I'll make sure to check more regularly.
That was a nice bust dollar to go after. The damage is on the reverse and near the rims, so a good looking coin. I've got an interest in bust dollars, but haven't taken the plunge yet. Maybe someday I'll start. Maybe with an 1804 ... not likely. Cal
