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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2758071, member: 19463&quot;]I am 100% in agreement here.&nbsp; The underbidder is the one that sets the price.&nbsp; Winners might be consumed with desire for a coin and have bid ten times a fair market value but the price paid is set one increment over the underbidder.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>My success rate in JA&#039;s last auction was 70% but I was on the other side of the fence - the consignor who sold 7 of the ten coins offered.&nbsp; I really only considered one of the lots a success because only one got&nbsp; more than one bid.&nbsp; We have shown here on CT that many seem adverse to bidding on a coin that already has a bid as if we were stealing from a friend.&nbsp; As a seller, I&#039;d rather there were fights in the aisles.&nbsp; That was once a problem on eBay so they stopped posting openly so we did not know who was our competition.&nbsp; I believe on occasion certain sellers might consider me a great customer even though I bought nothing.&nbsp; My personal best was a sale about 20 years ago where I was underbider on twelve lots.&nbsp; I had to wonder if someone decided to bid one higher on everything I had bid on figuring if that cheapskate (me) wanted it, the coin must be worth more.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I do believe that the question of win percentage is a bit meaningless because many of us have two levels of bidding.&nbsp; Back in the day when we sent in written bid sheets, I might bid a low number on many lots fully realizing I would not win them all (hoping even since that would have blown the budget).&nbsp; I usually would win a few at bargain prices.&nbsp; That worked on what we then called unreserved auctions (an almost dead breed now).&nbsp; Some eBay sellers still start lots at $1 and occasionally get burned but the fact remains that some people will bid $$100 on a coin that started at $1 but ignore&nbsp; one that was reserved at $80.&nbsp; Unreserved auctions only work when you know there will be a lot of real customers viewing and bidding.&nbsp; A sale seen by 10 potential buyers </p><p>Perhaps the question is how many coins do we win when we bid what we really believe is a full and fair price for that coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>Who remembers the day when you could send in a bid sheet and mark it to stop bidding when your expenditure had reached a certain limit?&nbsp; I even did that on the 1990 NFA mail sale we talked about in a thread here not long ago.&nbsp; I sent about $3000 worth of bids but ask they stop bidding when I had passed $1000 in winnings.&nbsp; I got some nice coins in that sale but left some making me wish I had said to stop higher.&nbsp; Maybe I am the only one who wants a coin at $50 but has no interest in it at $100. Not being able to do that now means I bid on far fewer coins and often see one that I would have bid on had I known it was going that cheaply.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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