We have discussed auction registration and the “right” to bid more than once — for instance here:
Today’s topic involves an auctioneer allowing a bidder to register and then ignoring his bid. We’ll comment here first, that if an auctioneer/seller wants to decline offers or prohibit auction participation, it is prudent to refuse to register that bidder, rather than to merely refuse to accept his bids thereafter.
Essentially, once registered, a bidder is entitled to have his offers (bids) accepted so long as they qualify per the auction’s basic terms — at minimum so long as they are higher than the prior high bid, and offered timely. Otherwise, it seems clear such an ignored bidder would likely have a successful cause of action.
Relatedly, could a bidder have his bidding rights revoked? In other words, could someone be granted a bid number and then that bid number be taken away? It would be reasonable to deny a registered bidder the right to bid if he was (subsequent to registering) in violation of the terms and conditions.
For instance, say a registered bidder has agreed to pay for his total purchases within one hour of the auction’s end. However, this bidder starts bidding while saying he is not able to pay for another week. Here it would be reasonable to deny him from bidding any further, despite being registered.
Another consideration is the seller’s wishes. If in the case of a bidder who can’t pay until later — if the seller still wished him to be allowed to participate — then that might constitute a legal direction. However, there is a distinct danger here — treating bidders differently (beyond price.) We addressed here: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/can-auctioneers-treat-bidders-differently/.
As we discuss in this above prior article, bidders can indeed be treated differently but these provisions need to be established prior to the auction for every bidder. For instance, “You may register with a valid ID, state ID or if you have attended one of our last 6 auctions.” This is vastly different than, “You may register with a valid ID or state ID” and then letting a bidder register because he attended your last auction.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at: Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, RES Auction Services and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and America’s Auction Academy. He is faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by the The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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