Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Louise Burton said:   <firedancefarms@xxxxxxxxxxx>

 

>What your friend was doing at the auction, trying

>to increase the price of her horse, is not allowed

>in reputable horse sales (ex: Addis).  This is

>what reserves are for.

I'm sorry, I don't know what "Addis" is, but I'd

like to.  :-)

 

Forcing a price up by bidding against a bidder

is an accepted practise in every auction that I

know about, including the "big" ones like

Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton, and in other

auction houses for other items, like Sotheby's.

That's why everybody takes such pains to hide

their interest in a item, hire agents, fronts,

and try to make their actual bid movements

so subtle:  they don't want anybody to know

it's them doing the actual buying, so that the

owner/agent can assess how far they can push it.

It is not a zero risk proposition to the seller;

if they guess wrong about how high a bidder

is willing to go, they get stuck paying the

auction house's commission, they've still

got their horse, unsold.  An agent risks

losing the sales commission.

 

Now, is it ethical.  I'm not so sure it is

unethical as it is unexpected by the novice

buyers who go to an auction without being

aware that this goes on.  It certainly is the

source of a great deal of bad feeling.  I

thought it was charming that ebay tries to

forbid the practise.  This is why novices

are always told "never buy a horse at an auction,"

because what is actually going on is not

what you think is going on!

 

It sure as heck is unethical when the auction

house itself gets into the act.

 

In the particular example I cited, the woman

was a complete stranger.  I talked to her after

her horses went through the ring as she was

wandering around in a daze.  She didn't want to

increase the price of her horses, she just wanted

to pay the commission, get the hell out

of the cess pit she just realized she'd landed

in, and take them home.  No, she didn't put a reserve

on them.  This was an absolute auction.

 

Which kind of auction would I prefer to participate

in as a buyer?  In an auction that forbids it *and*

actually has found some way to enforce it!

 

Linda B. Merims

lbm@xxxxxxxxx

Massachusetts, USA