How to keep your head during an online auction

Kya deLongchamps advises us to research, plan and keep our heads during online auctions

Online auctions are an everyday titillation these days. Buying vintage or antique items might seem like easy pickings. All that juicy, well-illustrated worldwide market access available with a trembling keyboard stab— who can resist? Still, there’s one highly distinct difference with old stuff — you’re buying (at a huge distance in many instances) something that’s second-hand. In all likelihood it’s going to carry wear. It may be damaged and being something completely off-standard, it’s really one of a kind. There may be few things if any to compare the piece to in terms of value, identifying detail and quality. Is the piece even real? The stakes are high, so it’s vital to utilise all the protections and procedures available to you to net a satisfying deal. Here are a few pointers to get the very best from those online adventures.

First of all, if the online auction is the online presence of a local or any Irish auction house that you can reach by car — view any lot that is of consequential value in person. Yes, it’s a trip out in your precious spare time, gnawing on atrophied petrol station sandwiches and jousting the SatNav for the prime motorway exit — but nothing crowns seeing something with our own eyes and actually touching it. If there’s a shipping service by the house, you can view, leave a bid, and avoid all that slouching around on exploded sofas at the actual sale. You can still participate online, but your hand is so much stronger when you know what you’re bidding on.

Don’t spend thousands without viewing when you have the chance, unless you have a dealer’s supernatural skills and experience. Online, get as much information as you can, including requesting further photographs of the lot before the sale, or last day of bidding. There are sites including Catawiki, that pride themselves on their expertise, judging every item before it goes online for sale. Authentication processes are a very good sign. Reputable auction houses here will offer estimates and will only sell items online that are “as described”. Get to know the area of catalogue description. ‘In the style of Rembrandt’ is not a Rembrandt. Descriptions in the trade are highly specific and in a dispute, they will hang their hat on them.

Back online, it’s simple to register for an auction or online auction like eBay. Vetting and qualifying bidders does take place in some high-end sales — but not in the vast majority. You will certainly have ticked the box marked “terms & conditions” during the process online. Your membership of the site and/or registered credit card is a legally binding promise to follow up and pay for anything that is “as described” that you make a winning bid on. Where there are fees, you will have been apprised of that. Doubtless.

Follow up on the seller’s history if you’re buying on eBay. Reviews and the level of transparency offered can be telling. Old auction houses are not setting out to capitalise on someone’s ignorance or nervy bidding — it’s not a win for them if you’re screeching down the phone at the close of the sale.

A condition report is crucial. Yes, you might be able to return something and get a refund in some circumstances — but it’s likely to be a fight and completely at the vendor’s discretion unless the lot is a total duck. Shipping something back will generally always be your problem. Do your research, and ask for further photographs (macro if needs be) of the seller. If they are not swift to answer your questions, take a moment to decide if you’re confident enough to proceed. For traditional auction houses rather than eBay style sites, find out the fees on a piece sold (a percentage of the hammer price that can vary depending on the range of prices achieved) and include Vat as standard.

So, when is the right moment to bid? There is always a “confirm bid” button for incremental bidding — don’t worry, the cat cannot bid on that Porsche Carrera GT. Good luck performing that three-act opera if you’re awash with buyer’s remorse — they have heard it all. In a terrestrial auction, the auctioneer will start the bidding, and (familiar to landlocked antique auctions) he or she will be forced to come down on that number until someone makes an opening bid — even where the items is certainly going to go hundreds higher and is well tucked up in a meaty reserve. Some sites offer alerts to your device when bidding is about to start.

The final bid is complicated on eBay by what are termed “sniper” bid tools — made automatically to your top bid by an app on the user’s behalf in the last few second of the auctions. This can be very frustrating — but apps are a reality of the online process and you might want to use them if you are busy and buying regularly, auctionsniper.com.

How is your internet speed? Is the connection reliable? We’re talking about split seconds in some sales. This is why traditional auction houses did for some time at least, fight shy of online sales — that upload discrepancy in speed. Is your phone or tablet faster than your home connection?

Generally, you can bid moment to moment in increments in what is termed a “forward sale” of rising prices, or you can bid automatically to a set top bid before you’re out of the game. If you’re fully participating in the sale, you could also leave a larger bid than the current bid for as much as you like — the strategising there is complex and more so online, where you cannot read the room. If you’re after one particular area of antiques you may get to recognise some bidders over a period of months — but assume you won’t know what they are doing. Set your own top bid with the buyer’s premium and Vat, and stick to it when you’re in the heat of competition. Don’t be clumsy and bid against yourself!

Most bids take place at the start of an online auction and at the end of an online auction. Don’t get swept past your comfortable top number by auction fever. It’s easy to become emotional and then genuinely angry as a stranger grabs stuff you don’t even own. If feels like theft. Some buyers leave a very large bid that’s intended to psychologically flatten all comers as the bid proceeds in steady incremental bids. Don’t be put off. Go back to your process and your final bid may still be more than they are willing to pay. There are people who are dogged and bloody-minded and will not be gainsaid on something they want. That’s true of all auctions. I lost a lovely Edwardian roll-top desk to a fevered six-year-old pulling on his granny’s sleeve in a standard auction — it happens. Move on and live to bid another day.