Auction increment table

[chartist10]

Hi there, I have compered a few live charity auctions and have made up the bid increments as I went along. I am sure that I heard somewhere that there is a table of increments that auctioneers use...any ideas as I want to sharpen up the act a bit

thanks

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

There's no absolute standard.

I've dabbled in antiques dealing, attended many auctions, written press articles about auctions, my college project for my radio journalism qualification was on auctions and, like you, I've been the auctioneer for several charity auctions. With all that behind me, I can confirm that there's a fairly regular pattern to the bidding increments but there are no fixed rules. (I sometimes watch programmes like 'Cash in the Attic' and get completely surprised with the bidding increments used in some auction rooms).

To some extent, auctioneers choose their bidding increment based upon where they think the bids will end up. For example, most auctioneers will use �1 increments up to �10. If they suspect that the bidding will end at around �15, they'll carry on using �1 increments. However, if they think that the bidding will go above �20, they'll immediately switch to �2 increments.

Some auctioneers seem to think that, at certain stages of an auction, �2 increments aren't big enough but �5 increments are too high. This often results in the using a mixture of �2 and �3 increments. (See below).

For what it's worth, the following is fairly close to a 'normal' bidding pattern:
From �1 to �10 : �1 increments
From �10 to �20: �2 increments.
From �20 to �50: As follows: �22, �25, �28, �30, �32, �35, �38, �40, �42, �45, �48, �50 (OR �2 increments)
From �50 to �100: �5 increments.
From �100 to �200: �10 increments.
From �200 to �500: �20 increments.
From �500 to �1000: �50 increments
�1000+ : �100 increments (unless, of course, it's a really high value item!)

[Buenchico]

However, I'll remind you that an experienced auctioneer will try to work out where the bidding is likely to finish. For example, if he knows that something might fetch around �100, he'll say something like "Do I see �80? Fifty then? OK, 20 to start". When he gets a �20 bid, he might immediately seek one for �30. That appears to completely conflict with what I've written above but he'll probably soon have the bidding up to, say, �90. He looks to the person who he's expecting to get a �100 bid from, only to see a shake of the head. He looks around the room and asks "�100 anyone?". Nobody responds, so he returns to the person who's justed dropped out of the bidding: "I'll take 5, sir". The guy agrees and the auctioneer returns to the person who bid �90: "It's against you now sir. Do I see 100?". With a bit of luck,he'll now get a �100 bid, even though there was no such bid originally. (Sometimes, with a bit of luck, he can repeat the trick and get the bidding up to �110). So, in that case, the auctioneer got a better result by reducing the bidding increments at a later stage.

Chris