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Absentee Bidding - Information / Rules / Examples

Brookline Auction Gallery LLC
Brookline, New Hampshire

in conjunction with Scott Czaja

April 21, 2012 Auction Catalog (available Feb 2012)

Click here for the Absentee Bidding form

This page is designed to explain the Absentee Bidding process of the Railroad auctions in Brookline, New Hampshire. Several questions have been asked so it’s worth reviewing this page carefully.

1. Before placing an Absentee Bid you must register with us. This is a matter of providing contact information and we need to know that you understand and accept the bidding terms as stated on this page.

2. Items won by absentee bid can either be shipped or picked up at the Auction Hall in Brookline, New Hampshire. If items are shipped the buyer is responsible for shipping and insurance costs. We will try to use your preferred carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx).

3. Successful absentee bidders will be called when the Saturday auction is finished. This may take a day to process. When you are called you will need to provide a credit card or commit to mail a check or money order to pay for your items. We also request a credit card so that we can bill you for shipping charges if your items will be mailed. This helps to get you your items faster. If you pay your entire bill by credit card you will have one charge for your items and a second charge for shipping your items. All shipped items require insurance.

4. Mailed absentee bills can be paid by Visa, Mastercard, Money Order or Bank Check.

5. You can submit Absentee bid(s) by: (a) mailing the Absentee Bidding form, (b) dropping off the Absentee Form in person, (c) email, (d) phone

6. The drop-dead time for each method is:

Mailing – must be received by Noon, Friday, April 20.

Drop off in person – 6:00 PM, Friday, April 20.

Email – 6:00 pm EST, Friday, April 20.

Phone – 6:00 pm EST, Friday, April 20.

7. We will not disclose anyone’s identity or their bids.

8. If you have made a bid and want to check your status by phone, you can. We will tell you the current opening bid. You can deduce if you are the high bidder based on that amount. If you are no longer the high bidder we will accept an increment that you specify on the phone. We will not tell you the high bid amount. If we think that anyone is tying up the phones in an effort to prevent others from bidding we reserve the right to reject any and all bids that you have made. Because we are 2 separate businesses it may take a few hours to figure out from a single master sheet.

9. Please remember that your status as an absentee bidder is no guarantee of winning an item. All lots will have competitive floor bidding.

10. If you chose to use email bidding, Please remember to register your name, contact information and the email address you will be using IN ADVANCE. We will not accept email bids from anyone who has not registered. This is a security mechanism and ensures that we know what email address each absentee bidder is using. We expect many last minute email bids and we want to properly handle your bids.

11. We will have limited live phone bidding. Most important is that you register early and notify us what specific lot(s) you are interested in. You must provide a phone number because we will call you when your lot(s) are coming up. We will then inform you of the floor bidding status. You may have limited time to place bids because floor bidding often occurs faster than you can be informed of “current” price over the phone. The first bidders to register on specific lots will be the ones who have the best chance of live phone bidding. We may screen you initially by asking if you are willing to increase the “current starting bid” which may occur when there are absentee bids. Again, register early if this is something that you require. Ask Scott if you have questions about this.

12. After looking into live internet bidding we have decided to not use this bidding method. It is a disservice to auction attendees and any computer glitch holds up the whole sale. We processed $80,000 of absentee bids in the April 2010 auction without a hitch. Our system works.

13. The frustration of absentee bidding is not lost on us, however, we need time to process bids submitted by different methods and to keep all of the lots and bids straight.

Auction Catalog

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1	If absentee bidder X bids $100 and absentee bidder Y bids $300, what will the bidding start at?
A1	$120. This is one bid over the lower bidder. The floor bidding will then take place. There is no guarantee that the $300 bid will win the item. The floor bidding will always determine the actual price of each item. In this example if there are no floor bids, the item will sell for $120 to absentee bidder Y.

Q2	If absentee bidder X bids $100 and absentee bidder Y bids $110, what will the bidding start at?
A2	$110 will be the announced bid and then any floor bid of 120 would mean the item will sell “on the floor” and bidder Y is out of the running.

Q3	If absentee bidder X bids $100 and absentee bidder Y bids $100, what will the bidding start at?
A3	The first bidder will have the $100 starting bid.

Q4	If absentee bidder X bids $100 and absentee bidder Y bids $100.01, what will the bidding start at?
A4	The first bid received will be the starting bidder at 100. This is not eBay so fractional (penny) bids will be rounded down* to a reasonable number. Please be reasonable and bid round amounts.*

Q5	How do I check my status?
A5	Please remember that this is first and foremost a live auction so we expect to be very busy during the actual auction. That being said we’ll try to help you with your status, which will be much easier after the sale is over. You can try calling up to 4:00 pm EST on Friday.

Why do you require a credit card for shipped items?

We do not want to guess your shipping charges and have either one of us get the short end of the stick. We will package your items carefully and use your carrier of preference. We will then charge your credit card the exact amount of your shipping charge. Please remember that there is no “opt out” on insurance. This means all items must be insured for their auction value. If you want additional insurance, that is no problem.

Q7	Will you accept bids from Canada?
A7	Yes, and all customs forms will have accurate accounting. You should also understand the insurance and shipping methods for the type of item(s) you are bidding on.

Q8	Is Canadian Customs/Security confiscating switch keys at the border?
A8	I have heard this is true. You should check with your Country’s rules and regulations on what items are appropriate for International shipment. We have no control over what other countries do with their security rules. We will not be responsible for confiscated items.

Will you tell me who the absentee bidder/winner is on a specific item?

(1) We will not tell you who any high bidder is. Please don’t ask. (2) There are dealers who would love to hear from you (3) there are collectors who NEVER want to hear from anyone about a successful absentee bid. What we will do is: (a) You write a note and for $5.00 per item (b) we will mail your note with our form letter to the high absentee bidder. You may hear from this person and you may not. There is no way to know. We will charge this annoyance fee to cut down on requests and remember that it takes time for us to dig up an address and mail your note with our letter explaining the reason for the “contact request”. To maximize the possibility of being contacted you should include your name, address, phone and email address. This is a suggestion because everyone prefers different methods of communications and you increase your chance of being contacted by letting your party have the most options.

Last update: 3/3/2010

Feel free to contact Scott Czaja at: sczaja@hotmail.com

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