Are online auctions & virtual auctions: strategies for the new norm

Whilst we’ve been thrown into another lockdown, virtual/online auctions are back in full swing.. and if you haven’t been swapping Netflix for Zoom Auction action, we wanted to give you a bit of a wrap up of the two very different ends of the spectrum of online auctions you can encounter.

Successful Thornbury online auction highlights asserting your authority

Sam was very lucky to be trying to secure one of Thornbury’s finest homes for clients who wanted this completely renovated and transformed Victorian to enjoy as a family home for many years to come.

Building inspection completed, contract review completed, due diligence completed. It was now auction time. The zoom link was shared and approximately 15 others joined the call. The auctioneer started doing his usual spiel and one of the people with their cameras turned on, interrupted the bidding commencing to ask a very sensible question. ‘can I assume the people who have their cameras on, are the only people bidding’. Unfortunately, the auctioneer somewhat fumbled through the answer, seemingly not too clear as to the answer, explaining to the gentleman he can assure him there are only genuine bidders going to bid. I think as soon as this was asked we all had flashbacks of the 90s where the branch of a tree was a fair and reasonable bid.

Not allowing this to carry on for too long, Sam quickly snapped us back into line to focus on the reason we were all there, to buy real estate. She interjected with a strong opening bid of $2.2m (quote was $2-2.2m). The bidder who was questioning the auctioneer swiftly came into the mix and Sam and two other bidders took the bidding to $2.32m. Obviously, with a quote of $2-2.2m, we could expect the property was on the market... Yes? No! When Sam questioned the auctioneer as to if we were on the market he said we were not quite on the market... Hmm... I think we missed something in our real estate course. We thought the reserve HAD to be in the quote range, or at a minimum not in excess of $120,000 above the top end of the range!! Well, then again it is 2021 and you know what is still pretty rife.

We digress… the auctioneer takes a short break, comes back declares the property will be passed in to the highest bidder for negotiations.. Sam puts herself in that position, and after 1.5hours of post-auction negotiations secured the property for our ecstatic clients.

Many morals to this story, however, we just want to touch on a few. You can still assert authority in a zoom auction, and unfortunately please don’t rely on the quote range. This completely renovated 4 bedroom beauty was never worth just $2-2.2m.

Inner west virtual auction shows need for game day strategy 

Now over to the inner West, where I jumped on another online auction with 41 others (most of whom I hoped were onlookers, with me the sole bidder – yes, I can dream!). They say you need to fight for the best things in life, and boy did we fight. Luckily for us on this property, not all 41 people put their hats in the ring, but around 10 of them did!

This auction was not run like any I had seen before. The auctioneer immediately took control of the crowd and told them exactly how the auction would run. All bids in the chatbox. All cameras on or else you will be kicked off the call. If you had bid, and it had surpassed your limit you needed to write ‘out’ in the chatbox. This last one I thought was very interesting. How many times have you attended an auction where the nervous couple said they were out, conversed, and then were quickly back in for another $50k!! This I would not recommend as a vendors advocate, but was very happy about it as a buyer!

So with a quote of $990-$1.05m, the bidding quickly shot to $1.15m, which had one person in the chatbox asking if it was on the market. Declared on the market at $1.16m, more bidding ensued. And it was down to myself and one other bidder for the final $10,000s. At the bidders 2nd last bid, he and his wife/partner spoke. It was the first time they had spoken throughout the bidding, and I knew I had him on the ropes. He tried one last bid, but it wasn’t good enough, and we secured the property.

The key takeaway from this one. Have a strategy and don’t converse with your partner. I didn’t once try to speak with my clients. We had a strategy, we had a budget, and if we didn’t get it for that, we were onto the next. For more great tips, check out Sam’s article she wrote last lockdown. But let’s be honest… we want out of this mess and back to face to face so we can hug our clients’ after an auction win!

Tabitha