Ebay teams up with major auction houses to allow ebayers to bid from the convience of their computer. It seemed to be the smart way to acquire my desires of an antique DeSoto automobile collection in Iowa. Why drive 2,000 miles to attend the auction when I could shop from home? My experience was negative to the point of being my last live auction participation.

My issues center around the potential of winning..risks..costs..complication and games played.

The auction consisted of 57 lots being offered without reserve and a very low starting. Of the 57 lots only 5 were won by internet buyers. 52 were won by floor bidders present at the auction. Of the 5 internet winning bidders 4 were of very low cost vehicles. The chance of an internet buyer winning an auction was very low... especially on the quality items. Only 1 premium vehicle of 57 lots was won by an internet buyer.

The risks center around providing credit card numbers to someone you do not know and bidding on a sight unseen item when all sales are final.

Floor bidders pay no buyers fees. Internet bidders pay between 8% and 10% buyers fees.   Some of the vehicles were selling in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. That meant an internet buyer could pay as much as $4,000 just for the convience of bidding on line. Should you buy more than one lot..do the math. A 1949 DeSoto sold for $57,000. If you were a seller on ebay the fees would have been a $40 listing fee and a $50 transaction fee for a total charge of $90. If you bought the car on an Ebay live auction the buyer fee would have been $4,560.

The registration and bidding proceedure is complicated and required more technical knowhow than I possess. The day before the auction I placed bids on two items until I was high bidder. The day of the auction I tried to do the same and was not allowed to bid. I thought I would be able to bid during the auction. Seems my computer (or me) was not up the the program required and I was not able to bid live.

I also noticed what seemed to be games played by the auctioner. Bids were in increments in proportion to the amount. When the bid was in the thousand dollar range the bid increment was one hundred dollars. A 1968 Chrysler was bid incrementally to $8,000 and then jumped to a winning bid of $16,000. Sounds like there were games played and the no reserve auction actually had reserves.

Given the small chance of winning, costs, complications and risks I am done with Ebay Live Auctions. I will restrict my bids to standard Ebay listings or attend the live auction in person.