I don’t think there is much truth to it. I worked at an auction, not the highfalutin snobby type, and everyone who wanted to bid was given a paddle with a number on it, so unless the auctioneer or one of the spotters saw a numbered paddle waved they did not see any movement no matter how deliberate as a legal bid.

@Hypocrisy_Central I think you might be right about the highfalutin auctions being myth, to a large extent.

I went to an Amish auction with my brother out in Indiana. Not exactly high end items, but my brother told me not to talk with my hands (as I usually do) because they would think I was bidding on something.
I really enjoyed it though.

@chyna “Talking with your hands” is a myth. FANNING yourself is annoying.

I have an auction house and I’m just gathering information.

If you enjoyed it, you should do it again!

I used to go to auctions and garage sales because you could sometimes find a treasure for a bargain . Now days I rarely go out for anything other than necessities .
=)

I went to a land auction once. It was very noisy, very crowded and a huge waste of time.

I too used to go to the flea market. It’s all about securing a bargain, and those who come here regularly are aware that if they get here early they’re more likely to find one. But it’s really crowded. Still as @lx102303 said it’s almost impossible to visit the flea market without finding at least one treasure to take home! Truly in accordance with their motto:“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

My fiancé‘s best friend has a coin and antique shop, so he frequents these things. We had asked him to keep an eye out for an engagement ring for us, and he gave us a link for an auction and we saw one that looked interesting. When we got there, the photo had not done it justice and I really wanted that ring.

We had to sit through many lots of items before it came up. They had two auctioneers who would alternate after an hour or so, and there was an area of tables with phones where people bid over the phone, which was annoying because it held the whole process up, and the auctioneers would get impatient, too. They also had online bids, but I recall that people had entered opening and maximum bids that only the auctioneer could see, so the auctioneer would comment on behalf of the internet bidders as the bidding advanced. People bidding had numbered paddles that they held up to bid, so there weren’t any accidental bids.

As we prepared for our number to go up, our friend asked, what he should do if the bid goes over what we told him our maximum was, so I gave him the absolute highest amount we could pay – about $400.00 more – then anxiously sat beside him as it went up, and the person across from us kept bidding, and took us to our first limit, so I nudged our friend to continue. The other person took us right to our absolute maximum, but we won! It was nerve wracking.

@Smitha Can you believe that on my vacation to Hawaii I not only visited the flea market, but bought so much at the Salvation Army I had to buy another carry on there? lol

junkaholic.

@lx102303 that’s too bad…think of all the bargains you’re missing.

On the other hand, think of all the clutter you’re avoiding! lol

@hearkat Do you think the other bidder overheard you? We take absentee bids at my auction, and I always HATE it when the bidder has to pay their absolute top amount. Never want them to think you ran them up…shill bidding is against the law.

@ibstubro – It’s not entirely out of the question, because I don’t remember being secretive about it. To the best of my recollection, people were milling about when we had that conversation, so anyone could have overheard.