ABOUT 09. ZOOM Bidding

Ways to Bid

About

Since COVID, ZOOM and other live meeting platforms have become a staple of a household’s social community.  Harmers have been trendsetters applying zoom technology to the philatelic hobby.  ZOOM has several tools that lend themselves to different auction situations.

Success Factors

  • Comfortable with ZOOM.
  • You must be comfortable on the cutting edge.
  • The Zoom technology is matched with the size of the auction.
  • Technology changes.

Gottchas

  • Anonymity is difficult.
  • Currently best for private auctions under 50 people.
  • Philatelic Auctions are rarely done in the reverse auction style.

We have employed zoom for private auctions with less than 60 people. The process simply requires the Zoom meeting to be correctly configured.  We can configure zoom to accommodate a large number of bidders using a hybrid reverse auction.  In this scenario, a reverse auction narrows the bidding pool to less than five bidders and then a forward auction is conducted between the finalist to determine the winner and set the price.  Philately is not there quite yet, but the method is appropriate for Charity and Club auctions.

We ZOOM everything else; why not auctions?

What to Expect

For most of our auctions, zoom is our broadcast tool for clients to watch the auction.     Clients who want to view the auction live like zoom  Other ZOOM applications will involve a 5 min introduction session prior to beginning.  We display the item being auctioned on the screen, and bidding begins.  Similar to floor bidding, your identity and bidding are known to other participants.

Strenths and Weaknesses

RELIABILITY 80%
CONVENIENCE 75%
COST-EFFICIENT TO ATTEND 85%
TECHNOLOGY DEPENDENCE 95%
EASE OF CHANGING BID 90%
NETWORKING 78%