What does being 'wrong-footed' mean?

Gardiner Houlgate knows that the biggest frustration bidders face when placing Autobids is being 'wrong-footed'. 

 

Explanation: 

As all Autobids are anonymous, the auctioneer does not know or see your top bid.

This means that in LIVE auctions, you may well be holding the bid at one increment below your top bid.

In this event, you're winning the item at a lower price and cannot bid against yourself. This means that somebody else may have the chance steal your lot for your maximum bid. 

In auction jargon, this is called being 'wrong-footed'.

 

For those of you who are not familiar with this term it is probably better to give an example:

Imagine you place an Autobid of £40 on a particular lot and the auctioneer’s bidding increments are £5 between £20 and £50. You hold the bidding at £35 and then someone else bids £40 - Your maximum Autobid – how dare they!!!. With nowhere to go the system cannot bid anymore for you and you’ve lost the lot.

If you do not want to take this risk of potentially being 'wrong-footed' then please bid live, or leave an absentee bid with the auctioneer who will ensure your bids are actioned on the correct increments.

 

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