Winning Bid = Purchase Contract
When you register as a buyer you'll receive an information packet that clearly details the auction company's terms and conditions. Make sure you read this information carefully and ask questions if you need clarifications before you do any bidding. By participating as a bidder in the auction, you are legally bound to conform to these terms and conditions. The most important of these is that a winning bid is a contract to purchase and you are legally responsible. For that reason, do not place a bid that you don't intend to honor. If you win the auction, you can't simply change your mind and walk away; there will most assuredly be unpleasant- and expensive-legal ramifications.
So now you know what you need to know in order to go into a Corvette auction with more than just a grin on your face and a starry-eyed look in your eyes. Have fun and, to paraphrase what they say about casino betting in New Jersey: bid with your head, not over it!
Auction Terms You Should Know And Understand
Reserve - this means the seller has set a minimum price that he or she will accept for their Corvette at the auction. If this minimum (the reserve) is not met, the auctioneer will ask the seller if he or she wants to waive the reserve and accept the final bid; if the seller declines to accept it, the vehicle is not sold.
No Reserve - This means the Corvette being sold at auction will go for whatever the high bid on it is; there is no preset bid threshold that must be met. There is always a minimum starting bid, however, although this may also be waived at the seller's discretion.
Double-Ending - This describes an auction that charges a buyer's premium (commission) and a seller's premium (commission) when the auction ends successfully. The auction company collects a commission from both parties at the end, hence the name. Participating in double-ending auctions is not considered a good idea by many and should be avoided unless you absolutely must have the car being offered. There are many other auctions available that don't charge a buyer's premium, so participating in a double-ending auction is just adding to other costs including your bidder's registration fee, the final bid on the car, and the expenses of getting it home from the auction. Why incur additional expenses if you don't have to? You're better off using that extra money to restore or refresh a slightly-less-perfect Corvette rather than helping to make the auction company's wallet fatter.
Ring Man - This is a unisex term for a male or female auction employee who calls out bids and points to the bidder so the auctioneer knows from whom and where the bid came. It is the job of the ring man or ring men (since there are usually several scattered throughout the buyers area) to keep the pace of the auction fast and to build the bidding frenzy, urging bidders to keep bidding higher. Don't forget for one second that even though the ring man acts friendly, kibitzes, and jokes with you, he or she is not your friend; the ring man's job is to drive your bids up so the seller gets the most money for the vehicle and the auction gets the biggest commission-and that's at your expense.
Shill Bid - This is a false auction bid placed on an online auction by the seller's friend, accomplice, relative, or even himself using an alter-e-mail ego to increase the bids against you in order to drive the price up on the vehicle.