The Gavel with the Auction Manager
What is this Reserve Bid choice when you register your horse for a Licensed ABC Auction?! Do you choose a Starting Bid or Reserve Bid?
There is no magic formula to determine if you should use one or the other, however if you have an amazing horse that you believe is worth a certain amount, you might want to use a Reserve Bid.
That triple 100 with amazing vanity traits or an especially rare coat may be worth quite a lot. If you believe it is worth $L10,000 and use a Starting Bid of $L5,000 you may only sell it for $L5,000.
Instead you decide to use a Starting Bid of $L10,000 only to find that sticker-shock has descended over the buyers resulting in a future sale!
So….the answer is a Reserve Bid!
Entering $L10,000 in the Reserve Bid section of the auction registration will alert the auctioneer this needs to be handled a bit differently than a starting bid.
An auctioneer will determine an appropriate starting bid such as $L3,000. This amount will not result in sticker shock and will get the ball rolling! Starting at a lower opening price encourages people to bid and most often results in bid wars that may surpass the $L10,000 Reserve. Typically the Reserve Bid amount is never disclosed to the buyers.
Reserve Bids allows you sell a valuable horse or pony for what you believe it is worth and protects you from selling it for too little. This also helps the market by not underselling a valuable horse!
Fern Sabre, ABC Auction Manager
Visit the ABC Website for more Auction Information
