How to Protect Yourself from Shill Bidding in Horse Auctions

With so many privately run horse auctions popping up on the horse scene, the opportunities for cheating and abusing the trust of buyers has risen too.

Educating yourself and following these tips can save you thousands:

• NEVER give an auction site or seller your maximum bid amount.
• Never bid until the final moments of the sale.
• Always bid yourself, don’t use a proxy service.
• Always set a budget before the bidding begins and don’t change in the heat of the moment.
• Always speak to the verified owner of the horse personally.

These are some simple but important steps you can take that can save you literally thousands of dollars and keep you from overpaying for a horse. If you don’t win an auction, don’t worry, there will always be another one! It’s better to pass on horse than to get caught up in the moment and make a decision you’ll regret later on. You want to start off your journey with your new horse with no regrets or resentment toward a seller.

While it doesn’t happen in every time. Many online auctions have created an environment that lends itself to taking advantage of buyers. There are certain catch-phrases you can pick up on that should make your antennas go up. If you see an auction offering incentives to buyers and referring to it as things like premier buyers, vip buyers, priority bidders, premium bidders, and they’re offering to waive buyers fees or give you perks for placing your bids before the sale, you should run as fast away from that sale as possible! When you go and look at the terms you’re agreeing to when register for these auctions, you are almost always agreeing that the seller or the auction has the right to bid against you on the horses up to the reserve price for the horse.

So I want you to think about that. Basically the auction and/or the seller can set the reserve price for the horse, they are also asking you to tell them ahead of time how much you’re willing to pay for the horse, and you are giving them permission to bid against you, all but guaranteeing that you are going to pay you MAXIMUM BID every time. The competitiveness is taken out of the equation because they only need to have one buyer interested in a horse.

Many of the auctions are actually just a setting that the owners can sell their own horses. This is a huge conflict of  interest, and whether it happens or not, the appearance of impropriety is so high it should never be set up in this way for a legitimate auction to have the trust of the participants.

Think before you Click!

The answer to this question is not clear cut. At a minimum, some states do allow for shill bidding if it’s disclosed to the buyers. Some of the auctions are disclosing this in their terms, so then you have to take a closer look at it and determine where the proper jurisdiction is, which is a complicated process where you have to look at the ties the auction or it’s owners may have to other states. If you feel you’ve been a victim of shill bidding, you should consult an attorney to see what if any options you have.

In a world where everybody is looking for convenience and buying more and more online, following these few simple steps can save you a lot of heartache as well as pain to your pocket book!!