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Old 07-03-22, 04:51
rob love rob love is offline
carrier mech
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
Posts: 7,517
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I have had some of what you describe happen to me over the years at auctions Colin. At one auction, I bought a couple of airsoft M-72 launchers in their original packages. When I brought them back from the podium, I noticed one did not weigh what the other one did. Turns out it had a couple pieces of 2x4 lumber tossed into it. There was previewing going on for most of the previous day, and it likely happened then. I knew the guy who the auction was for, and when I showed him, he had the auctioneers fix it immediately.

I have also seen where, during the previews, people will move items from other lots into ones they desire, and bury them deep into the box. Sometimes it is items that belong to the set, other times it is just fraud. Problem with an auction like this is that the photos were taken months and months ago, and there could have been a lot of hands on the stuff since then. But I agree with you that if there are items missing when you go to pick it up, the auction house should make it right. But they, and not the family or owners, should take that loss, as the auction house had care and custody.
As to the max bid also being the wining bid, I have also seen some auction houses that will toss the entire max pre-bid into a live auction. I have also been at auctions where the auctioneer will have a list of pre-bids, and leaves it on the table for anyone in the front rows to see. But for an auction house to up-bid an online auction...if they got caught doing that, they would soon be out of business.

As near as I can see, the photos that were presented for this batch of auctions are still available to be viewed or saved. But once you have removed your goods from the auction house, it will be hard to prove that anything was missing. The time to do that is during pickup, and then the purchaser would have to decide if he is willing to walk away from the goods and seek a full refund.

I feel for you and others that feel they did not get what they paid for. Having been on that end of the stick myself, it doesn't feel good.
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