An interesting cattle sale experience - What would you do.

[uluru]

A recent cattle sale was broadcast on an internet bidding system.
I was an approved bidder (paid for)
I bid for a lot of embryos and was the wining bid via the internet.

A few days later I received the invoice from the sale manager and mailed my cheque to pay for the embryos.
The amount of the invoice was for the amount I bid via the internet.
I then proceeded to contact the seller to advise them that the embryos would be picked up by an individual that I was authorizing to pick them up.

I was then told by the seller that they had placed a minimum bid on the embryos and my bid did not meet what they had told the sale management was the minimum they wanted for the embryos.
I was told to contact sale management and they told me the minimum bid was not communicated to the internet person or to the other member of sale management that was responsible for sending out invoices therefore my bid was no good and there was no sale.

The seller offered to negotiate the sale of the embryos at their price higher than the price I bid.

I walked away from the sale and will be sent back my cheque from the sale mgmt from what I have been told.

The amount is insignificant from my perspective and I have lots of embryos in my tank so I really don't need these embryos.

Has this ever happened to any of you SP members?

What would you have done?

Any thoughts from SP members

 

[OH Breeder]

The sales that I have participated in usually have the base bid so you can see it. That is strange they didn't disclose that in the auction. It sounds like poor sales communication. It also sounds like you handled it professionally.

 

[mooch]

Most of us probably would have let you have them for what they knocked off to you at . It was the fault of the sale team and the owner and they should have worked the "perceivced " loss out between them.I would guess it was under his market value and not his cost for the eggs.Needless to say the absolute last place on earth I would be buying eggs from would be that seller.And I would probably tell any body that would listen why. Buts that just me.

 

[RFL]

I would think that if there was miscommunication between the seller and sales management it's not your fault.
If they sold with no reserve bid they should be yours for the price they bid.  The sale's management should cover the
difference to the seller since it was their error.  They get paid a commission to conduct a proper sale and if they made
and error they're responsible for making it right with the seller.

As to what I would do about it, probably the same as what you did. It's probably not worth fighting over.  I'd just
get my money back and remember this if I ever came accross this sale managment firm or seller again.

 

[Doc]

Gotta agree with mooch. I would have let them go & chalk it up to experience & tried to get some help thru mngmnt , like  no commission charge or reduced charge. But , I sure wouldn't penalize the buyer or take the chance of ruining a business opportunity & future opportunities.

 

[Woody]

you are a lot nicer than i would have been.  I would have put the sellers name and the auctioneers name on your post!

 

[Bulldaddy]

That was bad business on the part of the management company and the seller.  They should have let you have the embryos for 50 cents if that was your bid in the name of good public relations and customer service.  I sure wouldn't do business with them again and I will tell the world about it.

 

[sue]

All I can say is too bad for the Seller because he just blew it with a great CUSTOMER!!!!!

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

Depending on where you are at, you probably had legal recourse if you chose to pursue it. Some states ( I don't know about Canada) are pretty strict in the auction laws. An auction is a legally binding contract between the buyer and seller BOTH! What they did was no different than you contacting them after the auction and informing them that you really didn't want to pay that much for the embryos so you were only going to pay what you wanted. It is probably not worth it in most cases to pursue and I would surely avoid the managment company/people at all costs in the future! RW

 

[CJC]

Had it happen to me on some Irish Whiskey semen. Sold for one price, then they said the reserve was not met (no reserve was shown on any of the lots). I told the guy too tell the other guy that I wanted at the price I paid or forget it. Did not get the semen.

 

[Carm]

This same thing happened with a dairy sale my brother helped manage last spring.  They thought their guy was the final bidder on the embryos but the auctioneer had the bid from someone else.  They took full responsibility for the embryos not meeting the sellers floor price and the sale management made up the difference.  It was a modest floor price so it was not a lot of money, and both seller and buyer left happy.

 

[justintime]

Seems to me this is an issue where the buyer ( uluru) is not real upset that he did not get the embryos purchased. Yes, he could persue this and probably has a legal right to do so. To me, this would be a completely different deal if these embryos were something you were really wanting to purchase. I am thinking he purchased them because he thought they were going to low and he was trying to help the seller.  It seems to me that there was some miss communication between the seller and the sales management. I don't know what happened or didn't happen in this case. In this case, if uluru  demands that he gets the embryos he purchased, he will probably upset both the seller and the sales management, so I would just walk away, and save making any further waves. Sometimes, it just is not worth the hassle. Like I said, if this had happened on a sale lot that you had planned and hoped to get purchased, I think there is more reason to push this further, but I expect that is not the case.

 

[BCCC]

I guess I can see the other side of this. I have had things consigned to online auctions, and they never put the base price on the lot for everyone to see, just like alot of sales. I wasn't just going to let my lets go for nothing, just because people didn't know about the sale. At the end of the sale the managers asked if I wanted to let it go for that price, and I did let some go for what the people bid, but others weren't even close to what I was wanting.

 

[Show Heifer]

I would like to know the online auction company this happened to. I sure  don't want to do business with them.

I would tell the "seller" to kiss by a$$, I would then tell the auction company to do the same. I would take my money and go elsewhere!  I would then share my story, with names, (just the facts) with anyone who wanted the information.  The easiest way to get this type of thing to stop is to make the guilty people responsible for what they did. Or, better yet, put them out of business.

 

[redwingfarm]

I agree with the though of naming names, this kind of behavior will continue unless brought to the light of day, I would have aslo walked away from the sale, taken my check back and been very happy to do so, because if the seller acts this way upfront how would he react if the embryos don't stick and was called to make it right.  I would strongly encourage uluru to quietly let the world know the whos of this to help protect the next potential buyer in line, you never know You might be that next guy

 

[Cowfarmer65]

Seems to me that uluru is better off without those embryos. The sale management is not at fault if they were not previously notified. The seller, if he didn't want to let management know, should have had someone protecting his lot. If the auctioneer said "sold", then they are jus that. Perhaps uluru should persue this. It seems to me, there are fewer and fewer stand up people in the purebred business and it's turning into a buyer beware atmosphere. I'm pretty sure that's not what our forefathers in the different breeds had in mind.

 

[Shady Lane]

Was this an online auction, or was this a purchase made at a regular live auction while bidding online?

 

[uluru]

A regular live auction with online bidding. I bid online

 

[jalebe]

I had a little different experience with bidding online at a live auction. I had quit bidding on a cow and she went a few bids higher. After the sale was over the management outfit called to see how I wanted to make settlement for the cow and insisted that I was the high bidder.
The online bidding service called me later to tell me that the computers records showed what I had bid and it was correct with what I had actually bid. He said that he would take care of the management company and not to worry about it. I would be leary of doing business with the management company again but not the online bidding outfit.

 

[DRB]

I had a little different experience with bidding online at a live auction. I had quit bidding on a cow and she went a few bids higher. After the sale was over the management outfit called to see how I wanted to make settlement for the cow and insisted that I was the high bidder.
The online bidding service called me later to tell me that the computers records showed what I had bid and it was correct with what I had actually bid. He said that he would take care of the management company and not to worry about it. I would be leary of doing business with the management company again but not the online bidding outfit.

I actually had a somewhat similar experience, bidding online at a live auction.  I bid a couple times on a heifer as the price went up, each time I was 'out', then I stopped bidding, the price went several bids higher I was 'out', I figured she was gone, but then the price came back down to my last bid and I was in.  Makes me wonder what would have happened if I'd continued to bid when I was 'out' - was I just bidding against myself the whole time?

I think the general problem in this situation is proper communication btw the person taking the internet bids and the auctioneer - I don't think this was outright dishonest, but still make's you feel uneasy about bidding online.