SOLD!
UNTIL RECENTLY, CLASSIC motorcycle auction houses were playing catch up with the internet when it came to selling or picking up your classic. Websites like eBay seemed to be scooping up the private sellers and the private buyers, but this has its own pitfalls, including the sniping systems that can deny you your purchase at the last moment, because of their strict time limits. You cannot know what the bid is you must beat; websites are packed with bikes that seem to rapidly skyrocket in price or have a decidedly dubious provenance, that’s if they exist at all and aren’t the product of a scam artist.
The traditional auction houses use commission or proxy bids for absent buyers – where the bidder sets their personal limit with the auctioneer and these are monitored by the auctioneer’s agents. Or you can use telephone bidders who sit by their phones speaking directly to a staff member bidding on their behalf.
Nowadays, thanks to the ready availability of broadband connections, classic bike auction houses have caught up.
If you can’t make a sale on the day, you can now use services like Easy Live Auctions and Bid Spotter to make your bid online live, as the auction is taking place. These make a flat-fee charge to bidders or can charge a fee based on the value of a winning bid. This has brought the smaller auction houses into direct competition with the bigger outfits. You can register an interest with these services and get regular emails when machines you are interested in come along.
