Proxibid
 

I know this is a little off topic. This weekend I attempted to use Proxibid to bid on a small auction that did not have it's own internet bidding or phone bidding. I signed onto the Proxibid site and got registered and approved to bid. However, when the gun I wanted came up I could not bid on it as clicking on the bid button did nothing. In discussions with some others the same thing happened to them and this is not the first time. I sent an email to info@proxibid.com informing them that they lost money because I would have bid higher than the gun sold for, as did others.
I don't know if anybody else had a problem, but if it is system wide perhaps a letter campaign can make them get their act together.
Write to them at info@proxibid.com

That has happened to me a few times on Proxibid and other online bidding platforms.

I recently heard of one auction house totally fed up with Proxibid. In general, I think auction houses are building a large distrust from bidders, and especially if they are using multiple proxi servers. A bidder may be watching on one, while another takes a higher bid. A phone rep at Carol Watson told me they have 24 people sitting at the back of the room taking phone bids. When you let them know you want to phone bid, they call well in advance of the item coming up, and tell you they will be calling on that specific telephone number. Then they call about 2-3 items ahead. They are also personable and chatty. Makes you feel like they are working for only you.

In my experience with Proxibid, I have had the same problem on occasion but what made me give them up was the disclaimers in the terms section. At the top of the terms are 2 disclaimers regarding the auctioneer being allowed to see all maximum pre-bids entered on a lot before the live auction begins. The other is that the auctioneer can have agents bidding on an item (basically shills). The disclaimers state that although these actions violate Proxibid policy, by posting these disclaimers they allow the auctioneer these behaviors.

I dont really use them. But I am pretty sure it was them that years ago I registered with them and bid on some stuff. Then like 6 months later I went to log in again and they told me I had no account with them. It was a pain in the ass.

A local auction holds multiple “sportsman’s auctions” every year. They used Proxibid for a while. They wound up dropping Proxibid because they were so hard to deal with and had constant issues with their bidding system.