MEARS Auction Problem?

[MikeKam]

Anyone else have an extremely difficult time trying to bid in MEARS auctions?

I was interested in four lots and manage to only open the page of three while only being able to bid on one. I've been outbid on it and I doubt I'll be able to re-up my bid because the pages simply won't open. Also, ninety percent of the time when I try to log in, it won't allow me to and sends me back to the main auction home page. Whenever I click on the Sports auction link on the home page, it either takes forever to load or ends up not loading at all.

[seanbaseball]

same issue on multiple devices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MikeKam]

same issue on multiple devices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me as well.

Only time I managed to get a bid in was with my phone; have not been able to bid on my laptop or desktop. I've tried different browsers as well.

[GoTigers]

Me too.. Can't get through at all.

[Masimen]

Yup! No Bueno.

[MikeKam]

Site just crashed, I managed to get in a bid right before it did. It will be interesting to see how they handle this.

[Phil316]

Same thing happened to me and I lost out. Oh well it wasn't meant to be I guess.

[GoTigers]

Just got back in 3/4 lots I was looking at are now closed.. And some went for a steal.

[GoTigers]

Okay.. I put a bid in on the one lot that wasn't closed when I finally got back on. It reset to the 15min like its supposed to. Then around the 5min mark, the clock reset to 51min. I went out and looked at the other lots and they are all re-opened with 50min left?? No idea what's going on.

[Hoosier39]

So I was the high bidder on an item just now and as I watch the items clock hit about 1 min left, it resets to 50 minutes! Kidding me, right?

[slam]

I've won my lot twice already and now it's opened again. That's not cool.

[Hoosier39]

I've won my lot twice already and now it's opened again. That's not cool.


It's not. You can actually say I won 2 auctions 3 different times. And I'm not bidding anymore, I'm done.

[GoTigers]

Anyone received any emails on how this will be handled? I imagine a lot of people are done, thinking they've won or lost lots. I'm not staying up to see how this plays out with no communication from mears.. I don't even know what bids are being honored.

[seanbaseball]

what a mess.. cant bid...gotta think they reopen this auction again tomorrow. Otherwise the auction house and seller lose money

[MikeKam]

Anyone received any emails on how this will be handled? I imagine a lot of people are done, thinking they've won or lost lots. I'm not staying up to see how this plays out with no communication from mears.. I don't even know what bids are being honored.

They've supposedly re-opened the auction and are allowing it to run for a bit longer.

[seanbaseball]

lots are now live again with extended times

[teddy406]

The site was down a couple times because of all the action. It's only fair to consignors and bidders that they've extended it. I believe it's all good now and will end at 9 15 pacific time, withe extendid bidding after that. The only ones that are pissed are the ones that thought they got steals, but that was because most of the bidders couldn't even get on to bid.

[BVC]

The site was down a couple times because of all the action. It's only fair to consignors and bidders that they've extended it. I believe it's all good now and will end at 9 15 pacific time, withe extendid bidding after that. The only ones that are pissed are the ones that thought they got steals, but that was because most of the bidders couldn't even get on to bid.

It locked up for me around 7:50 Central and I could not get in until 8:17. Apparently, the 15-minute rule still kicked in at 8:00 and ended at 8:15, which is really weird if there were people bidding during those 15 minutes. Regardless of who was or wasn't able to bid, the 15 minute rule obviously ended WAYYYYY too early, so it's certainly fair to all bidders that it was re-opened.

[gorilla777]

This is just ridiculous. I've won an item, supposedly, three times now and then just got run up and outbid.
Between this tonight and having items won both look off when received, compared to their description or failing outside authentication...bad deal.

[emann]

Same here, couldn't bid in...

[teddy406]

I understand, from a bidder's perspective, what some of you are saying. You thought you won an item and then found out later the auction was still going. BUT, on the otherhand, if you were a consignor in this auction, you'd be pissed as heck that bidders couldn't access the site to make bids on your items. I got 3 or 4 emails from Mears explaining the problems and that bidding would be extended because of it. You have to look at both sides of this, and what could Mears do about it besides what they did? I mean the auction only went until 9 15 pacific time. It wasn't like it went on all night and morning like most the other auctions do.

[Tlewi11]

This is sort of funny. People complain on here when Highland Mint "agrees" to a price for someone to purchase an All-Star jersey, and then accepts a higher offer from someone else, but its ok for Mears to change their user agreed to Terms and Conditions?

Other auction houses have clauses that allow them to extend bidding at their discretion (smart), but Mears does not. Every bidder of Mears auctions must agree to their stated Terms and Conditions, yet Mears has decided that they are able to change the rules after an auction has officially ended? No email was sent prior to close. All emails were sent to re-open closed lots.

I agree that the consignors would lose out in this situation, but that is for Mears to deal with. Either they buck up money to make their consignors feel whole or they go after the company that hosts their auction site. If they were smart, they would have language in their contract to handle situations such as this.

So next time someone has an handshake agreement to buy an item and then the seller decides to sell it someone else, just think about this situation where there is much more than a handshake agreement in place.

A couple of weeks ago, Ebay had tremendous problems with their users being blocked from logging in for extended periods of time. Forums all over the internet had waves of people saying "the sellers better not back out of the auctions won at a steal price", but I guess that's ok, as long as it favors whomever chooses to speak up first.

I just wish their were rules on how these situations should be handled...oh wait, they are called Terms and Conditions.

[BVC]

Seriously? It's as if you haven't read anything posted about this auction.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES killed the extended bidding period - it was NOT POSSIBLE for a large number of bidders to bid. This situation is in no way comparable to the others that you described.

[PALEHOSE1]

I finally got around to consigning 8 items with Mears in this auction- White Sox GU jerseys, hats and some auto balls and could have done better on ebay due to the auction problems. Very disappointed.

[Longroad23]

I had the 2 Braun's in that auction. Disappointed there was an issue.

[BU54CB]

I understand, from a bidder's perspective, what some of you are saying. You thought you won an item and then found out later the auction was still going. BUT, on the otherhand, if you were a consignor in this auction, you'd be pissed as heck that bidders couldn't access the site to make bids on your items. I got 3 or 4 emails from Mears explaining the problems and that bidding would be extended because of it. You have to look at both sides of this, and what could Mears do about it besides what they did? I mean the auction only went until 9 15 pacific time. It wasn't like it went on all night and morning like most the other auctions do.

I'd be pissed either way because nobody knew what was going on. How does extending the auction help the bidders and consignors if most weren't aware of the situation. Its entirely possible many of the bidders didn't try to bid again after they couldn't get on and didn't know the bidding was extended.

If I was a consignor or bidder, I would not be happy at all. In my opinion, what Mears did was insufficient to both parties. They should have backup equipment to ensure this type of situation doesn't happen.

[BU54CB]

I'd be pissed either way because nobody knew what was going on. How does extending the auction help the bidders and consignors if most weren't aware of the situation. Its entirely possible many of the bidders didn't try to bid again after they couldn't get on and didn't know the bidding was extended.

If I was a consignor or bidder, I would not be happy at all. In my opinion, what Mears did was insufficient to both parties. They should have backup equipment to ensure this type of situation doesn't happen.

Or their 3rd party vendor hosting the auction should have a backup plan.

[BVC]

I'd be pissed either way because nobody knew what was going on. How does extending the auction help the bidders and consignors if most weren't aware of the situation. Its entirely possible many of the bidders didn't try to bid again after they couldn't get on and didn't know the bidding was extended.

If I was a consignor or bidder, I would not be happy at all. In my opinion, what Mears did was insufficient to both parties. They should have backup equipment to ensure this type of situation doesn't happen.

If you are trying to bid, and can't, you make a simple phone call. If you weren't really interested in bidding, then you give up. Extending the opening round of bidding until 11:00PM Eastern, seemed very fair to me, to both sides. You call what they did "insufficient" - you can't create a vendor back-up plan during the problem, and who knows what the vendor had promised them in advance, in terms of back-up plans? I think what they did at the time was entirely sufficient. If they don't get a back-up plan guaranteed for future auctions, then I agree that their planning is insufficient.


Or their 3rd party vendor hosting the auction should have a backup plan.

Agreed - 'computer vendor 101'.

[MikeKam]

Agreed - 'computer vendor 101'.

I believe it was actually a problem with the Simple Auction Site platform that caused all of the chaos.

[BVC]

I believe it was actually a problem with the Simple Auction Site platform that caused all of the chaos.

Agreed. They claimed that they have lots of servers, and only some were affected. What you are saying makes more sense than 'server issues', as the 15-minute rule started at 8:00 Pacific and ended at 8:15 Pacific, despite claims that it was only some of the servers. If that were the case, bids by the people on servers that weren't affected, would have kept the auction running past 8:15. Given how many AH's are on this vendor's software, there should be enough pressure to get it fixed.

[BU54CB]

If you are trying to bid, and can't, you make a simple phone call. If you weren't really interested in bidding, then you give up. Extending the opening round of bidding until 11:00PM Eastern, seemed very fair to me, to both sides. You call what they did "insufficient" - you can't create a vendor back-up plan during the problem, and who knows what the vendor had promised them in advance, in terms of back-up plans? I think what they did at the time was entirely sufficient. If they don't get a back-up plan guaranteed for future auctions, then I agree that their planning is insufficient



Agreed - 'computer vendor 101'.

I wasn't bidding, so I could really care less. It's just my opinion, but this is the way Mears makes a good deal of its living and isn't a mom and pop shop. They shouldn't need for something to happen to have a back up plan, having a plan is part of doing business.

If I had items in the auction and I knew internet bidders couldn't bid, I wouldn't be happy. Someone who did have items posted in this thread and wasn't thrilled. Sure, phone bidding is available, but if the site isn't working properly, would you have all the information to call in a bid?

[BVC]

I wasn't bidding, so I could really care less. It's just my opinion, but this is the way Mears makes a good deal of its living and isn't a mom and pop shop. They shouldn't need for something to happen to have a back up plan, having a plan is part of doing business.

If I had items in the auction and I knew internet bidders couldn't bid, I wouldn't be happy. Someone who did have items posted in this thread and wasn't thrilled. Sure, phone bidding is available, but if the site isn't working properly, would you have all the information to call in a bid?

I worked for software vendors for years. Our customers depended on us to have back-up plans for software fails. If we didn't, and got caught in a situation similar to what hit Mears the other day, we were out the door.

Phone bidding IS the back-up in a situations where the vendor's software (or server) fails and the vendor can't get it up and running immediately. The only other option is to have your entire auction on another vendor's software as back-up, and that is not practical.

[BVC]

Sure, phone bidding is available, but if the site isn't working properly, would you have all the information to call in a bid?

That was the problem I had when I initially called in. I was asked what lots I wanted to bid on, and I said that I had been outbid on a particular one and now wanted to do initial bids on others, but I had to be able to see the lots in order to decide which ones.

That's a good example of a situation Mears needs to address as part of their plan for dealing with a vendor failure. I would suggest a catalog pdf file that could be reached without going into the auction itself (available from the home page).

[BU54CB]

That was the problem I had when I initially called in. I was asked what lots I wanted to bid on, and I said that I had been outbid on a particular one and now wanted to do initial bids on others, but I had to be able to see the lots in order to decide which ones.

That's a good example of a situation Mears needs to address as part of their plan for dealing with a vendor failure. I would suggest a catalog pdf file that could be reached without going into the auction itself (available from the home page).

I agree, I think Grey Flannel has a pdf of their auctions available on the site, at least last time I looked.

[esigs]

Did anyone have any issues with Mears this past Saturday? They changed the auction close by lot from 15 to 30 minute, but I had items I bid on cycle thru multiple 30-minute cycles and not end. After 3 cycles, I was outbid on one of them. I emailed Troy and he replied it was caused by their web host Simple Auction related to the change. I searched the forum and found this thread where a similar problem happened due to a server issue, hosted by the same company. Back in 2013, I had a similar problem of a lot I bid on not closing for multiple cycles without any additional bid being placed. It seems too critical to their business to have as a recurring problem.

[truvalue123]

James, Troy responded to me as well..put the blame on Simple auction, but, said bids will stand..cost me one item-but, I left before time was done, so, I likely didn't bid as I didn't know when it was going to end.....I prefer the 15 minute rule, but, could live with 30..but, not what happened Satursday

[esigs]

Greg, I forgot the mention that of the 3 lots I placed bids on, one I was outbid within the first 30-minute and I didn't re-bid, while the other two went thru two 30-minute cycles and one of them closed but the other cycled thru again until someone outbid me on the 4th cycle. The only difference between the two lots was that the one that closed was of much lower value, from a player who's not well known and had little if any use. It's odd that the system would malfunction on both lots but differently, as one closed after 2 30-minute cycles (instead of 1) while the other stayed open longer.

[Chris78]

I believe if anyone placed a bid on any auction lot within the 30 minute period, ALL auctions would be reset for another 30 minutes. That was the way I interpreted it. I did not like the new system. I went to bed and did win the one item I had bid on.

[truvalue123]

It worked kinda like that, but not exactly...different items had different time left...most were together , but, not all...As I reread the new auction rules, the lot by lot closing is still in effect, but, the time is now 30 minutes, not 15..and, items without bids basically stay open longer...