They say you can learn something new everyday and I did today. I bid on a cup and saucer in an antiques auction by registering an absentee bid. I know that no matter the amount I bid, the auction house will bid me in at the next logical jump. They won’t put my high bid up until it is needed. I checked to see if I won and my bid was high. But I never heard from the auction, so I called to find out what was wrong. I had forgotten that if an absentee bid and a bid from a person sitting at the auction is the same amount and is the winning amount, the person present at the auction gets the item. My bid was probably in a bidding match with a person at the auction gallery. If the earliest bid always won, there was a huge advantage for absentee bidders. Every auctioneer knows a person in the audience may discover a few more things to bid on when they are shown at the auction. So the in-house person is favored and the only solution for those out of town is to turn on the auction and bid in real time or bid higher than you thought was needed as an absentee.
This auctioneer failed his fiduciary responsibility to the seller, unless it was his merchandise, in which case he failed you as a buyer also by not accepting the high bid. Of course he may have just made an error by not recognizing and honoring your bid. It may also border on illegal actions, or at least questionable. Be careful and consider not going to his auctions?
This recently happened to me in an online auction. When I clearly bid the highest $150.00 for an item, the bidding suddenly ended and the lot was one by an in-house bidder for $145.00. The auctioneer decided to give it to the in-house bidder for $5 less than I bid, probably because that in-house bidder is a regular at that auction. There should be law or auction house code preventing this decision by auctioneers.
What you said about buyers at the auction and buyers bidding online is simply not true. At least not where I am. High bid is high bid. And, bids are consecutive. They are bid as the auction is conducted, in order. Bidders in house are not favored over online bidders. At least, not in this instance.
Sometimes auctioneers will allow absentee bidders to leave their maximum bid “plus one,” so if there is a tie-bid (with the in-house bidder taking priority), the absentee’s bid is good to the auctioneer’s next increment before it is exhausted.