Should you ever venture into a live auction, you know, gavel, real chairs that you sit in, etc, Consumerama has some tips on auctioneer scams to watch out for. Let’s say the price drops to $300, and three hands shoot up. By law, he’s supposed to just accept one bid at $300 and move on, but:

“A slick and slippery auctioneer will see three hands go up at once (each intending to bid $300.00), and he’ll point quickly to each, “$300.00, now $325.00, now $350.00″ before they can drop their hands. Then he’s off and running. It happens so fast that the bidders hardly realize what he did.”

Also discussed are shill bids, how any bid may be retracted until SOLD is announced, and the “backing off” scam.

Live Auctions — Bargains & Bamboozles [Consumerama]
(Photo: Getty)

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