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Two weeks holiday

Just as the auctioneer will give the room time to bid again he will do the same for the internet. Usually only when he can see an internet bidder hovering over the bid button on his screen. Particularly if a reserve has not been reached or he feels his duty to the vendor to achieve the best price has not been met. Usually hammer down means sold but when is the hammer down? When it goes down? When the internet bidder hears it go down? When the operator presses the sold button? I wonder what the delay time is for someone in Australia? We regularly have punters registered from all over the world. The normal response to a late internet bid after the hammer has gone down is "Please bid a little quicker internet!". A lot of what the auctioneer is allowed to do can be misinterpreted. The sign of a good one is that you won't notice. I've been an auction punter and vendor since 1977 and on the "inside" for about the last ten. I can count the "good" auctioneers on the fingers of one hand. After all it's all smoke and mirrors and all the fun of the fair is in the saleroom.

I;d take offense at that remark -- if it weren't true