It is NOT like E-bay! What ever price you give to the person on the phone is the AMOUNT YOU ARE BIDDING! So if you tell that person you bid $5,000, and the horse was originally at $1,000, it automatically goes to $5,000! It doesn't go go the next bid increment. For example, say you are on Ebay and an item is at $10. You want to bid, but your limit is $20. You put your bid in, but the item only goes up the next bid increment. It may be $11 or $15, but may not your full $20. THAT'S NOT HOW A LIVE AUCTION WORKS!!! WHAT YOU BID IS WHAT THE AUCTIONEER TAKES AS YOUR BID.
They always start out high, could be as high as $50,000, etc, but then quickly goes down to whatever the first bidder feels is a good starting bid. Could be $500, could be $1,000, depending on the value of the horse. Then the horse sells for as long as there are bids. The bid increments will vary. If the horse's value is going up quickly, the auctioneer could choose to go at $1,000 increments. As the bidding slows down, the increments typically go down, usually not much less than $25.00. So if the bidding is slowing at $5,000, the auctioneer may starting taking bids at $5,025 or $5,100. The agent on the phone will come back to the phone bidder at what the asking bid is. If you want to bid, tell t hem yes. They usually give you a minute to decide, but if the horse has been selling for a few minutes, they may not wait for you. If you don't want to bid, decline. Usually the auctioneer will say something like "All Done" or "I'm going to sell him!". Going once, going twice, SOLD, something along those lines. If you are the high bidder, you've bought a horse!
Be VERY CAREFUL - KNOW WHAT YOUR LIMIT IS! Bidding is very exciting, and it's easy to go "Just another time" and end up several thousand over what you had planned on bidding!!
GOOD LUCK!
