cor blimey .. wish I had been at those auctions .. I've bid against them even if I didn't want what I was bidding for ...
...
I know what you mean NN , I have seen the 'click' at work too.
In my younger days, I would just bid against them ,so they paid way over the odds for what they were bidding on ...I went to auctions on a regular basis at the time, and saw the same 4 people trying to outbid everyone on almost everything .
One example was a wheelbarrow, an old rusty builders barrow, full of crap ....well one of the 4 put a bid on and I followed as I needed a w/b. Well it went on till I let him win the w/b for £25 ....
I then just said in a very loud voice ... "you got me beat there mate ...I will now have to go and buy a brand new one for £12.50 ", which was how much they were then . The whole place erupted in laughter , apart from him !!!
I did get some very iffy looks from the terrible 4 ...but what the hell, if it all went wrong I was used to hospital food anyway, (and at least one of them would come with me!!) ....
I do however think it is an area related thing . Not all sales are quite that bad. There are always 'iffy' looking charactors at sales (I could well be one of them ...
) , but most are just there after a good deal and no more.
If you go to enough , you will find what you are after at a reasonable price , it just may take some time thats all ...good luck anyway ...
cheers
Russ