Auction.com

I bought a home In Jan 2016 through Auction.com it was a smooth transaction.
I have wasted almost a whole week traveling over a thousand miles and doing my due diligence on 5 different properties listed on Auction.com this past week, only to have them cancel the auction on the day it was scheduled. If their policy is that poor with the people they list for don't expect them to work for you. They work only for the seller you are just a pawn as a buyer.

This is a platform that favors sellers, not buyers. It does seem legit, however, despite me not liking a few things. Hence, the proxy bids going all the way to the top of what a buyer is max willing to bid instead of incrementally as other bids are placed, and the platform bidding against investors on behalf of the seller. Both of these practices seem unethical, or at least seller-centric. I also wonder how they assure that a property isn't already sold or in process of, and I think the platform should do and assure all lien/title searches for better trust and bidder confidence. It might be safer just to buy land, have a house built onto the land, and then sell it - an added perk: No auction-related fees!

These occupied properties should be bid on with expectations that the interior is gutted to the studs, but auction.com will relist these auction multiple times bidding on their own properties and trying to get above retail for a trashed property?!

I took a bunch of things to Gehman Auctions on 564 North of Reading Pa. I sent them pictures of what I wanted to sell. They said they would take it. When I arrived with my stuff they wanted to pick through it to take what they wanted to sell. Do not waste your time going there.

The auction company gave me a strict time frame to send earnest money. I was fine with that and ready to send but the phone number and email to the title company was not correct. I called them and emailed multiple times a day with no reply, so I went online and found another number to call just to find out the company does not work for them. I am not sure what's up and why auctions.com would give me wrong information. I also kept calling auctions.com to tell them the problem with no action until they cancelled the sale saying I didn't meet the requirement to send the earnest money on time. Plus they suspended me from bidding for 8 days when the error was theirs. How frustrating.

For those of you, like me, trying to buy a house, be aware of the First Look scam they use. First Look - for 30 days is supposed to allow regular people to buy and live in a house before investors are allowed. What they do is put a reserve price on the house so high nobody in their right mind would buy it. This allows the 30 days to pass so it can be auctioned again when investors can bid, allowing them to get more money.

They sold a property to me. They said it was occupied by the owner or tenant. Was told all information will be made known once closed. Come to find out the place was illegal occupied by multiple unknown persons. The whole house was not in leave-able condition. It was a total scam. They bid against you to get the most out of you. Didn't mind that, but deceiving information. They need to be sued and out of business.

I dont understand its online auction but why so called seller increases the bid without any interaction from other buyers. If reserve is not met, it should end the acution with higher bidder, instead seller keep on bidding and jacking the price up. Running the same property for 10 times in acution will not increase the value of the property or buyers point of view. Also the auction ending timer runs for 10 mins extra after the auction runs out. Thats absurd.

If you place the opening bid, you will be immediately informed that isn't high enough. They tell you immediately the "Reserve Price" (the real opening bid) has not been met. If you read their rules - they do disclose they do this.
They tried doing this when handling foreclosures in Calif. The authorities cracked down on this scam like practice. They still do it in Calif. When handling bank owned properties. They will keep relisting properties if no one bids the real opening bids. I have bought a few Calif. Foreclosures they coducted but not wasted time with bank owned properties.

I have had issues with auction.com not putting pictures on their website that are accurate in the description of their homes. They also over inflate the value of their homes. I was currently suspended because I did not sign a contract after winning a bid that I actually did not win but they dropped their bids and the reserve and then declared me the winner. I then decided I should verify the information on the website. Nothing was accurate. Because I didn't go thru with the deal I was retaliated against and suspended.