1 reviews | Active since Nov 2018
Unfair bidding process
I have been following the online auctions of SMD for a number of weeks. I have picked up a tendency that some vehicles are "sold" but appear back on the auction list the next week.
My opinion is that SMD is practising bid rigging. Their employees or agents (spotters) take part in the auctions in order to ensure higher prices. Conspiring to increase prices at auctions beyond the genuine intent to purchase is considered price fixing and against the law! SMD is not ethical if they practice bid rigging.
In a free market (based on supply and demand) consumers are suppose to pay a reasonable price without being subjected to price fixing.
So the advantage of bid rigging for SMD? The higher the selling price, the higher the 5% commission that SMD collects on every sale!
We sell vehicles on behalf of insurance companies. For selected vehicles (high value especially) the insurance company will put an STC on the vehicle. an STC is a reserve price that we need to reach before the vehicle can be sold, we also need to get approval before we can sell the vehicle.
In cases where you see the vehicle come up again, the vehicle price was rejected by the insurance company and we have to re - auction the vehicle.
Another case where this happens is if the vehicle is sold and the client does not pay for the vehicle, we penalize the client by taking their deposit and have to re auction the vehicle.
I hope this helps clarify for you. Should you want more insight, feel free to contact us.
Kind regards,
SMD
We sell vehicles on behalf of insurance companies. For selected vehicles (high value especially) the insurance company will put an STC on the vehicle. an STC is a reserve price that we need to reach before the vehicle can be sold, we also need to get approval before we can sell the vehicle.
In cases where you see the vehicle come up again, the vehicle price was rejected by the insurance company and we have to re - auction the vehicle.
Another case where this happens is if the vehicle is sold and the client does not pay for the vehicle, we penalize the client by taking their deposit and have to re auction the vehicle.
I hope this helps clarify for you. Should you want more insight, feel free to contact us.
Kind regards,
SMD
Can you send me a vehicle reference number so that i can see if this is accurate? The only reason why the same amount of people could be be bidding is that all the bidders that bid when the vehicle was on auction get notified when the car is allocated to a new sales channel/ re auctioned.
Can you send me a vehicle reference number so that i can see if this is accurate? The only reason why the same amount of people could be be bidding is that all the bidders that bid when the vehicle was on auction get notified when the car is allocated to a new sales channel/ re auctioned.