I went to the Barnard Marcus auction this week at the New Connaught Rooms in London with clients in order to bid on a lot.

Even when not buying for yourself an auction is a fascinating place to go everyone tries to exude a certain relaxed and indifferent attitude to proceedings for the novice this must be a peculiar as for many it is an exciting experience but far from relaxing. I was chatting to a couple who had successfully bought for the first time and by their own admission the heart had started to race and they were still shaking a good ten minutes after the hammer had fallen in their favour. This is no surprise as who cannot fail to be excited from buying their first home by whatever method. At auction rather than that long drawn out process post offer to exchange of contracts to completion in the more regular house purchase scenario, it is instant and as such all the excitement is condensed into a much shorter period of time.

People are continually moving around and the auctioneer is handing out instructions and moving proceedings along. The auctioneer is not only watching the room aided by his trusted colleagues acting as spotters but also those on the phone dealing with potential bidders who either cannot make it to the room or would prefer not to be seen bidding.

Successful buyers are taken to another part of the room to fill in the relevant paperwork on their purchase and to pay their deposits etc.

The registration table is always busy and people are registering almost throughout proceedings in readiness to bid for their item.

My observations on this particular morning is that there is the brinkmanship of bidding in a busy room but how many times does the poor auctioneer have to say don’t leave it to the last minute?

So a word to the wise bid so that you can be noticed and don’t leave your final bid until the auctioneer is saying going once, going twice or similar as it could go horribly wrong!