Auction.com, how can the site automatically bid against me??

[Kris Haskins]

Ok, so auction.com says- and I quote.....  "ADC may counter bid on behalf of Seller on any Property up to the amount of the Reserve Price"  

   How is that legal, isn't that like a realtor saying they have other offers when they really don't have any.  I'm curious to know how can this site make a "fake" bid just to push the price up on a house.   They start the opening bid super low, then set a reserve super high in our area, Hampton Roads....   This seems illegal to me.  Please tell me if I'm wrong about this....?????

[Roberto Costa]

Hey kris! Rob Costa here...we had coffee a few weeks back...anyway, I just got a property under contract today from Auction.com.  They have under their bidding guidelines that someone (behind a computer desk) will raise the bid on the property until it reaches the reserve price that the seller has established.  This is common practice for them....so unless you are willing to go to the reserve (which you don't know what it is) then for the most part your bid will not allow you to purchase the property.

What I have done is call their bidding department and you can give them what is your best offer on that property and they will let you know if it's a "A", "B" or "C" type of offer at least giving you an idea if you're close to the reserve.