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Brownsville, MD

I'm starting this thread because I was involved in an unusual auction situation recently and thought that it would be worthwhile to discuss in case it comes up in the future.

A seed came up at auction (2 lots) and there were 2-3 competitive bidders when the grower of the seed entered a bid and made statements indicating his desire to purchase the seeds because he had no more of his own seed and that this was his only opportunity to buy some back. At that point, I withdrew from the bidding, stating "Go get it, bud" in refernence to him buying his seed back- I did not want to drive up the price.

The grower abandoned bidding soon thereafter, when the price hit $125. He would later purchase 2 other lots at a total of $235. He obviously could have purchased at least one lot of his seed as a high bidder.

Here is the problem with this situation- The club lost out on a higher bid (I was prepared to go above $125) and another grower (me) missed out on an opportunity to acquire a desired seed (or two) by trying to do the right thing with respect to the other grower.

I'm just curious what others think about this type of situation. It was very unusual, but might happen again in the future.

1/27/2018 9:09:14 PM

Colorado

Unusual situation- That someone was bidding on their own seed. I think reading between the lines is a waste of your energy.

1/27/2018 10:01:09 PM

Brownsville, MD

Not really reading between any lines- not really sure what the lines are. It would have been nice of the grower to indicate when he had reached a price that he would not outbid though.

The end result is that the price of the seed was dropped and the club made less money. I can live with the seeds that I have.

1/27/2018 10:47:34 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

I think you showed a lot of class and respect for the other grower. I admire what you did, the club won’t miss a few dollars...well done.

1/28/2018 1:54:03 AM

Boscawen, NH

I agree with North Shore, you did the right thing. I would take it a step further and suggest that the club should have stopped all bids and offered the seed back to the grower free of charge. Clubs depend on the generosity of the growers and should reciprocate whenever possible.

1/28/2018 9:40:20 AM

Brownsville, MD

Just wanted to follow up with some good news:

Another grower who coordinates seeds for 2 other club auctions reached out to me privately. He wanted to know who the grower was so that he could check whether it would be possible to return a seed from either of his clubs auctions.

Maybe the right thing to do in the future is to contact a club prior to the auction to discuss the possibility of returning a seed.

This grower was obviously very generous in giving away so many of his seeds- that is how he came to have none left for himself. Hopefully that generosity would come back his way.

2/1/2018 6:20:54 PM

Deer Park WA

We have been in a simular situation but always felt a seed given is a seed hopefully planted. If it turs out to be a hottie we can bid on buying one back fair & square. Wish i had a couple 834* from back in the day!

2/2/2018 1:28:34 AM