Originally Posted by
Voidmonster
There'd be a lot of reasons, not least of which is timezones.
Since Morphy's is only 3 zones behind me, it's not a big deal. I've done internet auctions hosted in Sheffield, and that was a bit more of a pain.
Absentee bids are also a really great way of circumventing Stupid Auction Brain, wherein you watch other people outbid you and think, "oh, surely I want it a LITTLE more" and you up your bid... Until finally you're frothing at the mouth and hiring assassins to eliminate rival bidders.