the Cost of Personal Shoppers

The price covered the cost of a professional auction proxy. Meaning you set a budget and give them the item number at an auction and they'll bid in your place. You can set a hard budget where the proxy absolutely won't go over budget, or a soft budget where if bidding is slow when your budget is reached, they can keep bidding.

The price is more or less constant (varies depending on the specific proxy), but you must pay travel fees if you want them to travel.

I dislike that such services exist. I was buying a car at auction, but had I been selling, I could have hired one of these guys to stimulate bidding and drive up the price.

Learning how to bid strategically during an auction and stay objective during bidding, though, for me would be more difficult than parting with the $500 the service cost.

Don't bother with this unless you're either going to be out of town, or you can admit to yourself that (like me) you have a bit of an issue when it comes to self control and budgeting in auctions.

Services like these can be a bit of a crap shoot if the proxy is having an "off" day, but make sure they're willing to take responsibility for any errors that result from their not following your instructions.