"One Wrong Zero" ... "I Ended Up Losing Three Years' Worth of Salary"

[The Financial News] A bidder at an apartment auction in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, submitted an offer that was nearly 10 times the market price. If the winning bidder fails to pay the sale price, the 150 million won deposit could be forfeited, adding weight to the possibility of a reckless bid.
According to the auction industry on the 15th, a bidder won the auction for a 120-square-meter unit at Yeongdeungpo Art Xi in Yeongdeungpo-dong, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, held at the Seoul Southern District Court on the 11th, with a bid of 17.2 billion won.
The problem is that the minimum sale price for the auction was about 1.54 billion won. That means the winning bid was 9.2 times the appraised value. The second-highest bid was 1.85 billion won, and the third-highest was 1.67777 billion won. Because the top bid was so far above market value, the industry suspects the bidder may have intended to write 1.72 billion won but accidentally entered one extra zero.
Even if the bidder gives up the purchase, a large loss is unavoidable. In court auctions, bidders must pay 10% of the minimum sale price as a deposit. In this case, the deposit is about 150 million won, and it will not be refunded if the bidder abandons the payment.
As more people have entered the auction market recently, similar mistaken bids have been reported more often. Last month, an apartment auction in Guro-gu, Seoul, drew attention after a bidder offered more than 6.6 billion won for a property valued in the 700 million won range. That bidder later gave up the winning bid and lost the 60 million won deposit.
There are cases in which winning bidders file a request with the court to block the sale, citing the burden of losing the deposit. But such requests are rarely accepted, because acknowledging a simple mistake could open the door to abuse.
Lee Joo-hyun, an expert member at Jiji Auction, said, "In the case of apartments, even auction beginners show interest and enter the market, so cases of writing the wrong amount occur about once a month." She added, "Because the bid form is filled out by hand, bidders need to be especially careful, including checking the bid amount several times before submission."
going@fnnews.com Choi Ga-young Reporter