The Fading Reverse Auction —Morgan

A printer concurred: “I personally have found the customer really does not get the best pricing. In fact, it usually is about 20 percent higher than if they just had several people bid on the project without seeing what each vendor estimated.”

There is nickle-and-diming. Kathy Ladwig, print production buyer at CUNA Mutual Group, shared, “We only did a reverse auction once, and we’ll never do it again. With a reverse auction bid, you get what you pay for—but if you vary from the bid, you will get charged handsomely. Reverse auctions are only good if you absolutely need to have rock-bottom prices and can sacrifice quality and service.