I'm laughing cuz same thing happened to my late husband.....
I got all kinds of lectures about being careful, every hand movement would be a bid, etc. before going into an auction. The very FIRST thing he saw was a bookcase, with sliding glass doors. It was old, but not in good condition. The item came up, the auctioneer started it at FIVE. Bill immediately said SEVEN. I THOUGHT I heard the auctioneer say something about it being in "hundreds"...well, everyone was looking at us. I asked woman next to me if auctioneer said hundreds...YIP!! I told Bill to STOP, it's in hundreds......well, we ended up getting it for $700!!!!!!! They wouldn't put it back up!!!!!! I NEVER let him forget it! I still have it...it's now worth about $1500....so I don't feel so bad.....LOL LOL