Interesting. I would never do it by phone because it's too... personal, for lack of a better world. I like the anonymity of online bidding.
if I can bid in person on what I want, I prefer it.
if I can't bid in person and I want to bid, please call me, if you have phone bidding
if I can't bid in person and there is no phone bidding, I'll bid online
the benefit in-person and phone bidding has over online bidding, is that I have had the internet 'hiccup' or even 'jackass ran off the road and knocked out the telecommunications box situated down at the corner behind that fence' and missed out on bidding for something.
now I can understand not wanting to be seen in person, but even phone bidding is entirely anonymous. If you win, only the same people will know who you are and if you don't win, at least they'll know yuo when you want to get a call next time again.
there is also this, at Profiles, you bid in person, pay with an approved check or bank draft, you pay 20%
same deal goes by phone
you bid on any online venue and win, you pay 24%
obviously, when I spend 30k, I don't want to do it via an online option in this case