Although the system was paying for this auction, Jiang Cheng wouldn't force a bid if the competition pushed the price beyond market estimates.
The system went through all that effort to provide him with funds and even arranged a scanner.
It clearly wanted to tell him that he was a God-tier Tycoon, not just a regular Tycoon.
"Seven point five million for Mr. Number Eight!"
"Are there any more bids? Seven point five million!"
The female auctioneer waited for several seconds, seeing that no one else raised their hand.
She directly struck down with the gavel in her hand.
"Seven point five million! Congratulations to Mr. Number Eight for winning the Blue-Glazed Six-Necked Vase."
Sometimes you'll notice that auctioneers strike the gavel very decisively, while other times they stall and drag things out.
The reason is actually quite simple.
A decisive strike usually means the item has already reached its expected auction price.
Stalling and repeatedly asking is because the current bid is clearly too low, and the auctioneer wants to guide other bidders to actively bid and raise the final price.
Once the auction began, Jiang Cheng clearly felt that An Xin seemed to have changed into a different person.
Especially the way she looked at Jiang Cheng.
That gaze felt as if the two of them weren't acquainted at all, but were merely rival bidders.
Although she had just given up on bidding against Jiang Cheng, she still nodded very politely toward him now, signaling her congratulations on his acquisition.
Soon, the second item appeared on the large screen.
The female auctioneer began her introduction: "The next item is a Hermès bag, 25cm, with 18k white gold and 3834 hardware, an exceptionally rare Himalayan Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin. Starting bid is 1.3 million!"
As soon as this grey-and-white bag appeared, one could clearly feel the ladies in the audience becoming restless.
As Hermès is the king of bags, for every crocodile skin bag produced, a poor crocodile must die.
Even though waves of opposition rise up every so often.
Despite this, it still cannot stop the pursuit of capital and upper-class elites.
A woman's Hermès bag is just like a man's Patek Philippe—a symbol of status and position.
It is not only filled with various purchase restrictions but also has very exploitative 'Spending Ratio' requirements.
Trying to pick the specific model you want at Hermès is practically harder than climbing to heaven.
However, Hermès never bullies ordinary people who have no money.
Because for us ordinary folks, even trying to buy a basic entry-level bag at a Hermès boutique requires an immense amount of trouble.
When you walk into a Hermès boutique and say you want to buy a bag, the Sales Associate will tell you to wait the next second, saying they are out of stock and will notify you when they have it.
As for why you have to wait, this is actually the professional code of their Sales Associates.
They never say why on the surface.
After you ask a few more questions, they will start hinting at certain measures. If you accept them, you can speed up the queue and gain the eligibility to purchase their bags.
In reality, the meaning behind those layers of hints is that you first need to buy their overpriced perfumes, clothes, silk scarves, or even sky-high priced cups, accessories, watches, trash cans, and a whole series of other items.
Once you've bought a round of these things and your cumulative spending reaches 500,000 to 1,000,000, you are eligible to get your first Hermès bag from them.
However, even if you reach the base amount, you can't just pick any bag you want.
Because this spending tier is only the most basic level; it means you only have the eligibility to buy their basic models—the most ordinary leather bags, commonly known as basic 'Leather BKC' (Birkin, Kelly, Constance).
You can choose one from among the ordinary models.
Just when you think you can finally spend money to take home an ordinary bag, something speechless happens again.
Because to take away the first Hermès bag of your life, there is another special condition: the 'Spending Ratio' requirement.
What is the Spending Ratio?
It means when you buy this bag, you also need to purchase other items in their store besides the bag itself.
In other words, it's a bundled purchase; only then can you buy the bag.
Furthermore, the Spending Ratio has price standards.
The establishment of this mechanism solidified the Hermès brand and, more directly, established the foundation of them only serving the ultra-wealthy.
Because of this mechanism, many people who want to save money will generally go to the vintage second-hand market to buy the Hermès bag they desire.
These second-hand Hermès bags can be found in the vintage stores of Japan, the boutique shops of Pretty Country, and the luxury towns of France.
Currently, the starting price for this Himalayan Crocodile Birkin at the auction is 1.3 million.
This price is actually very cheap.
A bag like this can be bought in the secondary market for around two million.
But if you buy it at a Hermès boutique, you might have to spend tens of millions to even be eligible to buy such a bag.
Due to this mechanism, many in the second-hand market are very grateful to Hermès.
After all, if it weren't for their strict Spending Ratio mechanism, there wouldn't be such a flourishing development in the second-hand market.