Posted By:
Phil GarryI was shut out again after the same with Mastro a couple of days ago.
However, my one consignment, a 1917 Collins McCarthy Babe Ruth (PSA 2), underperformed by about 25% of what I expected it to sell for. This comes on the heels of my E90-1 Joe Jackson (SGC Authentic-Trimmed) underperforming by about 25% from what I expected in the REA Auction two years ago. I believe these two cards to be premium pieces which should always be in demand and should have a wide collector base of interest. In both cases, I requested a higher starting bid but was told that a lower one would be more beneficial because it would get more bidders involved with my item. In my opinion, the downside is that it takes too many bids just to make it to the level that the starting bid should have been in the first place ($2,500) and ultimately it cost me a lot of money. In this year's auction the starting bid on the Collins McCarthy Ruth was $500.00 with an "estimate" of $1,000/$2,000+. I believe those are rediculous numbers and influenced bidders to think that the card was already overpriced at $4,250 as it sat there for 1 1/2 weeks before the final day of the auction. Only two bids total were received on the last day which was also very disappointing. It seems like most other items in the auction got strong prices and I will be looking for other options for my future consignments.