Why Don't More Auction Houses Include eBay Listings?

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Posted By: Brad Green

Back on December 8, an auction for a group of 22 different 1932 W574's ended with a high bid of $195. The auction house did not include an eBay listing with the auction.

http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?auction_id=23311

The winner of the above auction turned around and relisted the cards on eBay. The auction ended about an hour ago. The group went for $677. Not a bad profit for the seller.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8738910604

Certainly, the original consignor would not be happy knowing that he could have made an additional $450 or so having someone sell his cards on eBay.

This sort of stuff probably happens all the time. Still it begs the question: Why don't more auction houses include eBay listings with their auctions? I know eBay has listing and selling fees associated with auctions, but it seems like the auction houses could easily get their money back if the cards would sell for more if eBay listings were included.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The lower tier ones should be out of business. Sorry to be harsh, but I don't think anyone needs to consign stuff to a second-rate auctioneer when ebay could be used instead, at a far lower cost and with greater marketing penetration.

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Posted By: Bob S

Hi, again, warsh,

I both agree and disagree with you on this one.

The main benefit of dealing with a "top drawer" auction firm is he trust they bring to the buyers' mind set.

ebBay, of which I have been a member for almost 9 years, is more of a cr** shoot.

It's a tough call, but I think that the big auction houses, with their high buyers' juice are walking a tightrope, and any major fraud, scandal, etc. could topple them very quickly.

My favorite way of selling remains face to face, one on one, or even with the locals, if you know them well enough to understand what thay can move at retail. JMHO.

Bob S

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Posted By: Brad Green

Black Sox Fan,

You are correct. In my write-up above, "include ebay listings with their auctions" = "auction houses simultaneously listing items on eBay".

Brad

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

"MastroNet does not need to put items on eBay."

Yes they do! Mastro sells a ton of lesser quality stuff on EBAY under the seller name "Sandandy". Check them out. The Mastro logo is on all their auctions and they have had close to 16,000 EBAY transactions!

Frank

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I agree Ted. I find it amusing when people complain that a MastroNet or Leland charges more than the average eBay seller.

I'm sure that MastroNet hires people to package and ship their items. I have no idea how the packaging of 2,000+ lots would otherwise get done. For those unfamiliar with the concept, hiring employees requires payment of money to people to do work. I'm assuming that bidders realize it would be illegal for MastroNet to use slave laborers from Guatamala to package your winnings.

For those who complain about auction house shipping costs, I would pose them the questions, "If you were to take a full time packaging job for an big auction house, would you expect to be paid? If you expect payment, would you want this payment to be in the form of money, or would a hearty handshake and smile from the employer do?"

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Posted By: Brad Green

From the standpoint of me finding the cards that I need, I wish all auction houses used eBay. It would make my search for cards a lot easier. I search eBay for cards on a regular basis, but I can't easily keep track of the cards that sell through auction houses outside of eBay.

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Posted By: martin dalziel

The auction houses are business unto themselves and as such, just like any business that wants to be successful, part of their focus is to create branding.

Mastro et al, spend a lot of money trying to create their brand and while Ebay will certainly 'get more eyes' for their auctions, theres an argument that it dilutes the brand that they're trying to create. They're not trying to be perceived as some common or garden place to buy things, they want to be perceived as 'the' place.

Tiffany & co. is a great example of a company that is all about brand, and as such the brand carries a premium. If their goods were available everywhere, bang goes the image and bang goes the premium.

All that aside, personally i like that items aren't all over Ebay for everyone to find - but thats me being selfish. I like the fact that hard work and research can still pay off.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Bob S: It's Warshaw...Adam Warshaw. OK, not as elegant as Bond...James Bond, but those who've met me know that I am getting a lot closer to being Bond-like with my name than I would with my mug (thankfully, my daughter looks like my wife except for coloring and eyes). And I wish I could do everything face to face. Reality just doesn't allow for it. I do attend as many shows as I can, and probably buy 50% (by value) of my cards in person, but in this day and age mail order via the net and auctioneers is inevitable if you want your collection to grow.

Ted, gotta chime in--no offense, but you aren't the most objective observer on the question of ebay costs versus auction costs--you've got skin in the game. Your comparison of the time and other costs of ebay to the time and other costs of consignment is comparing apples to oranges. Yes, Ebay takes some time and effort, but the cost difference is dramatic for run of the mill nice stuff. When I give away 35% or more of the item's value to the auction house (don't forget that I am eating the 17.5% commission plus the 17.5% buyer's vig that is paid for the card but that I will never see), I expect that the auctioneer will be able to achieve visibility with the kind of folks who don't spend their time scouring Ebay and/or who do not feel right spending big on cards through ebay. If that is not the case, I consider the 20%-25% extra I net from an ebay sale to be more than adequate compensation for time and effort spent on it. Now, if I am selling an E107 Wagner, I agree, a top auctioneer is worth going with. But, as the initial poster observed, decent stuff consigned with average auctioneers can slaughter the seller as compared to Ebay. I think the consignor of the lot in question would trade a half an hour of his time in a heartbeat for the hundreds of dollars that his auction left on the table.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I've been selling baseball memorabilia for nearly 25 years and even after all this time I still can't say precisely what the best way is to achieve the highest possible price. I have sold things in my small auctions that at times have far exceeded what a similar item has sold for in a Mastro auction (yes, that does really happen); I have also sold things at 60% of what the same item has sold for in a major auction house. I have realized incredible prices for things on ebay and also have seen other items fall flat. I've gotten record amounts in private sales and sold things that a month later I regretted when I realized I sold it too cheap. I've listed things in fixed price lists for far more than they are worth and sold them; I've also inadvertently underpriced items and gotten ten phone calls on them (that's the surest way to know you left money on the table). In the end, the only right way is to find the right buyer.
When those two Kalamazoo Bats sold on ebay a couple of months ago for 110K was that the wrong venue? Of course not, because it brought together the exact combination of two bidders that made it happen. Last year I sold a T206 Plank in VG-EX for over 68K, still the world's record for the grade. Was it because I have the best auction house in the world? Of course not, but what I had that night were two guys who were going to fight it to the death. If one was out of town, I might have gotten half the amount. The bottom line is there isn't a right or wrong way- you just have to find that right person. And that is an art that one continues to perfect until the day he hangs up his spikes.

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