Getting "deals" in Big Auctions??

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Do any of you have experience with scooping up "deals" in some of these mammoth-sized auctions by bidding on the items that have very few bids on them...

regardless of the item or whether you really want the thing or not?

In other words... we all know that auction houses start the bidding well below the "expected market price" of the items in order to get a lot of bidding activity on the item and to allow people to get their bids in before the "extended period" begins.

Do any of you just go and bid on every item that only has 1 or 2 or zero bids?

If so, do you have any good experiences to share about turning around some of the items for profit??

I am just wondering if perhaps some good but obscure items get "lost" in an auction with 1,600 items and whether buying them cheap is worthwhile?

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Posted By: Leon

I try my best to scoop up bargains but there aren't really that many anymore....Also, "bargain" is a relative term. As a very passionate collector I have paid world record prices on many things. My guess is that when I sell them I could lose a little....which I am ok with as I also try to make a little on good buys when I sell them....I doubt I answered your question but maybe gave you some relevent feedback...

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Posted By: peter chao

that the Lots that get the fewest bids are the multi-item lot. Let me put it this way. If there is only one item, then it's obvious that the person bidding on it wants that one item. However, as the no. of items increase in a lot, it becomes unlikely that someone would want all of the items, so the individual bidding probably wants only a couple of the items.

If that is the case, then he needs to devise a way of getting rid of the other items if he won. Thus, the more items you need to dispose of, the fewer the people interested in the lot. Thus there are fewer people bidding.

Peter

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Posted By: Leon

Another way to look at it is that group lots will attract a different clientele and possibly more bidders. I doubt many dealers/flippers go for single cards too often but I know several that buy group lots..myself included sometimes...whereas if you broke up that group I wouldn't be bidding.....

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Just an example (and I have NO CLUE who the consignor is):

http://tinyurl.com/29blu9


Something like this for $100 (plus $20 vig) would seem like a very cool steal to me.

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

Yes Hal, although not with sportscards. I've built a part-time (more fun than anything) business and an online museum around some tremendous (almost unbelievable) bargains. It was at a time when Mastro just started the Americana section. Nobody was interested...just in sportscards.

I've also grabbed some great non-sport sets at close to the grading fees.


Kevin

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

And look!

Here is an UNCUT sheet of Tuxedo Baseball cards with ZERO bids!!!!!!

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Does anything ever end in these big auctions with only ONE bid???

It sure would be nice to win something BEFORE the "extended period" even starts!!

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Posted By: Mike

With time running out in the last Robert Edward Auction, I was surprised that when I did a search of the items that had no bids, this Framed Mantle piece from the Barry Halper Collection (Lot 1067)was not bid on. I placed my $200 bid and never sweated thru the extended period as I was the only one. If scan doesnt appear can someone give me a hand with link below. Thanks

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/site/bidplace.aspx?itemid=9227

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Posted By: Ed McCollum

before sites like this, or internet auctions were around, but I picked up five T206s in a group – one Lenox back, one Uzit back, one Tolstoi back, one Broadleaf (350) back and one blank back – as the only bidder in a Ron Oser auction. Think it was 1996. Total cost, with shipping and fees was less than $250. Really wish I had kept the blank back, as it didn't have a name on it, only printers registration marks on the front. He was a Cincinatti Red, and I traded it for three cards at an Omaha card show. Wish I hadn't.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

If you cast a wide enough net, you used to be able to get good deals in a Mastro Auction-- meaning buying stuff that you could resell for more. If your focus was narrow, you would be lest likely to find deals ("I'm looking only for a T206 Ty Cobb grad Very Good" would be narrow focus). I suspect it's harder to get these deals today.

These days, you'll sometimes find auction prices that are the reverse of deals. Such as a lot of 1,000 modern celebrity autographed photos at $30 per photo, when you'd be lucky to get $10 per photo reselling them on eBay.

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Posted By: barrysloate

As someone who spends a lot of time pricing out large vintage card lots in the major auctions, there aren't too many bargains.

And regarding the two lots that Hal singled out, the minor league jersey and the Tuxedo sheet, there is still plenty of time for bids to come in. I've noticed a pattern in my auctions where many lots start slowly and just reach their level later than some others. No explanation for it.

And should you purchase those two lots at or near the minimum bid, I don't think there is big money to be made on them. You can always buy something from a major auction and sell it for a little more, but I don't think you will get rich doing it.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Hal, could you please edit your post with the mastronet URL and change it to the following tinyurl? Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/29blu9

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Posted By: Marc S.

You could place an extremely aggressive bid to start in Mastro and not be topped...

<<Does anything ever end in these big auctions with only ONE bid???

It sure would be nice to win something BEFORE the "extended period" even starts!!
>>

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Posted By: peter chao

Actually that makes a lot of sense. You could put your highest bid in right away. It saves time and protects your budget.

You wouldn't even have to come back to the lot until the auction was over.

Peter

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Marc S.

I would stay up all night sweating that one out!

I want to WIN before the frenzy even starts!

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Posted By: Glenn

I bought a lot of War Gum cards from one of Seth Nagdeman's auctions a couple of years ago for the opening bid of $100. I got about $200 for them as an eBay lot. Not really an incredible deal or a big auction, but it worked out alright for me.

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Posted By: James Feagin

Despite some disagreement, I think the T213-3 Cobb PSA 9 was an absolute "deal" or "bargain" in the Goodwin auction. I've also had some good luck in Hunt's monthly auctions. They tend not to do so well in describing a lot or mentioning some of the better pieces in a lot.

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Posted By: peter chao

James,

That's ironic, you are basically saying that you might get a better deal in auctions where the auctioneer does a poor job of displaying or advertising a lot. Hmmmm....

Peter

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Posted By: John H.

I won 20 Hartland statues for $294 plus the 15% premium, for a total of $338.10, in the Clean Sweep Auction a couple of weeks ago. The lot includes the complete 1988 25th anniversary set plus Whitey Ford and Casey Stengel(?). There was never a Stengel figure made but there was a very rare piece (possibly only 20 manufactured) called The Confrontation featuring a manager and an umpire going at it nose to nose. I'm hoping and guessing that the "Stengel" is the manager half of that duo.

Either way, under $17 a piece is a great deal.

John

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I think the days of getting great deals in auctions are done, Hal. Because of the 10% incremental bids, however, oftentimes you can get a card for a price say, 5% or so less than its true value, simply because the card's value falls in the middle of the current and next bid increment.

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

Some of you might remember a short-lived Mastro endeavor when the company posted items for sale on its Web site. I'm guessing this was around 1999 or 2000 (?). Many of the items were large lots. One that I bought was a group of about 150-200 baseball pocket schedules that ranged in age from the late 1950s to the early '70s. The Web site description included only one photo and listed (maybe) 7-8 specific schedules. I don't remember the exact price and am too lazy to dig through my files, but I think I'm accurate in saying it came out to a little over $1.50 a schedule.

Given that pocket schedules are easy to mail and scan, I bought them with the sole intent of selling them individually on eBay. Aside from the pain of scanning 200 schedules, it was a blast. There were some gems that even I could recognize (a couple Colt 45s, a couple different 1962 Mets, etc), and I have no interest in schedules. When all was said and done, that lot cleared more than $1,000, counting eBay fees. A few of the schedules sold for more than $75. Not big bucks, but when you have less than $2 a schedule invested, it was a lot of fun to watch the auctions.

I later bought a bulk lot of 1950s-70s Cubs media guides from Mastro (with 5-10 from each year) and did well, but because of their size and lack of diversity that the schedules had, it wasn't as much fun.

Shortly thereafter, Mastro bagged the straight-selling idea.

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Posted By: joe

Hello John H. actually the 2nd half of the confrontation was based on Sparky Anderson. Not sure what the Stengel looked like, can you post a picture.?

Joe

Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

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Posted By: John H.

I don't have the figures yet. I'm having them delivered to an address in North Dakota rather than risking them going through Canada Customs. I'm not sure when I'll be able to pick them up.

I was aware that the manager was supposedly based on Sparky but the listing states that the lot includes a Stengel. Ol' Case was never made, even though he was on the drawing board back in 1963 when they stopped production of the originals. I'm looking forward to seeing the piece, whatever it is.

John

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Way back in the old days when we were young and carefree (circa 2000) I won a lot of 25 identical Chicago Cubs Phantom World Series Tickets in a Mastro Auction. The first one I put on eBay sold for more than I paid for the entire lot.

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Posted By: Alan

I always wondered (if I had lots of money of course) would I be able to make a living buying high end stuff from the big auction houses & then re-consigning those same items a few years later to the same or other auction houses ???????

Alan

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Posted By: Marc S.

<<I always wondered (if I had lots of money of course) would I be able to make a living buying high end stuff from the big auction houses & then re-consigning those same items a few years later to the same or other auction houses ???????>>

Of course, if you have lots of money, perhaps you don't need to make a living...?

But if you consider a consignment fee of 5% and a buyers fee of 17.5%, you are out 22.5% off the bat. Then, if you look at costs of capital, you would essentially need to realize a 50% increase in value over 3-4 years to simply equal the expected returns of investing in bonds/stocks. Heck, if you consider stocks at 10% per annum, you would need to earn 60% return in 4 years just to stay even.

With the volatility and the limited market -- in a short answer, no.

m

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

I bought a LOT of stuff out of those old Mastro & Steinbach or whatever online auctions. I bought a lot of Muhammad Ali Closed Circuit TV tickets that was about 60 of them from a couple different fights for like $40 or something. They all sold for $10 or more. Also a LOT of 1933 Goudey's--probably close to 100 or more in lots of like 6-10 of different teams. They were all very nice in about EX condition. But back then you could still buy stuff like that and do well by re-selling. Also, the baseball auction business, at that time, was still largely call-in type activity. The net was just catching on. Same thing as the Amazon/Sotheby's Halper section. Lots of items from that sale too........

Ah.....the good old days.......

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Posted By: Sean Coe

In a couple of Hunt Auctions I've run across some good deals particularly with cards from the early 1920's.

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Posted By: Greg Theberge

I got a pretty good "deal" on a 1903 Royal Rooters pin and Tessie songcard in the last REA that sold for about 50% less than what the pin sold for alone in a recent Leland's auction.