Auction Houses. Do we need more?

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by bobfreedman

Obviously I am a bit biased about the number of auction houses out there but I think people fail to realize that more auction companies breed competition. Competition helps us all out with lower seller's fees. Do you think that if there were only 2 or 3 sports auction companies, that they would offer 0%?, -5%?.

Many of our customers use our live auction format www.morphyauctions.com , www.celebrityauthenticsauctions.com , www.goldinauctions.com runs 2 to 3 live events a year as well.

Again, I realize that I am biased but lets give things some thought before we open our mouths

I totally agree with you, that competition is good. I am all for healthy competition. There comes a point however, where the playing field becomes over-saturated.

As it is now, very few of us, if any (and certainly not me), are able to keep track of all the auctions going on. I do get the more than once per week email from auctionreport.com, but even it does not list all the auctions either soon to open, or that are currently taking bids.

It seems to me that when so many collectors are unable to keep up with the goings on, it is not good. Too much of a good thing, just like drinking too much water, is unhealthy, and can even be disastrous.

Just some examples:

- All the cards that were produced in the late 1980s - too much of a good thing

- All the card stores that opened in the late 1980s-early 1990s - too much of a good thing

- Overproduction of collector postage stamps in the 1990s - too much of a good thing

- Same thing has been said about US coins (especially commemoratives), collector plates, Star Trek action figures, Beanie Babies, and on and on and on.

I just don't want future collectors (or Heaven forbid, those of us here today) to be able to say the same thing about sports card auctions contributing to the demise of our hobby!

Steve