What would YOU like to see in a online auction?
 

I have been toying with the idea of starting a AH over the past few months. Have even purchased a domain and spoken to lawyers etc.

I want to make it a pleasure for everyone (buyers and sellers).

I would like to hear from both sides as to what 1-2 things they want to see the most in an online auction house in regards to operations mostly.

please post here.

Have an amazing day.

I want to see no buyers fee, no sellers fee and free shipping. Next....

One that doesn't close in the middle of the night on the East Coast

I would love to see lower condition/value cards lotted individually. I'm really sick and tired of seeing cards I want and could actually afford, combined into lots with a bunch of other cards I have absolutely no interest in.

There's an auction on ebay right now, where the single last card (a supposedly scarce/rare card) I need to finish a team run, is in a lot with 9 other cards I either already have, or have no interest in. I'm forced to either overpay for it and end up with 9 cards I neither want nor need, or forego it and hope I find the single card somewhere else.


Steve

I don't need to know anything ancillary about the card or the player on it. If I'm even looking at the card I already have enough information about it to be interested.

Do the following:

- Make sure that a user cannot place more than 3 bids on any item. I was watching an eBay item last night and somebody actually bid 30 times - no joke!

- It is unnecessary to write a 7 page University essay describing the item, player, history, etc. We already know all of that!

Just some quick clarification. Are you referring to shilling? Otherwise wouldn't this hurt a buyer who really wants an item? If they get outbid 3 times they would be elongated from contention.

Or do you mean enter 3 total max bids?

On eBay you will often see someone raise their max bid like 10 times just to intimidate other buyers into thinking there's intense competition for something. But really all 10 bids were placed by the same guy.

Ok so that isn't shilling then. That's just a buyer strategy that has not bearing most likely on final sale price correct?

No, the only way it affects the sale price is if another bidder bids. Otherwise you have a guy who raises his max bid a million times just to make it look like other people are bidding. Each raise is counted as a "bid" by eBay. It's so you say to yourself: oh look, 30 bids, I probably won't win this.

Any other ideas fellas?

It's been an hour and thirty one minutes. How about some patience? :)

I am on my phone... meant to quote packs and the other guy who mentioned the bidding patterns. Apologies Leon.

1) Charge actual shipping. No extra fees.

2) Make the buyer's premium reasonable. No more than 12.5% (SSA and Brockelman are that low). Also, don't charge a minimum buyer's premium like Heritage.

3) Let the auctions end at a specific time, like on eBay. No extended bidding. At all. None.

4) Very short and to the point descriptions. No bios (someone already mentioned this).

5) Don't over exaggerate the scans. A few AHs have scans so bright it makes my eyes hurt (SportsCardLink come to mind, but there are others too). Make the scans high quality, but realistic.

6) Allow smaller $ value lots. I hate AHs where nothing is under $200.

Extended bidding is the absolute worst. I don't buy into the theory behind it. I think if you've bid on something and get outbid at 4:00 am, there's little chance you're going to wake up and place a bid on something else you'd set a placeholder bid on earlier. My ideal auction house would close individual lots after each lot has had 15 minutes of inaction, not after all lots.

I'd love to see all AH's end in a lot by lot basis. I realize this has been discussed in the past a lot. I'd also enjoy the cheap / free shipping that most AH's have adopted.

AH
 

1. No seller fee
2. Reasonable shipping/free shipping
3. Low buyer premium
4. Quality photos of the item
5. An auction end time
6. PayPal option
7. Quick turnaround

Paypal option is a good one. I don't like being held hostage by my payment.

I'd like to see proper English.

I like to see honest descriptions of wrinkle/creases. After the auction i would like to know what was not actually paid for and is being returned to the consignor or put up for another auctions.

Also want to see some type of username (can be coded etc) so i know who the unique bidder but dont know who it is so can see if its just between me and one guy or many guys and also fights shilling... plus can see if an item was not paid for..i can see who the bidder was (can be coded etc)

How about some unidentified lots. Let the bidders do their own homework.

I do just that all the time.

Well I applaud your dedication to your hobby but it's a nightmare for me.

All above +
How about you & consignors reach a reasonable agreement on what opening bid should be. there is nothing worse than seeing your $200 item go for less than 30 bucks {before sellers fee}

I understand it's worth what someone is willing to pay; but if someone thought their item would go for cheap they probably would of just kept it.

1. So he's supposed to get a shipping department to work as volunteers?

4. Never understood the hate for Bios. On rare occasion I have learned something interesting, and there are lots of less knowledgeable folks out there that probably appreciate the info, especially if we're talking someone like Joe Wood who doesn't have the HOF recognition. What I WOULD like to see is the important info and the bio info consistently separate and consistently located. Make the first paragraph, condition comments, pop report remarks and the like, don't make me wade through a bunch of extraneous info if I don't want to, especially on someone like Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb.

How do people think businesses work? so basically you want him to collect almost no fees and have stellar customer service. Have collectors really gotten this spoiled that they think that's a viable option? Combine that with the guys who want cheaper lots (which I agree with) that take nearly as much work as expensive lots while generating less revenue and basically you guys want auction houses to be charities. I'd like to poop gold coins too, but c'mon man.

EDIT: And yes, Leon, I realize your first post was facetious, I wonder if other people do though!

- Make sure website is easily searchable (not like Hunt etc)
- display actual price with BP (like heritage)
- only items authenticated by respected 3rd party authentication (or at least be very clear on what is and what is not authenticated and by who)
- accurate titles (If mears says that they cannot State it was used by the player don’t refer to it as “Player x game used” etc)
- offer PayPal/CC options (I don’t mind paying a small premium that way though I’m not convinced it’s cheaper for the auction house to have to staff people to deal with checks and the like)

Auction houses aren’t non profit charities. If their fees are disclosed stop doing business with people whose standard terms you don’t like.
My pet peeve is long delays in shipping. But that horse has been sufficiently flogged I think.

No hidden reserves. If you need a reserve on an item mention it. I think Iconic Auctions are the worst for that. Not sure anyone ever wins anything because most of it is on ebay then ends up back on there.

Now that I can get behind 100%

I prefer to see auction houses run by people who know a great deal about the subject matter, in fact I would consider that an absolute necessity.

Being a relative newcomer to the field doesn’t give anyone a free pass to open an auction house, what exactly would you provide to your consignors? Not trying to be rude but you have asked some pretty rudimentary questions over the past few months and not sure why you think this would be a great idea. Again, if you you decide to take this on I wish you luck I just don’t know that this would be a successful venture for you.

One of the first things they teach you in Auctioneer school in PA. The most important tool an auctioneer has is product knowledge.

I didn't see anything regarding the types of consignments you are looking to have which I think that would plays significantly into the details of what I would expect/want, but overall I think everything can be generalized by 2 words: transparency and integrity. Low buyers premium doesn't mean a thing if people are getting shilled. Shipping that is fair, even if it is more than the postal rate, as long as we know we aren't going to be screwed and represents the packaging that is required. An honest representations of the item, which includes very clear picture(s), a description when necessary to point out a flaw that can't be seen, and accurate titles. Clear communication on what you expect the item to sell for before taking the consignment.

Like Rhett said, the person behind the auction house plays a big part. There are a lot of reasons LOTG, REA, Sterling, etc are so popular, but I think it really comes down to the owners of the business. Each of the owners has spent years/decades building their reputation and contacts within the hobby. I'm also not trying to be rude, but I would seriously ask yourself how well known are you in the hobby and how will that impact your ability to gather consignments and for people to trust you with their consignments.

DJ

I would saying running a successful AH requires a high level of credibility, which is both a lot of knowledge and the ability to be square with people. Four owners I have had personal interaction with who have both those traits are Scott Russell, Al, Scott Brockelman and Rhys. They are not going to bs you where it is not warranted. They are not carnival barkers. And they also have the temperment to deal with the wide range of buyers and sellers. They are all seemingly pretty laid back. They are not fighting with people regularly (to my knowledge) or getting into name calling fights with people every third day.

I totally agree with those 2 words. Those are actually musts in anything in life for long term sustainability in my opinion.

I personally have a passion for Tickets, Photos, Ephemera and oddball items, so I would naturally like to cater towards those categories, however would be open to taking on any consignments as long as I was comfortable with them.

I agree that there are many knowledgable people in this industry and some are even honest and have integrity too.

If I were to do this, I would want it to be a tight ship. No shady business at all.

I'd be doing this as a passion not to become a millionaire.

A lot of great things have been discussed so far in this thread. Keep em coming.

Amen.

I was asked point blank from a very well known hobby figure why I don't want to take my business online. he asked "Do you want to make less money?"

I said there's a simple answer and a long answer. The simple answer is "Yes."

I would respond to this by saying, I would offer absolute amazing customer service to both consignors and buyers. I have spent many years in sales and learned how important customer service and transparency is.

Nobody is too big or too small when it comes to being treated with respect and having their concerns answered.

I believe that shipping should be lightning fast, as should payouts, and emails should be answered almost immediately during an auction.

I am from a newer school where being constantly accesible is the norm and would translate that over to this model.

Still scratching the surface on ideas and how things would be done, but I like the ideas and hope to fill a void from the customer service point of view that the industry seems to be lacking.

+1 A good auction house should be experts in the material #1.

+2. fortunately, it's not something that easily can be faked.

I'm sure I'd enjoy looking at the listings and probably bid some and if it's a good business model for you and something you would enjoy, go for it, but the hobby really "needs" another AH like I need more ass fat.

1) AHs make their money on the buyer's premium. There's absolutely no need to gouge on shipping.

4) Those of use buying at an AH usually know what we want and don't need the lengthy bios. That's what Google, books, Wikipedia, etc are for. It's just cluttering up listings at an AH.

I also agree about having Paypal and/or a CC option available for payment. Preferably without any extra fees.

How about a live auction format like I was toiling with for a bit. I think its a great idea but there is way more than I can commit to at this point. So if this idea helps go for it.

I don't like auctions with minimum bid increases that are too large. No need to have minimum 10% increases, especially on items going for thousands of dollars.

I am still waiting for anyone (from a post in another thread) who runs a business to come forward and tell me they can succeed on gross margins that you guys think an auction house can make it on. In this thread I have seen suggestions of no commission and low buyer's premiums coupled with free shipping. What is a low buyer's premium? 15 %, 10%???

You can't run a business with gross margins that low, and I don't anticipate anyone who actually owns a business of any sort, to contradict that.

Brockelman Auctions has a 12.5% buyer's premium and VERY cheap shipping. They are still in business, and doing very well I suspect.

I do like the intelligent informative write ups that some AHs have. Al of course comes to mind immediately. What I don't need is breathless hyperbole about "breath taking pasteboards," "one of the greatest extant" and claims that things are one of the hobby's best examples when it's the 15th one PDA 7 I've seen for sale since June. Good informative write ups are good. Hype and long recitations about how important Babe Ruth was to the game of baseball are a little silly. If you are using a thesaurus, bad.

delete.

A. Very Cheap isn't free

B. do they charge NO seller's commissions on all items???

A. Very cheap shipping (at or near actual cost) is what I'm looking for - not free
B. No seller's commission on all items, YES! Here's a quote directly from the website:

Sellers win with Brockelman Auctions. We offer a sellers fee of zero % on lots consigned. The result being sellers receive more net dollars due to lower commissions and higher bidding activity.

Goes to show that this type of business model (low buyer's premium, no seller's commission, and cheap shipping) exists and works well. Wish others would follow suit.

There's a reason they "used to" and even then they weren't shipping for free. And please don't think I'm somehow ripping them, their margins are pretty much the smallest I've seen. If they can make it work at those numbers they are paragons of efficiency or something.

Let's look at their September auction.

Approximately 650 lots, let's say they averaged $200 per item, and I think that's more than fair when you see how many no sales they have, that means they took in $130,000.

so if the 12.5% is all they're taking in, they grossed $16,250.

How much did their custom platform and website cost? Shipping costs besides labor? How much does their real-estate cost them, office, warehouse etc...

How many salaries have to be paid out of that. Graphic designers? Shippers? Customer Service? How about the owner?

How many auctions do they run each year four? That's a GROSS profit of $65,000 That's not a business, that's a hobby. Out of that comes ALL the aforementioned expenses before any profit is made.

Again I'm waiting for any business owner to tell me that's a sustainable model. How many of you would be willing to work for $65,000 a year, let alone try and run a business off of it???

If the card is worth $125, and you have a 20% buyer's premium and an $8 shipping charge, the bidding should open at $25 or $50, not $100.

There is no reason to charge a seller a consignment fee if you're charging the buyer a buyer's premium. Please justify that for me with a logical reason that doesn't boil down to "so I can make money" and I'll happily consign.

It probably goes without saying if you aren't Hunt, but it would be nice to include a scan of the back of the card too.

And anything you can do to attract consignments of types that haven't shown up at auction since the Heritage Leon Luckey type card auction would be appreciated.

For a single item I would agree. The only time I could see charging a sellers fee is if there is a lot of work involved.

Example would be organizing lots into making sense for buyers.

Say you're given 2000 cards of all different years. In order to maximize profit, you are going to have to strategize and come up with a plan to make the lot more attractive which would most likely involve breaking them down into smaller lots and taking detailed scans.

Another example would be a huge lot of stubs. In order to maximize profits, you're gonna want to list each date as well as any noteworthy events to help the lots garner as much attention and money as possible.

Would you agree with that?

+1. There is a definite plus/minus factor to one person "boutique" auctions and multi-person organizations.

I would think most on this site would have a minimum 20+ years in the hobby. If you lack experience, why not just go the eBay consignment route and build trust that way?

QUALITY CONSIGNMENTS...NOT ITEMS PURCHASED FROM EBAY OR OTHER AUCTION HOUSES THEN RE-AUCTIONED OFF A MONTH OR TWO LATER. Sorry for the caps tat was an accident!

i think the market will dictate that one...if the new auction place gets higher prices..why should they stop...if they get lower prices..the consignments from these sources will stop coming in.

There's a current auction house (name escapes me) that started without charging a consignment fee or BP, you just paid for advertising in their catalogue. After about 2 or 3 auctions they went back to charging a BP as it must not have been profitable and kind of takes the advertising motivation for the AH if they don't care if their items sell for $10k or $100k.

I have over 1800 positive feedback on eBay at 99.9%. Since 2014

I have taken local consignments and sold on eBay.

Id rather not wait 20 years to start haha

I won't be listing Ruth rookies, but I think you could trust someone who's been buying and selling for a while when it comes to selling Items that are self explanatory and or certified by third party companies would you agree?

Also why does eBay deserve 9% when I can attract the same eyeballs through net 54 members and not have to worry about them shutting me down for absolutely no reason at all as you read so many times online.

I won't be listing Ruth rookies, but I think you could trust someone who's been buying and selling for a while when it comes to selling Items that are self explanatory and or certified by third party companies would you agree?[/QUOTE]

similar modelled auction houses currently exist...some run by veterans of over 30 yrs in the hobby...not sure how many this hobby can sustain?

similar modelled auction houses currently exist...some run by veterans of over 30 yrs in the hobby...not sure how many this hobby can sustain?[/QUOTE]



That's what makes America so great. All you need is a dream and passion and you can possibly carve yourself out a little slice of the pie. How big who knows?

Dead on about Iconic, gotten to the point I don't even look at their auctions. I'm sure it's all in-house bidding or hidden reserves.

One of thee worst in the business.

Wish list for an Auction House
 

Quite happy that I believe I fit 5 of the above 7,(1,2,3,4 &7). On #5 having each lot end individually comes close to that, which we started using several years ago. I don't ever see Paypal as an option at my 12 1/2% buyers premium(which it always has been, another post was in error stating it was 10% at one time).

Further I pay the consignors the second Monday after each auction ends(or before). While I do have the low budget advantage to enable the low BP of no employees, it does get me behind on shipping ocassionally. Other than that the model seems to work. Will I ever be as big as Heritage or REA? No...that was never the goal when Leon and I started the business, it was to give the smaller guys a place to consign their material without it all being tossed into one lot and the smaller buyer to buy cards one at a time under $50-100 and not have to buy an entire group for a single card. Also for sellers we tried to provide an alternative of not having to go the ebay route and spend all of the selling time of scanning, listing and packing, and paying 13-15% of the take to ebay/paypal.

Thanks for the kind words from the folks that both buy and sell through my auctions.

Scott

www.brockelmanauctions.com

I've always thought of doing this someday, but probably very far into the future (if this is still a hobby). Would be so cool dealing with hundreds of pieces of baseball history all day

For every hour of that, there are five of scanning and five more of shipping, not all that glamorous or entertaining :)

I hope it didn't get lost in my post how much respect I have for you. I think you do it right, to the point where I don't understand how you can do it!

+1

When I ran my first major auction in 1998, it was the most exciting thing I had ever done in the hobby. Ten years later, when I did my last one, I was completely spent. It's a business like any other, and while it's great handling all sorts of cool memorabilia, it is cutthroat and very competitive.

Best thing to do Stephen is review all the things that seem to be most desired by collectors, and try to incorporate as many of them as you can. Be honest, which I believe you are, and treat customers fairly.

And the hardest part of putting an auction together is getting quality consignments. There is no shortage of mediocre material out there, but the really good pieces can be tough to get. Wish you luck with it.

In response to Scott's post above Barry's

No not at all.

Firstly I don't do it to make a living, could I? yes, I would just have to get more consignments and do more auctions, which would be more travel and shows, being in TX rather than the NE I am at a huge disadvantage, to the proximity and cost of attending most of the shows. So I rely on my network of consignors and the several new ones I get each auction for material. My advantage there is my long time in the hobby as a collector, so many people are familiar with me on that basis and choose to sell thru me, by shipping to me and not dropping off at the shows.

By and large the format works, it would just need more volume to be my only source of income, as it does generate a profit each auction. Keep in mind I am also really tight. I reuse a lot of mailing boxes and take advantage of postal flat rate boxes and use Collectible private insurance etc. You won't get a fancy triple boxed single card wrapped in tape with my name on it :)

+1.
Sounds like most small businesses, where you're working more hours than you ever expected, spend too many hours dealing with a small few unreasonable customers, and at the end of the day, find you're making way less per hour than you should, given teh workload.

Stephen, I admire your dreams, but you're not exactly coming into this with eyes wide open, and a fresh new idea. Like many fresh faced, it always appears to be much easier than it actually is. And much harder to complete.

It's one thing to sell some items on eBay, quite another to run a production like a full fledged auction house. Perhaps even start with getting some software written or purchased that will properly run the auction side of the business first. Integrate that software with your accounting software. Set up an agreement with FedEx to get your items shipped to you and from you under your insurance. Get a storage facility with the proper 24 hour security, where you can store your consignments. Work on marketing and promotion to get your consignments, and a solid customer base.

This is just off the top of my head, and I know nothing about how the auction business works. But of course, I could easily run one. As Fr@nk Burke++ said in a post, "I want to be an architect. What kind of pencil do I need?" (I use that line now, it says it all)

To prove your grassroots ideas to everyone, and your "StickToItNess", stick to your first venture here which was trading up a paper clip (or something) for a '52 Mantle. When you complete that task, I'll believe in the seriousness of your next venture, starting up an auction house.

I think the largest impediment to become truly knowledgeable in this field is that to really know, I think you have to have years of experience of items actually in your hands. I think there is only so much you can learn by looking at pictures on the Internet. Others may disagree. Trying to be an expert in cards or memorabilia by just looking at scans on the Internet seems to me a lot like try to be a good doctor but never actually laying hands on patients.

Thanks for the post. I am currently having the 1954 bowman set auctioned off at heritage in a few weeks. I am still going to trade up to that Mantle. I wasn't looking to launch a auction in the next month I was thinking more a year or so.

Hopefully I can get this mantle by then.

You might brush up on your English a bit. That is the easy part. I need to brush up on mine too.
Ok, back to getting consignments. That will be your toughest job. There is no silver bullet just a lot of hard work. That and keep your expenses to as nil as possible. :cool:

But if you ask what do I want to see in an auction company, it's back to no buyers or sellers fees and no shipping charge.

Right now we have two great auction houses, REA and Heritage, and more smaller auction houses than ever. You need to ask yourself why consignors need you. Consignors make the auctions; bidders follow the material. Also, great material will not now flow to auctions without elaborate catalogs; are you willing to incur this expense?

Here's a Random Thought
 

A question I would ask the OP or anyone interested in this path, why does the world need yet another AH? There's already at least 20 AHs, each offering some derivation of the same theme. Do you guys realize how many more cards we'd all own if we didn't have to pay a 12.5-30% margin for someone to broker our transactions?

Why not think bigger and create a different model to facilitate the buying and selling of cards and memorabilia? Think of a BST on steroids, where you create a platform that allows for a high volume of transactions between buyers and sellers with the "house" just taking a small cut (3-5 pts) in exchange for programming and managing the platform. Sellers can manage the "marketing" of their goods and their own shipments. Sellers and buyers could be vetted by the platform and kept honest by higher levels of transparency you'd find on eBay. PayPal still offers Buyer protection, or an escrow service could be used for high-value transactions.

Obviously, I haven't thought through all the details here, but I'm not personally interested in starting a business card related business. But if I was, I wouldn't focus on the equivalent of launching a better taxi company; I'd shoot to launch the equivalent of Uber.

Sam-What it sound like you are proposing is a card marketplace with the entrepreneur assuming the role as an intermediary. This is effectively what the Ebay BIN market is. Ebay assures the buyer that they will stand behind the transaction. To have any chance of being successful on a commercial scale I believe that a similar marketplace would have to do the same. This is not a business I would want to run.

True. Takes me a good while to just scan and ship a few cards :D I'm sure a lot of auction houses have staff that do that though

Onto something here
 

This is a good thought. Go for it.

Didn't SportsCardLink create an "Exchange" to try to do exactly this? And isn't COMC doing something similar (but where they take possession of the cards)...IMO, neither of these have enough legs to overtake eBay. But the concept seems like it should work.

Is there a way to monetize my idea for a new BST section? Like an auction house that specializes in bulk lots? I still feel like there's opportunity there. Maybe it could incorporate PWCCs program where you can pay for your winnings with consignments? That would allow people to effectively trade, if the so choose, all the while the house taking, say, 5% along the way. Just spit balling here.