Joy of joys... eBay the Auction House?
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1911-T205-Go...item1c4e43b772

I understand that live bidding and promote more competitive bidding, but not sure why someone would run something like this on ebay except to try and squeeze out more money from the buyer? Regardless, you gotta love the "Seller's estimate" on this one.

(Yes Peter, I realize that the buyer only pays what the buyer pays) ;)

Anyone else have experience or familiarity with this live auction facility in ebay?

Hunts did this for their Super Bowl auction, I bid through this on eBay and only later realized I could have bid straight through Hunts. Turned out to be the same commission either way.. I think Heritage is doing this as well for this weekend's auction. First time I have seen this for a smaller auction house.

Tim

Ebay the Auction House
 

If I remember correctly, Ebay used to offer seller's the ability to run live, internet auctions through their site years ago. They ended up stopping the practice, kind of along the time they were slowly changing from their original auction oriented format to what appears to be their focus of becoming more like Amazon, and just be more of a big online retailer. I think it was called Ebay Live, or something like that. Maybe they are finally getting concerned of a potential drop in business as more auction houses rise up and other competitors try to chip away at their business.

I noticed a local (to me) auction house mentioned in an ad that they were going back to using them as one of their online sites for future auctions. (I think they already use something like three or four others, including one that the auction owner told me reaches to China.) This looks like a move by Ebay to go back to something they once did in a possible attempt to hold market share. The fact that this auction house is using multiple, online bidding companies shows there is growing competition. Interesting!

Bob C

Hard Times At Legendary
 

speaking of auctions, a look at the current Legendary Auction offerings is very,very sad.Is this the end ?

not sure about the offerings but I see the first 6 or so expensive lots total to about 100k+ in bidding and its early...I would go by the net commission versus what our opinion's of their offerings are to determine any companys viability...I not sure how much you need to make to turn a nice profit..

I think it may be the end for Legendary unless someone from there comes in to dispute this. Their Events link does not even list when their next auction is, and they used to schedule their auctions up to a year in advance. It's true that their first few items total about 100K, and they have other nice lots including a Ruth rookie card. However, they only have around 700 lots total for this auction. In their Nov 2014, they had ~1400 lots. In Sept 2014, they had ~1750 lots. In May 2014, they had ~2000 lots. In Feb 2014, they had ~1850 lots. In Nov 2013, they had nearly 2200 lots. From whatever want you want to look at it, that's a huge drop in consignments.

understood...can not be making as much money..but the OP asked if it was the End..its one thing to not make as much then you did in the past..but if still making a nice profit then that usually doesn't signify the end..

it is interesting that you note that their are no future auctions scheduled..that to me strange.

Back to the OP...

that t205 is overpriced even before the buyers premium!

Joshua

this has to be the lowest point for Legendary.No consignors have the confidence to send them the good stuff.the higher priced items they are offering may have been purchased by them specifically for this auction to prop up the run of the mill offerings.Embarrassing to see their unopened stuff.Borderline junk wax cases.I noted the lack of events scheduled for 2015 and knew something was amiss.They usually have events listed very early including when they will be appearing at big card shows around the country.I would be hesitant to consign to them until it's clear that they are an ongoing business.

Lots of auction houses purchase high priced items so if not know for sure if they did then they no different than anyone else in that regard...

Yep. I should have added my :rolleyes: to my original statement. :)
Probably at least 4X over "estimated". At least that would be my guess based on that high quality scan. :rolleyes: (I didn't forget it this time) :)

This live-ebay process seems a little confusing sometimes.

The Legendary auction does look sad, and I agree with other poster that this could be the last roundup. What I get a kick out of are the memorabilia lots that have Legendary LOAs. What are these really worth if the auction closes? Having said that, there are plenty of nice cards that seem to be going for fractions of market value.

Live eBay Auctions
 

eBay has been offering this live format at least since last summer. One day back then I noticed a link on the home page, and it took me to several estate sales. Unfortunately, only one or two out of the twelve or so estate sales I managed to check out offered any pre-war cards as I recall.