we were not going to post this, but since a user did and its difficult to read in their format, here it is in plain text. this went out ONLY to those who bid and consigned in our auction. to put a scope on this, at some points we had 50,000 people trying to access the site. The purpose of this plan is to drastically limit the traffic to only those with qualifying bids during the extended bidding period, and break it up over 3 nights so its even a smaller amount per night. We believe the below is very self explanatory. We want to close the auction, give the bidders a chance to participate in extended bidding, and never be in this position again where we need to worry about bringing too much traffic to our website. We want virtually unlimited traffic to be able to come to our website, if 100,000 people want to bid at once, we want to be able to handle it and we will not open another auction until we are confident our provider can handle that. now to the email that was sent.
To our Spring Auction Bidders,
Thank you for bearing with us during the recent software and server issues.
Please note: At the bottom of this message is a note from our software and server provider, Simple Auction Site.
Once again, we apologize for the issues that occurred during the weekend. This e-mail will give you details and instructions on how our Spring Auction will close this week. We have moved the auction to a cloud-based system for the auction close. Also, we are taking precautionary steps to reduce traffic to the site during extended bidding and will split the auction into three separate closing dates (Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday):
Lot #'s 1-350 will open for extended bidding Wednesday May 20 at 9pm EST.
Lot #'s 351-842 will open for extended bidding Thursday May 21 at 9pm EST.
Lot #'s 843-1830 will open for extended bidding Saturday May 23 at 9pm EST.
The auction will re-open in extended bidding with 30 minutes on the clock at 9PM EST those nights as the auction failed during that time. Normal extended bidding rules will apply.
If you have not bid on a lot that ends that night, you will NOT be able to login to the website or see any lot during extended bidding period. If you attempt to log in and you are not eligible to bid in that session during extended bidding, the system will tell you that you are not allowed into the auction. If you are bidding in the session and have not bid on a lot you will only see that lot from the catalog page and you will not be able to go to the detail page. This will greatly reduce traffic on the site during this period. In addition, these drastic measures are being put into place to ensure a smooth and seamless extended bidding period and auction close where you will be able to bid quickly and without delay.
E-MAILS WILL BE SENT OUT ONLY TO THOSE ELIGIBLE TO BID IN AN INDIVIDUAL SESSION THE MORNING OF AND TWO HOURS PRIOR TO THE SESSION START.
It will include the aforementioned detailed bidding instructions.
Please also note with respect to our Spring Auction
1) You will not have any shipping and handling fees on your invoice.
2) We are proud to report that the auction has currently raised over $125,000 for charity including Mambaonthree and CamCare Foundation for Covid-19 relief and the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Thank you everyone for your participation, understanding and support as we work through these technological issues. Arrangements have been made for future auctions to take place on a different, larger, cloud based platform and we will not encounter these issues. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused and look forward to an exciting and successful conclusion to this auction.
Sincerely,
The Goldin Auctions Team
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL
IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION PLEASE EMAIL KEN GOLDIN DIRECTLY
ken@goldinauctions.com
We at Simple Auction would like to apologize to Goldin Auctions and all of its bidders and consignors for the recent issues that have occurred. Simple Auction provides the software platform as well as the servers for Goldin Auctions (as well as over 150 other auction companies) and takes full responsibility for the issues that took place over the weekend during the past auction. The issues that occurred rest solely with Simple Auction.
We were aware based on conversations with Ken Goldin that the traffic and volume would be tremendous and we did all that we could to be ready for the volume of traffic for this event. Based on this information we did appropriate load testing and other things to mitigate any problems, and represented to Goldin Auctions we were prepared to handle the expected volume. We obviously failed and we again would like to apologize Goldin Auctions and its customer base over the weekend, and again, we sincerely apologize.
We are working diligently with Goldin Auctions on a solution that will ensure a smooth and seamless close of the auction and also new uninterrupted solutions for future auctions. Expect details on this to be announced within the next twenty-four hours and we guarantee a smooth close of Goldin Auctions' Spring Auction this week. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Bob Freedman
CEO
Simple Auction Site