Quote:
Originally Posted by JollyElm
• Having everything starting at a buck or whatever shouldn't be the case. You should allow the auctioneers to decide the pricing for themselves. The same weekly starting/ending time? I like that a lot.
• If the $1 (or was it 99 cents?) auctions do become the rule, then perhaps hidden reserves should be allowed if auctioneers want them for self-protection. Start the auction at $1, but PM Leon with your hidden reserve amount (I know, he doesn't want MORE PMs). That way, if the reserve is met, no problem. If it falls short, then you have proof of what the pre-auction-determined reserve was.
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I'm not picking on Darren specifically here but using it as a launching off point.
Generally speaking, most of the comments here are about sellers want to set the auction section up to protect themselves on the downside while giving them the added opportunity to potentially get more than if they just listed the card(s) in the regular BST forum. Letting the seller set the opening bid, or a hidden reserve, is driving us back to the old auction format that was being criticized in the previous thread. If they are concerned about not getting enough for what they are trying to sell, then maybe the auction place isn't for them. With regard to sellers fearing that they may be leaving money on the table by listing something in the BST, there are two options: first, they can just go to eBay where there are significantly more eyeballs. Or, they can set their cards up in BST as "high price or OBO." Essentially, a Dutch auction.
As a buyer, I can count the number of transactions I've done here in the last year on one hand and have a couple fingers left over. I accept that no small part of that is because I swim in a shallower end of the hobby pool (post-war, mid-grade, raw) than most members. But, it seems (to me anyways) like the auction section is full of stuff no one wants or things where the starting bid is where the sold eBay comps are at. And the BST seems to be (again to me) full of items that are priced above eBay comps.
Basically, the sellers can't have it both ways. If they want to take a chance to clean up in the auction section, then they should be willing to take the risk in the other direction.