An Inconvenient Suggestion

[frankbmd]

Buyer's Premiums are all different from 5-21% in my recent experience and memory. I'm pretty good with numbers, but sometimes when bidding I have to think twice or look up the buyer's premium for the specific auction I'm bidding on.

Bidding increments with the Buyer's Premium included would get confusing, but could not the "My Account" page for that auction, or even better the bid confirmation page, incorporate the Buyer's Premium with the bid to reflect the actual cost incurred from placing a bid. It seems that the software is able to quickly add the "juice" once the auction is closed, so why not include it while the auction is in progress.

I'm not an IT guy, but it seems like this would be doable and would be well received by the bidders. I expect an IT opinion about this, but would be interested to know how all you customers feel as well, particularly those who experience surprise and dismay when they see their invoice.

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Buyer's Premiums are all different from 5-21% in my recent experience and memory. I'm pretty good with numbers, but sometimes when bidding I have to think twice or look up the buyer's premium for the specific auction I'm bidding on.

Bidding increments with the Buyer's Premium included would get confusing, but could not the "My Account" page for that auction, or even better the bid confirmation page, incorporate the Buyer's Premium with the bid to reflect the actual cost incurred from placing a bid. It seems that the software is able to quickly add the "juice" once the auction is closed, so why not include it while the auction is in progress.

I'm not an IT guy, but it seems like this would be doable and would be well received by the bidders. I expect an IT opinion about this, but would be interested to know how all you customers feel as well, particularly those who experience surprise and dismay when they see their invoice.

From an IT point of view it would be a breeze. However, then people would see the actual amount potentially out of pocket. How often, in the heat of an auction, do you suppose a bid is made without considering the juice? I wager it happens enough to be to the AH's benefit to NOT include it in an on-going auction. It is a business after all.

[markf31]

Heritage does that. It tells you what your next bid is and what your next bid +BP will be. I do find it quite helpful.

A large chuck or even majority of the auction sites seem to use the SimpleAuctionSite template for their auctions. I would suspect that is not an option with the SimpleAuctionSite template since none seem to include it. And I would also assume that modifying the SimpleauctionSite templates would be a little more involved than if you had your own auction site developed around your own custom website design. It might even be against the user agreement to modify the SimpleAuctionSite template in such a fashion.

Perhaps email suggestions to SimpleAuctionSite to include this option with their template/package/etc would prove more beneficial than asking the auction sites themselves.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by markf31

Heritage does that. It tells you what your next bid is and what your next bid +BP will be. I do find it quite helpful.

A large chuck or even majority of the auction sites seem to use the SimpleAuctionSite template for their auctions. I would suspect that is not an option with the SimpleAuctionSite template since none seem to include it. And I would also assume that modifying the SimpleauctionSite templates would be a little more involved than if you had your own auction site developed around your own custom website design. It might even be against the user agreement to modify the SimpleAuctionSite template in such a fashion.

Perhaps email suggestions to SimpleAuctionSite to include this option with their template/package/etc would prove more beneficial than asking the auction sites themselves.

An upgrade by SimpleAuctionSite to allow the various Auction Houses to offer this function was sort of what I had in mind. Bob F is a board member and hopefully will respond to this thread if it isn't too inconvenient.

[bobfreedman]

Originally Posted by markf31

Heritage does that. It tells you what your next bid is and what your next bid +BP will be. I do find it quite helpful.

A large chuck or even majority of the auction sites seem to use the SimpleAuctionSite template for their auctions. I would suspect that is not an option with the SimpleAuctionSite template since none seem to include it. And I would also assume that modifying the SimpleauctionSite templates would be a little more involved than if you had your own auction site developed around your own custom website design. It might even be against the user agreement to modify the SimpleAuctionSite template in such a fashion.

Perhaps email suggestions to SimpleAuctionSite to include this option with their template/package/etc would prove more beneficial than asking the auction sites themselves.

Mark, you are pretty close to being 100% correct in your comment. The only thing difference is that everything we do on the back end is configurable and to make this a configuration setting would be doable (semi-complex but doable). One of the more time intensive things involved with this is styling the web pages with the new text.

We have not had any of our customers ask us to add this to their web site and if we did we would scope it out it and add it. We have done some similar things with our foreign customers (money conversions etc...) so as our CTO links to say, anything is possible with software, it is a matter of time and money"

[4815162342]

Thanks for the reply Bob. Like the OP, I've wished that the juice was displayed more prominently during auctions. Also, I asked you a question at the National Net54 dinner about unified accounts. It would be great if I could just maintain one username and password and be able to log into all of the auctions that use your software.

[bobfreedman]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

Thanks for the reply Bob. Like the OP, I've wished that the juice was displayed more prominently during auctions. Also, I asked you a question at the National Net54 dinner about unified accounts. It would be great if I could just maintain one username and password and be able to log into all of the auctions that use your software.

Hi Daryl, I do remember discussing with you about unifying our passwords. We did discuss this at one of our meetings and came to the conclusion that we could not feasibly do this across all of our sites on our different sites. We did however, create a way for you to do it on www.collectiblescentral.com web site. You first need to create an account and then go to the MyAccount page. Select the auction companies that are listed here and that you wish to aggregate here. Enter your user name and passwords here. You can then see your MyAccount page from the ones that you have picked all in one place

[4815162342]

Thanks Bob, I will try that.

[Bocabirdman]

I would just like to clarify. I was in no way referring to any specific auction software when I said it would be easy. It is probable that the juice is not even included in the formula to the end of the auction. It would need to be introduced earlier. Assuming it is a static, straight percentage, for every item and every bidder, that would not be difficult to add, either as part of the total or as an additional field, making the bidder do the math.

Of course as it always is, it would have been easier to include it from the beginning. Any retro-fit custom piece always comes with added fun. The secret is to bill for more fun than you run into....