Henry Yee Winnings

[Leon]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

What smoke? you honestly sound like you are accusing the auction of shilling, as in "Where there's smoke, there's fire". I personally have known Henry a long time and he always struck me as an honest man.

I do agree that prices are WILD on stuff, but I notice guys like Scott Gaynor, Jon Richmond and others get high prices relative to m arket, IMO too. They don't have the overall quality of Henry's tho.

IF you have a serious complaint like that, and what u wrote on the other thread, you need to show proof IMO

Scott Roberts.

I agree. It's one thing to always just act like an ass-wipe. It's another thing to claim someone shill bid or even insinuate it. I say put up or shut the F*** up. And if you never have anything positive to add to the forum then please go away.

[autograf]

Some of the stuff posted on the main forum gives reason to pause (bidders with multiple feedbacks who've never bid with anyone else) but I've never had a problem with him. Looking through some of his Chuck Klein card auctions, I thought prices were very fair.....(6) E285 Rittenhouse cards for a couple hundred bucks seems fair to low. There were some baseball bat pencils that went low. Some went high. I don't follow the photo wars but that seems to be where much of the 'rub' is so I don't know. He got HUGE dollar for a plastic baseball bat bank that would routinely sell on ebay for $40-$60 and sold for $200+. Don't know. Agree that Gaynor, Richmond and others get more than retail for stuff and no one presents the items better than Henry, so it be what it be! Congrats to winners...........

[D. Bergin]

Jeez, it's similar to a buyer who decides they're going to spend their money one month on a Leland's auction or a Legendary auction.

Bid history only goes back 30 days in the % field.

I've also noticed a few A-holes in the last couple months using bid retractions to screw around with both bidders and sellers of auctions lately.

Wish Ebay would just make Bidder ID's public again and/or start coming down hard on habitual retractions.

I blocked one guy last week who had about 80 retractions in the last several months and only a couple auctions won. He did it to one of my auctions and retracted a bid before any other bids came in. I did a little investigating and found he was doing this to multiple sellers............running up bids to check the high bid out..............retracting it back to the previous level. Just being a plain sh*t. I blocked him right away.

Ebay just doesn't seem to care about retraction history.

[Leon]

Here is my gavelsnipe snipe below....$173.11 below my max.

.


eBay Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop UN-CATALOGUED 1935 N.L. Stars Premiums (9) DIZZY DEAN, WANER... (261041082862) hyee_aucti.. 343/13 US $511.11 US $338.00 -- Jun 17th 2012 22:03:13 CDT Jun 17th 2012 22:03:05 CDT Winning Bid of US $338.00 View




.

[slidekellyslide]

If a Henry Yee auction ever goes off without shill bidding accusations it will be a first. I don't know either way, but he does get crazy money for items that no one else is able to get. Insane bidders, shill bidding or whatever..it is what it is...if you want to win something from Henry Yee you better be prepared to pay higher than market price.

I actually think the shill bidding accusations are so legendary at this point that people place higher than usual bids thinking that the only way they can win is the beat the shill when in reality legitimate bidders are running each other up out of fear.

[ibuysportsephemera]

I am not accusing anyone of anything (I've posted this before) but the prices realized on pretty common publications are extraordinary. The only thing that I can think of is that people want to say that they were the high bidder in a Henry Yee auction?

Jeff

[thecatspajamas]

I said basically the same thing in the other thread, but I'll repeat it here: quality merchandise, clear/detailed photos and scans, and knowledgable descriptions will typically translate to higher prices realized.

If you're used to shopping sellers with 1-line descriptions and fuzzy satellite images that rely on you already knowing what it is you're looking at to fill in the details, you may well have sticker shock (or gavel shock in this case, I guess). If putting in the extra effort into presenting the items attractively and thoroughly DIDN'T translate to higher prices realized, why would anyone put forth the effort? HARD WORK THAT PAYS OFF ISN'T A SCAM.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I said basically the same thing in the other thread, but I'll repeat it here: quality merchandise, clear/detailed photos and scans, and knowledgable descriptions will typically translate to higher prices realized.

If you're used to shopping sellers with 1-line descriptions and fuzzy satellite images that rely on you already knowing what it is you're looking at to fill in the details, you may well have sticker shock (or gavel shock in this case, I guess). If putting in the extra effort into presenting the items attractively and thoroughly DIDN'T translate to higher prices realized, why would anyone put forth the effort? HARD WORK THAT PAYS OFF ISN'T A SCAM.

On rare or one of a kind items I understand this, but he gets ridiculous prices for extremely common items. I don't know how he does it, but he does it.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

On rare or one of a kind items I understand this, but he gets ridiculous prices for extremely common items. I don't know how he does it, but he does it.

I really think bidders who get pushed off the more expensive items end up bidding on the secondary material.

There is definitely something to be said for surrounding weaker material with very strong material. The good stuff tends to help drive the bidding on the weaker stuff.

[Lordstan]

My personal opinion is that there are multiple reasons for his prices.
1) High quality, incredible condition items. Even common things tend to be top condition examples. Not only do the items themselves get high bids, but as Dave commented losing bidders may bid on something in the heat of the moment just to satisfy the need to get something. Even winning bidders may find other stuff they like without really having to look for it.

2) His presentation is fantastic. I have never seen better pictures than in his auctions, even in the big stand-alone auctions houses. They are clear, well staged, and have great contrast against the background. The write ups are clear and detailed.

3) His clientele. It is my understanding that his mail list is many thousands long. It is also my understanding that many of his customers aren't regular ebayers. I think this is probably why you see some buyers with low feedback and no bids with other sellers in the past 30d. I think these buyers are also the ones most likely to be affected by the "surround weak items with strong ones" effect. A person who isn't on ebay routinely, might not realize the usual going rate for a bat bank or magazine. All they know is Henry's reputation for top quality items.

4) Auction reputation. I agree with Dan that many will bid higher than usual for the same stuff because of what is known about Henry's auction prices.

Anyhow. Did anyone else besides Leon win anything they want to share?

Best,
Mark

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I really think bidders who get pushed of the more expensive items end up bidding on the secondary material.

There is definitely something to be said for surrounding weaker material with very strong material. The good stuff tends to help drive the bidding on the weaker stuff.

+1

Another thing to consider is that Henry Yee's auctions do bring buyers to eBay that would not normally venture onto the site.

Not everyone is willing to invest the time to dig through the morass of crap presented on eBay on a daily basis to pull out the few gems, in the same way that not everyone is willing to dig through a pile of clothes at the thrift store looking for designer labels. Many will just go to the designer's stores where they know there will be an abundance of what they are looking for, albeit at higher prices, rather than investing the time and energy hunting for something that might be at the thrift store for a cheaper price. Pull all the "good stuff" off into one small section that is only open a few days each year though, and make the buyers compete with each other for the opportunity to buy it, and you'll have well-heeled collectors and bargain hunters alike elbowing each other to get at the goods.

And the prices inch (or leap) up accordingly.

Lots of factors to consider here, and lots of things done right on Yee's end. I just get tired of the kneejerk "high prices = shill bidding" response without any real evidence to back it up.