Ebay vs Auction houses

[cubsfan-budman]

have you ever watched a live auction? they go on as long as someone is bidding.

[packs]

Yes but imagine if after the live auction they decided to hold another live auction the next day to see if there were people who were willing to pay more. These are just my opinions and I'm clarifying my thoughts. I'm not saying what I think is right or what you think is wrong.

[cubsfan-budman]

An auction is an auction because it has a set ending time and duration.

not all auctions have ending time and duration. you're just stuck on ebay.

[olrac44]

I have a friend who buys T-206's. He looks to buy large lots of PSA Graded T-206's. Since he's so far along he usually accumulates doubles triples etc. (At one point he had 12 Hal Chase Blue Back Portraits from PSA 3 to 6) He's too busy to list on ebay. So I got him to take all of his extras to Baltimore. One Auction house gave him a very nice cash advance on his cards so he could go purchase other T-206 cards he needed.

Cash advance is another reason for auction houses.

[e107collector]

My opinion - I think many collectors have a sense of security and peace of mind when buying large $$ items from an auction house over Ebay. They know they will get an authentic item, and don't mind paying a little more money for it.

Just my 2 cents.

Tony

P.S. - I'm not saying that all ebay sellers are ripoffs. There are some great sellers on ebay - just sayin.

[Runscott]

Ebay used to be a lot of fun, and straight ebay auctions brought good prices for sellers. That's the key. Sellers had no qualms about listing straight auctions in ebay the same way they now do via auction houses.

Nowadays ebay is ZERO fun, and that's ebay's doing, due to their policy changes over the years that have encouraged a 'store' selling mentality, but auction houses are still lots of fun - I love opening a bottle of wine and watching the lots finish up on a good auction house night. I find my self winning stuff that I have no business bidding on, but I no longer have that problem on ebay (I used to).

If you find something cool on ebay that you want, check VCP and put in a snipe of 75% of average VCP value, and you are likely to win it. That won't be the case for auction house bids.

[markf31]

Originally Posted by Runscott

...I find my self winning stuff that I have no business bidding on, but I no longer have that problem on ebay (I used to).

I can see myself having the same "problem" as I move forward in my collecting and I use AH more as a buyer.