The way auctions close?

[jefferyepayne]

I keep a list of auctions that close individual lots if no bids have been made on that item for some amount of time. I'm afraid the only way the status quo is going to change is if people start voting with their dollars and further supporting auction houses who don't close all at once at insane hours of the night.

Here's my list. Let me know if I'm missing anybody.

Baggers
Brockelman & Luckey
Bussineau
Heritage
Huggins & Scott
Joe’s Vintage Sports Cards Auctions
Legendary Auctions
Mears Auctions

jeff

[ElCabron]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

I keep a list of auctions that close individual lots if no bids have been made on that item for some amount of time. I'm afraid the only way the status quo is going to change is if people start voting with their dollars and further supporting auction houses who don't close all at once at insane hours of the night.

Here's my list. Let me know if I'm missing anybody.

Baggers
Brockelman & Luckey
Bussineau
Heritage
Huggins & Scott
Joe’s Vintage Sports Cards Auctions
Legendary Auctions
Mears Auctions

jeff

This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke. There's no possible way you could be suggesting that you, or any other human, should be boycotting auctions that aren't on your list, but should bid with freaking Legendary. Please tell me that's not a serious post. Please?

With all the fraud in the hobby and all the shady practices, you're going to vote with your dollars based on the manner in which an auction house closes? I wonder how much extra voting you did with your dollars by getting shill bid by scumbag auction houses over the years. But I guess at least you got to bed early.

I'm not saying any auction house has a perfect way of closing and dealing with the extended bidding period (a perfect way does not exist), but to take a stance like this when there is rampant fraud which you can't pretend you're not aware of, is absolutely insane.

-Ryan

[begsu1013]

a lot of people use snipe services for ebay, but not sure if they work on auction house sites.

however, this is a very interesting thread and good question. I very rarely sell but ironically enough, actually have my first auction going on right now on my backup pete rose set (shameless plug) and have set it to start and end this Sunday from 10ish - 11:30ish, est. Lots are ending about 3 minutes apart w/ a few 5 mins breathers in there. I also set it for a 10 day listing. Again, just testing my theory and naturally curious to see how she ends up.

from a buyers perspective, it seems that Sunday's around this time always bring in the bigger pay days as it's not necessarily too late for the east coasters or too early for the left coasters.

On the other hand, I have also noticed that some people have followed this guideline not realizing it's Superbowl Sunday and subsequently gotten 3 deals of the century due to this "personal theory".

edited to add: as for the line of credit question, I think it would be a good thing to extend credit for up to 6 months on a certain level of a purchase. ie, "sir, i'm sorry i cant finance your 86 topps traded otis nixon psa 7". what might be an even better idea is to have a customer that might like that extension apply for pre-approval PRIOR to the auction. even then you have a decision to make as a consignor/auction house: a. do you extend the credit yourself, keep the card until it's paid off and make a lil side money on interest w/ the possibility of keeping all payments if the purchaser defaults. or b. simply outsource your customers to a credit company (however it could still be called "leon's credit co" and make additional funds on the "referral" basis. basically you write the note and get their credit limit approved by ABC credit and then ABC credit buys the debt. and to answer your question in full on either a. or b. i have always been a proponent of the steve miller monetary theory: "go on, take the money and run".

[ibuysportsephemera]

I like auction houses that end the bidding after a period of time when no bids are placed for each individual item. I also like the idea of ending an item that only has 1 bid prior to the extending bidding time. However, I understand that this doesn't always maximize the price for the consignor or the AH.

But isn't it fair to say, if you really, really want an item, you are going to stay engaged until the item is hammered or you have reached you maximum bid?

Jeff

[wondo]

I'm not sure how credit solves any problems; it just creates many more potential serious ones - much more serious than folks trying to stay awake. Bidders don't need another tool to over extend themselves; their credit cards are enough.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by wondo

I'm not sure how credit solves any problems; it just creates many more potential serious ones - much more serious than folks trying to stay awake. Bidders don't need another tool to over extend themselves; their credit cards are enough.

If we were talking about how to save money and not spend it on cards this would be a perfect answer you gave. However, what we are talking about is how to potentially have the best ending of an auction where no one gets shut out because they have lost 1 item and can't go back to another. If an AH (** I have no inclination to ever do this as an AH, but it is done) extends credit then that could make it where folks don't get shut out if there is more than they can afford at one time. For me, if the Driers collection were sold all at once I wouldn't have had the disposable income to get my 3-4 top pieces, which I eventually did as the auctions were spread out. If it were all sold in 1 auction and, If I could have gotten 3-6 mos to pay, it would have worked for me too. BTW, I protect my 800'ish credit score so it's not like I am going too crazy with over-financing .

[ZachS]

Lots of good points being made in this thread. My primary want would be to have lots close individually. I really don't like waiting around for hours for a particular lot to close when there has been no recent bid activity on that lot. If there's a bidding war going on in other lots, then let those lots keep going but don't hold everything else in limbo.

I feel better now that I got that off my chest.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by ElCabron

This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke. There's no possible way you could be suggesting that you, or any other human, should be boycotting auctions that aren't on your list, but should bid with freaking Legendary. Please tell me that's not a serious post. Please?

With all the fraud in the hobby and all the shady practices, you're going to vote with your dollars based on the manner in which an auction house closes? I wonder how much extra voting you did with your dollars by getting shill bid by scumbag auction houses over the years. But I guess at least you got to bed early.

I'm not saying any auction house has a perfect way of closing and dealing with the extended bidding period (a perfect way does not exist), but to take a stance like this when there is rampant fraud which you can't pretend you're not aware of, is absolutely insane.

-Ryan

Hi Ryan! You know my personal stance on Legendary. I don't bid on their auctions and didn't mean to imply anybody should. Sorry. They are on this list because they close their auctions lot by lot. Didn't mean to imply anything more than that and should have said so.

jeff

[ElCabron]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for clarifying that. Your post made it seem like that's what you were implying, especially when you mentioned voting with your dollars. I'm glad you're not encouraging people to bid with Legendary just because they close their auctions in a particular way.

-Ryan

[Jaybird]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Hi Ryan! You know my personal stance on Legendary. I don't bid on their auctions and didn't mean to imply anybody should. Sorry. They are on this list because they close their auctions lot by lot. Didn't mean to imply anything more than that and should have said so.

jeff

Jeez, this is still a hobby, right? Boycotting and organizing labor seems extreme.

[jefferyepayne]

Union? No.

Boycott? Sure.

The only way things are going to change in this hobby is if collectors stand up and say ENOUGH. Put your money where your mouth is.

jeff

[ElCabron]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Union? No.

Boycott? Sure.

The only way things are going to change in this hobby is if collectors stand up and say ENOUGH. Put your money where your mouth is.

jeff

I thought you just clarified that that's NOT what you meant to say. Which is it?

-Ryan

[doug.goodman]

You guys realize that if the auctions "closed" at noon, the extended bidding times would still last until the west coast went to bed, right?

The only way that auctions are not going to last "forever" is for them to have a definitive end time, ebay style.

Ultimately, extended bidding gets more money for the items, generally speaking.

Ending the entire auction at the same time gets more money for more items, generally speaking.

The only people complaining about the late hours are buyers, I don't see any sellers complaining, or did I miss something?

[Jobu]

Extending credit is an interesting idea for AHs that want to risk the headache, though I think that credit should come with an immediate 50-70% downpayment that is forfeited if the balance is not paid. If the buyer doesn't come through then the AH then owns the item and can sell it in the next auction, or offer it to an underbidder, with the downpayment as a cushion against future price uncertainty (and a penalty for the person who doesn't pay his debts).

As for closing times, are there any auctions that enter extended bidding on Sundays around, say, 8 PM Eastern? Sunday evenings are the peak Ebay time because that seems to be when people have the least going on in their lives. If you entered extended bidding at 8:00 EST, closed lots individually, and ran 30 minute intervals for the first hour (8:00-9:00), 15 minute intervals for the second hour (9:00-10:00), and 5 minute intervals from 10:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Pacific until every lot ended I think the vast majority of the lots in the auction would be over by 1:00 AM EST/10:00 PM PST, no? Sure, some people on the West Coast would have to miss dinner on Sunday night but it is a lot easier to skip dinner on the West Coast to bid than it is to skip sleeping on Sunday night to bid on the East Coast.

Edited to add: I have little experience with AHs so I apologize if that second paragraph was stupid.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by ElCabron

I thought you just clarified that that's NOT what you meant to say. Which is it?

-Ryan

Hi Ryan! Sorry for the confusion as there's two threads running through this topic that I'm not doing a very good job of separating. I am boycotting Legendary because of their fraudulent activities. Not boycotting auctions that are closing all at once. While I don't like the fact that some auctions close in the dead of night, fraudulent behavior is in a class all by itself.

In hindsight, I should have just left Legendary out of the lot by lot conversation as it just muddied a healthy discussion on auction ending times.

jeff

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

if people start voting with their dollars and further supporting auction houses who don't close all at once at insane hours of the night.

Here's my list. Let me know if I'm missing anybody.

Baggers
Brockelman & Luckey
Bussineau
Heritage
Huggins & Scott
Joe’s Vintage Sports Cards Auctions
Legendary Auctions
Mears Auctions

jeff

Jeff, Don't know why you'd want to boycott a slew of good honest auction houses just because they have different ending times.
Just place your top all bid and get some sleep.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

Jeff, Don't know why you'd want to boycott a slew of good honest auction houses just because they have different ending times.
Just place your top all bid and get some sleep.

Only boycotting Legendary, Jay, for different reasons as mentioned. I didn't mean to imply or throw good, honest auction houses under the bus. I know consigner preferences often drive the closing method an auction house chooses. Some may be more convenient for some than others but as long as they are honest, that's good enough for me!

jeff

[x2drich2000]

Noticed this tonight while thumbing through the REA catalog: "Payment is due within 14 days of notification of lots won. Please call to prearrange and to be approved for any type of payment schedule, which can sometimes be arranged with a deposit and interest charges."

DJ

[Leon]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

Noticed this tonight while thumbing through the REA catalog: "Payment is due within 14 days of notification of lots won. Please call to prearrange and to be approved for any type of payment schedule, which can sometimes be arranged with a deposit and interest charges."

DJ

REA has always (as long as I can remember) offered generous terms to their customers on a case by case basis. I know I have almost taken them up on it a few times but in the end had the funds, if I remember correctly? Who knows with their current auction I might have to ask again!!