What would YOU like to see in a online auction?

[packs]

No, the only way it affects the sale price is if another bidder bids. Otherwise you have a guy who raises his max bid a million times just to make it look like other people are bidding. Each raise is counted as a "bid" by eBay. It's so you say to yourself: oh look, 30 bids, I probably won't win this.

[EYECOLLECTVINTAGE]

Any other ideas fellas?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by EYECOLLECTVINTAGE

Any other ideas fellas?

It's been an hour and thirty one minutes. How about some patience?

[EYECOLLECTVINTAGE]

I am on my phone... meant to quote packs and the other guy who mentioned the bidding patterns. Apologies Leon.

[sterlingfox]

1) Charge actual shipping. No extra fees.

2) Make the buyer's premium reasonable. No more than 12.5% (SSA and Brockelman are that low). Also, don't charge a minimum buyer's premium like Heritage.

3) Let the auctions end at a specific time, like on eBay. No extended bidding. At all. None.

4) Very short and to the point descriptions. No bios (someone already mentioned this).

5) Don't over exaggerate the scans. A few AHs have scans so bright it makes my eyes hurt (SportsCardLink come to mind, but there are others too). Make the scans high quality, but realistic.

6) Allow smaller $ value lots. I hate AHs where nothing is under $200.

[packs]

Extended bidding is the absolute worst. I don't buy into the theory behind it. I think if you've bid on something and get outbid at 4:00 am, there's little chance you're going to wake up and place a bid on something else you'd set a placeholder bid on earlier. My ideal auction house would close individual lots after each lot has had 15 minutes of inaction, not after all lots.

[sycks22]

I'd love to see all AH's end in a lot by lot basis. I realize this has been discussed in the past a lot. I'd also enjoy the cheap / free shipping that most AH's have adopted.

[Mark70Z]

1. No seller fee
2. Reasonable shipping/free shipping
3. Low buyer premium
4. Quality photos of the item
5. An auction end time
6. PayPal option
7. Quick turnaround

[packs]

Paypal option is a good one. I don't like being held hostage by my payment.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

1. No seller fee
2. Reasonable shipping/free shipping
3. Low buyer premium
4. Quality photos of the item
5. An auction end time
6. PayPal option
7. Quick turnaround

How do people think businesses work? so basically you want him to collect almost no fees and have stellar customer service. Have collectors really gotten this spoiled that they think that's a viable option? Combine that with the guys who want cheaper lots (which I agree with) that take nearly as much work as expensive lots while generating less revenue and basically you guys want auction houses to be charities. I'd like to poop gold coins too, but c'mon man.

EDIT: And yes, Leon, I realize your first post was facetious, I wonder if other people do though!

[sb1]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

1. No seller fee
2. Reasonable shipping/free shipping
3. Low buyer premium
4. Quality photos of the item
5. An auction end time
6. PayPal option
7. Quick turnaround

Quite happy that I believe I fit 5 of the above 7,(1,2,3,4 &7). On #5 having each lot end individually comes close to that, which we started using several years ago. I don't ever see Paypal as an option at my 12 1/2% buyers premium(which it always has been, another post was in error stating it was 10% at one time).

Further I pay the consignors the second Monday after each auction ends(or before). While I do have the low budget advantage to enable the low BP of no employees, it does get me behind on shipping ocassionally. Other than that the model seems to work. Will I ever be as big as Heritage or REA? No...that was never the goal when Leon and I started the business, it was to give the smaller guys a place to consign their material without it all being tossed into one lot and the smaller buyer to buy cards one at a time under $50-100 and not have to buy an entire group for a single card. Also for sellers we tried to provide an alternative of not having to go the ebay route and spend all of the selling time of scanning, listing and packing, and paying 13-15% of the take to ebay/paypal.

Thanks for the kind words from the folks that both buy and sell through my auctions.

Scott

www.brockelmanauctions.com

[edjs]

Originally Posted by packs

Extended bidding is the absolute worst. I don't buy into the theory behind it. I think if you've bid on something and get outbid at 4:00 am, there's little chance you're going to wake up and place a bid on something else you'd set a placeholder bid on earlier.

I do just that all the time.

[packs]

Well I applaud your dedication to your hobby but it's a nightmare for me.

[cardsnstuff]

All above +
How about you & consignors reach a reasonable agreement on what opening bid should be. there is nothing worse than seeing your $200 item go for less than 30 bucks {before sellers fee}

I understand it's worth what someone is willing to pay; but if someone thought their item would go for cheap they probably would of just kept it.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by sterlingfox

1) Charge actual shipping. No extra fees.

2) Make the buyer's premium reasonable. No more than 12.5% (SSA and Brockelman are that low). Also, don't charge a minimum buyer's premium like Heritage.

3) Let the auctions end at a specific time, like on eBay. No extended bidding. At all. None.

4) Very short and to the point descriptions. No bios (someone already mentioned this).

5) Don't over exaggerate the scans. A few AHs have scans so bright it makes my eyes hurt (SportsCardLink come to mind, but there are others too). Make the scans high quality, but realistic.

6) Allow smaller $ value lots. I hate AHs where nothing is under $200.

1. So he's supposed to get a shipping department to work as volunteers?

4. Never understood the hate for Bios. On rare occasion I have learned something interesting, and there are lots of less knowledgeable folks out there that probably appreciate the info, especially if we're talking someone like Joe Wood who doesn't have the HOF recognition. What I WOULD like to see is the important info and the bio info consistently separate and consistently located. Make the first paragraph, condition comments, pop report remarks and the like, don't make me wade through a bunch of extraneous info if I don't want to, especially on someone like Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb.

[sterlingfox]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

1. So he's supposed to get a shipping department to work as volunteers?

4. Never understood the hate for Bios. On rare occasion I have learned something interesting, and there are lots of less knowledgeable folks out there that probably appreciate the info, especially if we're talking someone like Joe Wood who doesn't have the HOF recognition. What I WOULD like to see is the important info and the bio info consistently separate and consistently located. Make the first paragraph, condition comments, pop report remarks and the like, don't make me wade through a bunch of extraneous info if I don't want to, especially on someone like Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb.

1) AHs make their money on the buyer's premium. There's absolutely no need to gouge on shipping.

4) Those of use buying at an AH usually know what we want and don't need the lengthy bios. That's what Google, books, Wikipedia, etc are for. It's just cluttering up listings at an AH.

I also agree about having Paypal and/or a CC option available for payment. Preferably without any extra fees.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by sterlingfox

1) AHs make their money on the buyer's premium. There's absolutely no need to gouge on shipping.

4) Those of use buying at an AH usually know what we want and don't need the lengthy bios. That's what Google, books, Wikipedia, etc are for. It's just cluttering up listings at an AH.

I also agree about having Paypal and/or a CC option available for payment. Preferably without any extra fees.

I am still waiting for anyone (from a post in another thread) who runs a business to come forward and tell me they can succeed on gross margins that you guys think an auction house can make it on. In this thread I have seen suggestions of no commission and low buyer's premiums coupled with free shipping. What is a low buyer's premium? 15 %, 10%???

You can't run a business with gross margins that low, and I don't anticipate anyone who actually owns a business of any sort, to contradict that.

[sterlingfox]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I am still waiting for anyone (from a post in another thread) who runs a business to come forward and tell me they can succeed on gross margins that you guys think an auction house can make it on. In this thread I have seen suggestions of no commission and low buyer's premiums coupled with free shipping. What is a low buyer's premium? 15 %, 10%???

You can't run a business with gross margins that low, and I don't anticipate anyone who actually owns a business of any sort, to contradict that.

Brockelman Auctions has a 12.5% buyer's premium and VERY cheap shipping. They are still in business, and doing very well I suspect.