What would YOU like to see in a online auction?

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by sb1

For every hour of that, there are five of scanning and five more of shipping, not all that glamorous or entertaining

+1.
Sounds like most small businesses, where you're working more hours than you ever expected, spend too many hours dealing with a small few unreasonable customers, and at the end of the day, find you're making way less per hour than you should, given teh workload.

Stephen, I admire your dreams, but you're not exactly coming into this with eyes wide open, and a fresh new idea. Like many fresh faced, it always appears to be much easier than it actually is. And much harder to complete.

It's one thing to sell some items on eBay, quite another to run a production like a full fledged auction house. Perhaps even start with getting some software written or purchased that will properly run the auction side of the business first. Integrate that software with your accounting software. Set up an agreement with FedEx to get your items shipped to you and from you under your insurance. Get a storage facility with the proper 24 hour security, where you can store your consignments. Work on marketing and promotion to get your consignments, and a solid customer base.

This is just off the top of my head, and I know nothing about how the auction business works. But of course, I could easily run one. As Fr@nk Burke++ said in a post, "I want to be an architect. What kind of pencil do I need?" (I use that line now, it says it all)

To prove your grassroots ideas to everyone, and your "StickToItNess", stick to your first venture here which was trading up a paper clip (or something) for a '52 Mantle. When you complete that task, I'll believe in the seriousness of your next venture, starting up an auction house.

[Snapolit1]

I think the largest impediment to become truly knowledgeable in this field is that to really know, I think you have to have years of experience of items actually in your hands. I think there is only so much you can learn by looking at pictures on the Internet. Others may disagree. Trying to be an expert in cards or memorabilia by just looking at scans on the Internet seems to me a lot like try to be a good doctor but never actually laying hands on patients.

[EYECOLLECTVINTAGE]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

+1.

To prove your grassroots ideas to everyone, and your "StickToItNess", stick to your first venture here which was trading up a paper clip (or something) for a '52 Mantle. When you complete that task, I'll believe in the seriousness of your next venture, starting up an auction house.

Thanks for the post. I am currently having the 1954 bowman set auctioned off at heritage in a few weeks. I am still going to trade up to that Mantle. I wasn't looking to launch a auction in the next month I was thinking more a year or so.

Hopefully I can get this mantle by then.

[Leon]

You might brush up on your English a bit. That is the easy part. I need to brush up on mine too.
Ok, back to getting consignments. That will be your toughest job. There is no silver bullet just a lot of hard work. That and keep your expenses to as nil as possible.

But if you ask what do I want to see in an auction company, it's back to no buyers or sellers fees and no shipping charge.

[oldjudge]

Right now we have two great auction houses, REA and Heritage, and more smaller auction houses than ever. You need to ask yourself why consignors need you. Consignors make the auctions; bidders follow the material. Also, great material will not now flow to auctions without elaborate catalogs; are you willing to incur this expense?

[mechanicalman]

A question I would ask the OP or anyone interested in this path, why does the world need yet another AH? There's already at least 20 AHs, each offering some derivation of the same theme. Do you guys realize how many more cards we'd all own if we didn't have to pay a 12.5-30% margin for someone to broker our transactions?

Why not think bigger and create a different model to facilitate the buying and selling of cards and memorabilia? Think of a BST on steroids, where you create a platform that allows for a high volume of transactions between buyers and sellers with the "house" just taking a small cut (3-5 pts) in exchange for programming and managing the platform. Sellers can manage the "marketing" of their goods and their own shipments. Sellers and buyers could be vetted by the platform and kept honest by higher levels of transparency you'd find on eBay. PayPal still offers Buyer protection, or an escrow service could be used for high-value transactions.

Obviously, I haven't thought through all the details here, but I'm not personally interested in starting a business card related business. But if I was, I wouldn't focus on the equivalent of launching a better taxi company; I'd shoot to launch the equivalent of Uber.

[oldjudge]

Sam-What it sound like you are proposing is a card marketplace with the entrepreneur assuming the role as an intermediary. This is effectively what the Ebay BIN market is. Ebay assures the buyer that they will stand behind the transaction. To have any chance of being successful on a commercial scale I believe that a similar marketplace would have to do the same. This is not a business I would want to run.

[bigfish]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

A question I would ask the OP or anyone interested in this path, why does the world need yet another AH? There's already at least 20 AHs, each offering some derivation of the same theme. Do you guys realize how many more cards we'd all own if we didn't have to pay a 12.5-30% margin for someone to broker our transactions?

Why not think bigger and create a different model to facilitate the buying and selling of cards and memorabilia? Think of a BST on steroids, where you create a platform that allows for a high volume of transactions between buyers and sellers with the "house" just taking a small cut (3-5 pts) in exchange for programming and managing the platform. Sellers can manage the "marketing" of their goods and their own shipments. Sellers and buyers could be vetted by the platform and kept honest by higher levels of transparency you'd find on eBay. PayPal still offers Buyer protection, or an escrow service could be used for high-value transactions.

Obviously, I haven't thought through all the details here, but I'm not personally interested in starting a business card related business. But if I was, I wouldn't focus on the equivalent of launching a better taxi company; I'd shoot to launch
the equivalent of Uber.

This is a good thought. Go for it.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

A question I would ask the OP or anyone interested in this path, why does the world need yet another AH? There's already at least 20 AHs, each offering some derivation of the same theme. Do you guys realize how many more cards we'd all own if we didn't have to pay a 12.5-30% margin for someone to broker our transactions?

Why not think bigger and create a different model to facilitate the buying and selling of cards and memorabilia? Think of a BST on steroids, where you create a platform that allows for a high volume of transactions between buyers and sellers with the "house" just taking a small cut (3-5 pts) in exchange for programming and managing the platform. Sellers can manage the "marketing" of their goods and their own shipments. Sellers and buyers could be vetted by the platform and kept honest by higher levels of transparency you'd find on eBay. PayPal still offers Buyer protection, or an escrow service could be used for high-value transactions.

Obviously, I haven't thought through all the details here, but I'm not personally interested in starting a business card related business. But if I was, I wouldn't focus on the equivalent of launching a better taxi company; I'd shoot to launch the equivalent of Uber.

Didn't SportsCardLink create an "Exchange" to try to do exactly this? And isn't COMC doing something similar (but where they take possession of the cards)...IMO, neither of these have enough legs to overtake eBay. But the concept seems like it should work.

[conor912]

Is there a way to monetize my idea for a new BST section? Like an auction house that specializes in bulk lots? I still feel like there's opportunity there. Maybe it could incorporate PWCCs program where you can pay for your winnings with consignments? That would allow people to effectively trade, if the so choose, all the while the house taking, say, 5% along the way. Just spit balling here.

[cardsnstuff]

For those that are really creative; I think the following could be huge.

A marketplace where buyers post their "buy prices"; like the old Naxcom, in the grade desired, quantity wanted, etc. And than sellers click & can sell cards to them. Tracking is req'd. When a seller goes to sell a item, they are paid instantly or when package is accepted by PO via paypal. This would be great for all the set builders, etc. If the buyer isn't happy with the condition he can return item for refund. There would need to be securities put in place to prevent fraud. I don't think you can ever completely remove this element but you can prevent it and abuse.

FYI: Leon, I was thinking of this as new BST board too.
Break down posts by sport, year, etc. And people enter their needs and buy prices and so on.

[Snapolit1]

I'm guessing that would almost never work. As a seller I am really not interested in what you would hope pay, but in what I want. And my experience has almost always been that those numbers are not that close.

The buy prices would be almost always be way too low. Some old VCP price from 2013. Everyone wants a great bargain. And most sellers don't want to give one.

Originally Posted by cardsnstuff

For those that are really creative; I think the following could be huge.

A marketplace where buyers post their "buy prices"; like the old Naxcom, in the grade desired, quantity wanted, etc. And than sellers click & can sell cards to them. Tracking is req'd. When a seller goes to sell a item, they are paid instantly or when package is accepted by PO via paypal. This would be great for all the set builders, etc. If the buyer isn't happy with the condition he can return item for refund. There would need to be securities put in place to prevent fraud. I don't think you can ever completely remove this element but you can prevent it and abuse.

FYI: Leon, I was thinking of this as new BST board too.
Break down posts by sport, year, etc. And people enter their needs and buy prices and so on.

[drcy]

I would think a viable way to start an auction house is to have a top and highly respected expert in the material. If Jim Stinson started an autograph auction house, he'd have a strong audience right away from all the people concerned with authenticity.

All the auction format, fees and shipping cost stuff is a distant afterthought to the above.