What's going on with all the issue's w/ Auction House's this year?!?!

[Leon]

I don't believe Net54baseball wants to be in the auction business. There are plenty out there and more starting up all the time.

Originally Posted by teza11

Has there ever been any consideration given to a Net54 Sports Auction site? I don't mean the basic B/S/T or auction page that's active today. I mean a site that would provide similar functionally, depth and scope as the major auction houses.

The business model could be really interesting considering that lots (most?) of the product for these auction houses come from all of us. Rather than consignor > auction house > buyer, it could be something like member > selling fee > buyer.

Participating members would be entitled to a part of the “house” proceeds and/or reduced sales fees. Management would be under the control of an elected board. Buyers would receive their winnings based on the parameters set by the board (reduced fees, timely, safely, etc.). Operational activity could be managed in-house or sourced to a third-party that follows the rules set by the board.

Tom has successfully made this transition on the non-sports side of the business. He follow’s a more traditional auction site model, but has been able to offer discounted fees (at least initially) and personalized service.

Yes, I know that at this moment Leon is doing his very best to just keep the lights on here, but maybe there’s a future opportunity to take/keep more margin dollars and have more control of the overall process.

Jeff

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Part of the problem is that so many people see an auction as little work, high reward. From the outside looking in I guess it might appear that way. I can assure anyone who might be considering it, it is NOT a get rich quick business. Between building up a consignor AND bidder base to all the work that it takes to describe and image every lot sufficiently it is a TON of man hours.

Add to that if you are a normal start-up that doesn't have a benefactor willing to risk a million dollars of his collectibles, you are likely starting with auctions that gross about 10k - 20k. That generates a GROSS profit of about $3k - $6k. Obviously everyone's expenses can be different but I will say that for me that has led to a net profit of $1k - $2k. How many of those do you need to do a year to make a living?

That may help to explain why some small companies take short cuts and/or act in a fashion that is ethically questionable at best and criminal at worst.

In a sense I am lucky because PA is a license state. Going to school and putting in the time to learn BEFORE running auctions made a BIG difference, and it's still a struggle, but at least I went in with my eyes open.

It really is a case of the old saying "It's a tough way to make an easy living."

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Leon

I don't believe Net54baseball wants to be in the auction business. There are plenty out there and more starting up all the time.

You got that business model right. Don’t be a gold miner, be Levi Strauss: no need to start an AH when you can sell ad space to the start up AHs.

[swarmee]

How is the final day of the Goldin auction holding up? Is it really the final day, or do the new "impregnable" cloud servers fail?