Goldin Auctions.Are they down

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by chadeast

Sounds like this will be their last auction with their current software platform, per latest email. As big as they are, this is really their only option moving forward.

This should be a really good thing. Their own platform and their own IT team means greater control and faster response time
Looking forward to it

[obiwan1129]

Don't be too sure about that. In theory, the 3rd party folks are *supposed* to be well versed in this. The reason someone goes 3rd party is to not re-invent the wheel and benefit from their knowledge. I wouldn't expect baseball card experts to be software developers. I mean they may, but it's not what I would expect.

Taking it in house and rolling your own can be advantageous but it will be version 1.0 for them when they get started. There's an old saying, "Version 1.0 means never having to say you're sorry." Expect some more bumps in the road.

I know we all want folks to succeed, just acknowledge that getting software right is hard.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by obiwan1129

Don't be too sure about that. In theory, the 3rd party folks are *supposed* to be well versed in this. The reason someone goes 3rd party is to not re-invent the wheel and benefit from their knowledge. I wouldn't expect baseball card experts to be software developers. I mean they may, but it's not what I would expect.

Taking it in house and rolling your own can be advantageous but it will be version 1.0 for them when they get started. There's an old saying, "Version 1.0 means never having to say you're sorry." Expect some more bumps in the road.

I know we all want folks to succeed, just acknowledge that getting software right is hard.

True, but that assumes they are going to design and build their own auction software from the ground up. I'll bet there are auction software packages, already written and tested, that they could purchase off the shelf, customize it, and put it on their own (robust) server platform.

It seems to me that most of the problems from last year and this year are mostly:

1. Hosting site was hacked and code hijacked.
2. Server robustness inadequate to handle huge volumes of activity as auctions neared closing.

Start with a new, clean instance of complete, high-quality auction software, customize to an AH's needs, import legacy data, integrate with outside platforms (for instance, 3rd party paying like PayPal,) test it like crazy by having a mock auction (invite net54 members plus existing AH customers to participate in a fake, fantasy auction to stress test the system,) and you should have a good chance of success going forward.

And above all, make security and redundancy (backup servers, etc.) a central part of operations.

With the infusion of cash Goldin recently negotiated, they can easily and cost effectively get where they want to be.