AH guys - ask me anything?

[Sterling Sports Auctions]

At Sterling I do the same as Al, if I am willing I discourage them. I do do them on rare occasions but am not a big fan of them and agree with Al's assessment. The people that tend to ask for high minimums or reserves want you to be a retail store for them.

Even if I have a lot that does not sell there is always time spent to scan and list, an then either spend the time sending it back or relisting.

If I list a lot with a higher minimum it tends to be for items that are scarcer and I feel that they will get a minimum two bids. As Al said, it is better to have as many people involved in the bidding because you never know when you have multiple bidders that got to have that lot.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions that can be better discussed in person.

Lee Behrens

[Snapolit1]

I’ve had the same experience on eBay many times. List an item with an opening bid of $99 and nothing happens. List same item with opening bid of 99 cents and it gets 27 bids and sells for $179.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I’ve had the same experience on eBay many times. List an item with an opening bid of $99 and nothing happens. List same item with opening bid of 99 cents and it gets 27 bids and sells for $179.

I have had a very good hobby friend win something of mine in auction that I had forgotten to take off my for sale site. It was offered for less on my site. He asked, after the auction, if he could buy it for that price. I laughed....the answer was no.
.

[Exhibitman]

#1: Odd lotting choices. My main interests are cards at the margins (oddball issues, regionals, boxing cards) and memorabilia and I cannot for the life of me understand why some AHs lot this stuff so horrifically for the consignors, with little effort made to sort the rarities from the junk or to properly describe them. Also, choosing to put one very popular or rare card in with a big lot of other stuff. A recent auction had a dozen cards, including duplicates, in a lot. I needed two and stopped bidding because I did not want to turn out the rest of the cards in the lot. I would have gone $150 a card for the two I needed. The lot ended up selling for half of that per card to a dealer. Piling multiple copies of $50-$100 cards into a single lot just doesn't make sense to me as a consignor. Bust them up and let the retail collectors have a shot. Of course, the evil Captain Kirk says "no, leave it that way so I can win the lot and bust it up on eBay at a big profit."

#2: Ignoring Experts. Why don't more AHs consult with experts in oddball or esoteric items, or follow their recommendations? The amount of misinformation and ignorance on more obscure stuff is startling.

#3: (already Mentioned) Career Recaps: Auctioneers tell me that they have to lump lots of stuff into large lots because of the cost of catalogs, yet they waste page after page with meaningless blather over the player's career. There is no reason to make an entire page out of a 1921 Exhibit Babe Ruth, filled with career data. Anyone bidding five figures on a Babe Ruth card already knows who Babe Ruth is. Just provide good images (front AND back) of the card and list any hard to see flaws you spot. The AH can reduce the number of pages wasted and actually put in better lotted cards.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

#1: Odd lotting choices. My main interests are cards at the margins (oddball issues, regionals, boxing cards) and memorabilia and I cannot for the life of me understand why some AHs lot this stuff so horrifically for the consignors, with little effort made to sort the rarities from the junk or to properly describe them. Also, choosing to put one very popular or rare card in with a big lot of other stuff. A recent auction had a dozen cards, including duplicates, in a lot. I needed two and stopped bidding because I did not want to turn out the rest of the cards in the lot. I would have gone $150 a card for the two I needed. The lot ended up selling for half of that per card to a dealer. Piling multiple copies of $50-$100 cards into a single lot just doesn't make sense to me as a consignor. Bust them up and let the retail collectors have a shot. Of course, the evil Captain Kirk says "no, leave it that way so I can win the lot and bust it up on eBay at a big profit."

#2: Ignoring Experts. Why don't more AHs consult with experts in oddball or esoteric items, or follow their recommendations? The amount of misinformation and ignorance on more obscure stuff is startling.

#3: (already Mentioned) Career Recaps: Auctioneers tell me that they have to lump lots of stuff into large lots because of the cost of catalogs, yet they waste page after page with meaningless blather over the player's career. There is no reason to make an entire page out of a 1921 Exhibit Babe Ruth, filled with career data. Anyone bidding five figures on a Babe Ruth card already knows who Babe Ruth is. Just provide good images (front AND back) of the card and list any hard to see flaws you spot. The AH can reduce the number of pages wasted and actually put in better lotted cards.

Your #3 point is especially on the money. Unless as I've sometimes heard, the catalog listing is oftentimes more so for the consignor than it is for the bidders.

[Al C.risafulli]

Taking a break from packing people's winnings and revisiting this thread (I swear, I'll get right back to it):

#1: Odd lotting choices.

Tough to speak for other Ahs on this, but we lot things together in ways I feel are logical and sensible, but I'm sure there are times that someone who wants one item in a lot may feel differently. Tough to be all things to all people in this regard.

#2: Ignoring Experts. Why don't more AHs consult with experts in oddball or esoteric items

I'm not sure they don't. I certainly do. I've got a handful of people I text regularly with photos of things in areas where I'm not certain. I would think that they all do. If I'm looking for info on a certain type of item, and I call Expert B, it's possible Expert A might think I ignore experts.

#3: (already Mentioned) Career Recaps

A couple of points on this:

1) It's really difficult to write descriptions of a thousand cards without feeling like you're writing the same thing over and over. There are only so many ways to describe the attributes of a card, and every consignor rightfully wants some verbiage explaining why someone should be interested in placing a bid. I know when I'm writing I get very self-conscious about doing it. At some point, invariably I'll use a lot description to point out a stat, or tell a story about a player.

2) I'm not sure why this rankles a lot of folks here so much, but I think it's important to consider that the audience is sometimes wider than just the experts. If you're already familiar with that player (as so many folks here are), it might seem redundant to have to read about the accomplishments of Frank Robinson, or Rube Waddell, or whomever - but with thousands of potential bidders, it's safe to say that not everyone is as familiar as you might be. Especially now, with so many new folks entering the hobby. It's certainly easy enough to skip over them. I do agree that some of the descriptions get a bit verbose and dwell on the obvious, and I personally try not to do it, but once in a while even I will go back and read one of my own descriptions and feel, like...wow.

-Al

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

Taking a break from packing people's winnings and revisiting this thread (I swear, I'll get right back to it):



Tough to speak for other Ahs on this, but we lot things together in ways I feel are logical and sensible, but I'm sure there are times that someone who wants one item in a lot may feel differently. Tough to be all things to all people in this regard.



I'm not sure they don't. I certainly do. I've got a handful of people I text regularly with photos of things in areas where I'm not certain. I would think that they all do. If I'm looking for info on a certain type of item, and I call Expert B, it's possible Expert A might think I ignore experts.


A couple of points on this:

1) It's really difficult to write descriptions of a thousand cards without feeling like you're writing the same thing over and over. There are only so many ways to describe the attributes of a card, and every consignor rightfully wants some verbiage explaining why someone should be interested in placing a bid. I know when I'm writing I get very self-conscious about doing it. At some point, invariably I'll use a lot description to point out a stat, or tell a story about a player.

2) I'm not sure why this rankles a lot of folks here so much, but I think it's important to consider that the audience is sometimes wider than just the experts. If you're already familiar with that player (as so many folks here are), it might seem redundant to have to read about the accomplishments of Frank Robinson, or Rube Waddell, or whomever - but with thousands of potential bidders, it's safe to say that not everyone is as familiar as you might be. Especially now, with so many new folks entering the hobby. It's certainly easy enough to skip over them. I do agree that some of the descriptions get a bit verbose and dwell on the obvious, and I personally try not to do it, but once in a while even I will go back and read one of my own descriptions and feel, like...wow.

-Al

Personal experience, I sent Al a group of 20-25 cards for his recent auction, low grade E98's mostly. I was really impressed with his groupings, I'm a big sales guy and I love watching other people work in their field of expertise, so my reply was always "sounds good to me". I trust Al implicitly and enjoy watching he and his family work their craft. This business is too emotional for me and I tend to give cards away so thank you Al for taking care the card decisions and getting me top dollar for my consignments.

[frohme]

Originally Posted by Sterling Sports Auctions

At Sterling I do the same as Al, if I am willing I discourage them. I do do them on rare occasions but am not a big fan of them and agree with Al's assessment.

[...]

Lee Behrens

I've always found your opening bids to be very reasonable, Lee... regardless of whether or not it was on a consigned item.