Robert Edwards Auctions STILL going strong at 8:15 AM Est!!!!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Carter08

Personal opinion is it’s too easy to say shit happens. AHs most important job is to make sure there is integrity in the process, mostly including the close. Before I say shit happens would like to know whether the AH had issues before and whether it took any actions to correct the problems with more capacity, etc.

Just suppose they had prior issues and did not take adequate corrective action. What are you going to do with that information?

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Just suppose they had prior issues and did not take adequate corrective action. What are you going to do with that information?

1. Say it’s not a great house and they should do better either by investing more in infrastructure or doing smaller auctions or breaking up current auctions.

2. Still bid on things I want because they have the best or close to it.

[Carter08]

But as others have mentioned, if ebay, Goldin or heaven forbid pwcc messed up an auction close there would be a lot less forgiveness/they made the best decision.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Carter08

But as others have mentioned, if ebay, Goldin or heaven forbid pwcc messed up an auction close there would be a lot less forgiveness/they made the best decision.

No if, Goldin had repeat outages. I doubt anyone stopped bidding with them. I don't recall anyone thinking it was semi-intentional of them to keep not fixing it. I think people just thought they were incompetent/foolishly loyal to their then current provider.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Just suppose they had prior issues and did not take adequate corrective action. What are you going to do with that information?

If auction houses lost money with one of these crashes it would never happen again.

Shit happens when it's sort of in your interest for the same shit to keep happening.

Reading the last 100 posts, overwhelmingly people are giddy with joy about the stuff they got. Wise man once said "stuff trumps everything."

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Wise man once said "stuff trumps everything."

And Peter said that, too.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mark17

And Peter said that, too.

LOL if the joke is what I think it is.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

If auction houses lost money with one of these crashes it would never happen again.

Shit happens when it's sort of in your interest for the same shit to keep happening.

Reading the last 100 posts, overwhelmingly people are giddy with joy about the stuff they got. Wise man once said "stuff trumps everything."

I'm usually pretty cynical but I really don't see the angle you're pursuing here.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

If auction houses lost money with one of these crashes it would never happen again.

Shit happens when it's sort of in your interest for the same shit to keep happening.

Reading the last 100 posts, overwhelmingly people are giddy with joy about the stuff they got. Wise man once said "stuff trumps everything."

BTW I think you're overlooking that the biggest concern of an AH is attracting consignments. No effing way is it in their interest to keep having crashes, probably nothing turns off consignors more than knowing or suspecting the AH's platform has problems. Consignors have LOTS of choices these days.

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

BTW I think you're overlooking that the biggest concern of an AH is attracting consignments. No effing way is it in their interest to keep having crashes, probably nothing turns off consignors more than knowing or suspecting the AH's platform has problems. Consignors have LOTS of choices these days.

Peter, you’re one of if not the savviest collector out here but that seems crazy to me. If you’re a consigner, this is the AH you want. Hey, if we have any issues, don’t worry we’ll make a 21 day auction 22 days.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Carter08

Peter, you’re one of if not the savviest collector out here but that seems crazy to me. If you’re a consigner, this is the AH you want. Hey, if we have any issues, don’t worry we’ll make a 21 day auction 22 days.

This is venturing on the absurd. Find me one consignor who prefers a dysfunctional AH even if their policy is to add a day in the event of a meltdown. And find me one AH that actually is happy when their system crashes or doesn't really try to fix it because it's a revenue booster.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

This is venturing on the absurd. Find me one consignor who prefers a dysfunctional AH even if their policy is to add a day in the event of a meltdown. And find me one AH that actually is happy when their system crashes or doesn't really try to fix it because it's a revenue booster.

When such technological problems first started occurring in some lesser auction houses here and there, it was bad news for them. But now over time it seems that eventually all the auction houses, especially some of the major ones, have ended up occasionally having a technology issue here and there (not every single one, but a lot of them). So, it ends up getting accepted and overlooked. Kind of along the same lines of what came out from your thread about the 3-year anniversary of the scandal. No one really likes it, but it also appears no one is specifically being punished for it either, and business just goes on as usual.

And not only does stuff trump everything, so does the money that pays for the stuff. REA still set some record prices, and how much more in bids did they bring in for some of their consignors because of the added day due to the tech glitch? These tech problems are not so new and isolated anymore that they end up having such a negative impact and stigma attached to the auction houses they happen to. At least I don't think so.

[1880nonsports]

My 24 mostly 19th century memorabilia and card consignments went up about 10,000. the second night primarily on 5/6 lots that continued to garner spirited bidding. Earlier there were strong prices on my early baseballs and partial sets. The Mantle lots I consigned went very high and I suppose I was quite giddy.
As a buyer my most wanted card was at 2000. at the original closing - about 15% below current values based on recent sales after the buyer's penalty and taxes. Despite my elation as a consignor I only bid on that one item going into the second night out of the 12 lots I had working bids on. It's one of two cards I need to complete a set I've been chasing over 25 years. For all that time I've managed to mostly hold the line. Not sure how it happened but I lost my sense of reason and I kept bidding until I "won" it at 3400. + juice - likely a record for that card in that grade.........

[chriskim]

A few years back when REA has an outage on the auction ending night and they ended up waived all the shipping charges for that auction. Is it going to be the case this time given that extra night helped them to pocket millions more $. I am still waiting for an email for such announcement.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Carter08

Peter, you’re one of if not the savviest collector out here but that seems crazy to me. If you’re a consigner, this is the AH you want. Hey, if we have any issues, don’t worry we’ll make a 21 day auction 22 days.

If an auction is extended a day the house and many consignors make more money. Fact. Indisputable. And no one loses a penny. Sort of like a casino. In many ways.

I’m not saying anyone is doing this on purpose. I’m saying no one is losing any sleep over it. A nothing burger as we say now. The notion that this is some source of embarrassment is nuts.

And, yes, if I consigned the Wagner card (or any card worth huge bucks) I’d be THRILLED the auction was extended a day.

[bobbyw8469]

Speaking of which, I recently found some old REA catalogs?? Is there any interest here in something like that?

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

If an auction is extended a day the house and many consignors make more money. Fact. Indisputable. And no one loses a penny. Sort of like a casino. In many ways.

I’m not saying anyone is doing this on purpose. I’m saying no one is losing any sleep over it. A nothing burger as we say now. The notion that this is some source of embarrassment is nuts.

And, yes, if I consigned the Wagner card (or any card worth huge bucks) I’d be THRILLED the auction was extended a day.

If an auction is extended a day for no good reason, then yes, the AH will likely make more money. However, when there is an issue that impacted (and likely prevented some) extended bidding, I don't think it's an indisputable fact that extending the auction a day will result in significantly different ending prices than if extended bidding was able to take place normally.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by jayshum

If an auction is extended a day for no good reason, then yes, the AH will likely make more money. However, when there is an issue that impacted (and likely prevented some) extended bidding, I don't think it's an indisputable fact that extending the auction a day will result in significantly different ending prices than if extended bidding was able to take place normally.

I'll willing to bet they got more bids overall the day after than they would have gotten naturally that night.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by jayshum

If an auction is extended a day for no good reason, then yes, the AH will likely make more money. However, when there is an issue that impacted (and likely prevented some) extended bidding, I don't think it's an indisputable fact that extending the auction a day will result in significantly different ending prices than if extended bidding was able to take place normally.

Read posts #170 and #214. Both seem to indicate that the extra day did foster additional bidding in some cases, and that is just from among the forum members that actively post on here. However, I would think the preponderance of REA bidders are not all active posters on here, and so the chance that even more instances of additional bidding on some other REA lots resulted from that added day are likely, I'm guessing, pretty darn high.

So, those two posts I referenced do seem to indicate that it is an indisputable fact that the one-day extension in this specific REA auction did lead to some additional bids. Now does that mean that such a bidding extension also resulted in additional bids in every other auction that has ever occurred where the bidding got extended for at least one additional day for whatever reason, no. But there is also no reasonable way to ever be able to prove or disprove that in every single instance.

And there is also no exact, agreed upon definition as to what constitutes a "significant" difference in an ending auction price. So, to make any such a statement that something is an indisputable fact, or not, when one of the determining parameters is such a subjective, and not objective, measure, is totally inappropriate. You can't indisputably prove or disprove anything that is a subjective measure.

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

If an auction is extended a day the house and many consignors make more money. Fact. Indisputable. And no one loses a penny. Sort of like a casino. In many ways.

I’m not saying anyone is doing this on purpose. I’m saying no one is losing any sleep over it. A nothing burger as we say now. The notion that this is some source of embarrassment is nuts.

And, yes, if I consigned the Wagner card (or any card worth huge bucks) I’d be THRILLED the auction was extended a day.

How is it an indisputable fact?

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

How is it an indisputable fact?

Uh, because some of your fellow board members have indicated that they got into bidding wars over cards and wouldn't have engaged in same had the auction not been extended.