Auction Reserves - let’s discuss

[Peter_Spaeth]

A reserve is more honest than a consignor winning back a card and the price being reported as though a real sale had occurred.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

A reserve is more honest than a consignor winning back a card and the price being reported as though a real sale had occurred.

I actually would have to disagree with this sentiment.

First, if a consignor wins their own item it technically IS a sale. Of course since they are getting a portion of the sale they don't owe all that much on a percentage basis.

Second they are only one bid over what another bidder was willing to pay as opposed to the reserve method, especially as some auctions use it where they have the right to place an artificial bid up to the amount just below the reserve.

So if you have an item which has a reserve of $10,000 and it stalls at $4,000 and the auction company bids $9999 (or whatever the increment would be) and then one more bid is placed how is a sale $6000 more than the 2nd bidder was willing to go more valid than a sale to the consignor where it went one bid over what the 2nd bidder was willing to go?

To be clear, just in case, We don't allow consignors to bid on their own items, nor do we do reserves, so I'm not defending either practice for my own benefit. I don't believe either option is the best way for us.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I actually would have to disagree with this sentiment.

First, if a consignor wins their own item it technically IS a sale. Of course since they are getting a portion of the sale they don't owe all that much on a percentage basis.

Second they are only one bid over what another bidder was willing to pay as opposed to the reserve method, especially as some auctions use it where they have the right to place an artificial bid up to the amount just below the reserve.

So if you have an item which has a reserve of $10,000 and it stalls at $4,000 and the auction company bids $9999 (or whatever the increment would be) and then one more bid is placed how is a sale $6000 more than the 2nd bidder was willing to go more valid than a sale to the consignor where it went one bid over what the 2nd bidder was willing to go?

To be clear, just in case, We don't allow consignors to bid on their own items, nor do we do reserves, so I'm not defending either practice for my own benefit. I don't believe either option is the best way for us.

How is it technically a sale? Title never changed hands. The owner paid a fee to keep the card.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I actually would have to disagree with this sentiment.

First, if a consignor wins their own item it technically IS a sale. Of course since they are getting a portion of the sale they don't owe all that much on a percentage basis.

Second they are only one bid over what another bidder was willing to pay as opposed to the reserve method, especially as some auctions use it where they have the right to place an artificial bid up to the amount just below the reserve.

So if you have an item which has a reserve of $10,000 and it stalls at $4,000 and the auction company bids $9999 (or whatever the increment would be) and then one more bid is placed how is a sale $6000 more than the 2nd bidder was willing to go more valid than a sale to the consignor where it went one bid over what the 2nd bidder was willing to go?

To be clear, just in case, We don't allow consignors to bid on their own items, nor do we do reserves, so I'm not defending either practice for my own benefit. I don't believe either option is the best way for us.

It is not a sale. The item didn't change hands. If I make a hot dog, take out my wallet and hand myself a $100 bill, I didn't buy a hot dog for $100.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by G1911

It is not a sale. The item didn't change hands. If I make a hot dog, take out my wallet and hand myself a $100 bill, I didn't buy a hot dog for $100.

In a recent auction I saw an item I sold last month to someone on BST. As soon as I saw it for sale I had sellers’ remorse. And it was selling for less than I sold it for. I wanted to bid on it and get it back. Didn’t but wish I had.

Didn’t do it but don’t see any ethical problem in buying it back.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

In a recent auction I saw an item I sold last month to someone on BST. As soon as I saw it for sale I had sellers’ remorse. And it was selling for less than I sold it for. I wanted to bid on it and get it back. Didn’t but wish I had.

Didn’t do it but don’t see any ethical problem in buying it back.

You had already sold the item so you wouldn't have been bidding on something you currently owned and were selling. That's a big difference than what others are talking about regarding bidding on your own consignment.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by jayshum

You had already sold the item so you wouldn't have been bidding on something you currently owned and were selling. That's a big difference than what others are talking about regarding bidding on your own consignment.

Poorly explained . . .I wasn't saying it was the same situation . .. or didn't intend to. Just was a weird spot and I felt odd bidding to but back something I had just sold someone (for more).

[nat]

I'm a small fish in auction-world, but for my part I'm annoyed by reserves. Usually I'll just skip an auction if there's a reserve on it. Plenty of other, non-annoying, things to go after.

Frankly, I prefer a high opening bid. Then at least I know what I'm in for if I decide to play, rather than not knowing if I'm wasting my time.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by nat

I'm a small fish in auction-world, but for my part I'm annoyed by reserves. Usually I'll just skip an auction if there's a reserve on it. Plenty of other, non-annoying, things to go after.

Frankly, I prefer a high opening bid. Then at least I know what I'm in for if I decide to play, rather than not knowing if I'm wasting my time.

High opening bids don't mix well with auctions requiring you have a bid in in order to bid in extended time.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

In a recent auction I saw an item I sold last month to someone on BST. As soon as I saw it for sale I had sellers’ remorse. And it was selling for less than I sold it for. I wanted to bid on it and get it back. Didn’t but wish I had.

Didn’t do it but don’t see any ethical problem in buying it back.

Huh? When did I say or imply it was not okay to legitimately buy back a card you had previously owned? What does this have to do with fake sales where a card never changed hands and was not factually sold at all?

If Person A sells a card and person A is the winning bidder, or a proxy agent of person A is the winning bidder to hand the card back to them as part of a pre-planned operation, there was factually not a sale. You can't buy something from yourself... The most common sense of basic facts this hobby wants to disagree with is just wild sometimes lol.

[steve B]

I wouldn't be surprised if a major auction wanted something on an item with a reserve that didn't sell. Part of their value, perceived or real is the work involved in photographing describing and promoting that item. That's all work they have to pay someone for, so if the seller demands a reserve that won't be met having a way to at least defray that cost is sensible.

I am mixed on reserves. I don't really recall running into them at live auctions for items I wanted and could afford.
I did get them on Ebay sometimes, I didn't mind if the reserve was stated, or if they would reveal it when asked. But if it was treated as some big secret it generally put me off an item.

When selling, I used reserves maybe 4-5 times on things that were to me much better. In every case I was open about the reserve, and set it somewhere between what I thought the thing should sell for and what price I wouldn't be happy with. In all but one instance my reserve was so low it ended up being silly. Around 20% of the final price in one case.
The one that didn't make reserve, was an original frisbee still in the original package. The high bidder said the reserve was too high, and backed that up with links to sales on other sites that showed his high bid as slightly above average. I ended up selling to him at the high bid, which I was still happy with.

As far as using an auction house, to me it really depends on what contacts you have, and how you value your time. About 14 years ago I consigned some stuff locally. They took a big cut, but the only "work" I had to do was point what boxes and a rough idea of what was in each box.
Some stuff did about as well as I could have done. Others did much better. Overall, more results that were better than I could have gotten on Ebay, and almost none that did worse. A nice bit of cash for a few boxes of not necessarily valuable stuff. I did tell then that they had to take the 2-3 monster boxes of junkwax stuff if they wanted the better stuff, something we had a good laugh about along with the motebook of what I described as cards that used to catalog a couple bucks but don't anymore (I'd been buying stuff from them for decades, so it was for sure something we could laugh about. )