Goodwin Pickups

[botn]

There is no guarantee that over time the things we buy will be worth more over time. Far too many uncontrollable factors.

[calvindog]

I'm sure Dan will get to that question in due time, hopefully before Yom Kippur.

I've consigned one single card (worth around a grand) to an auction house in my lifetime and have never bid on a friend's card. I have no financial relationships with any auction house and have never described an auctioneer as a 'great guy.' And I'm the guy whose bona fides need to be questioned? That's hilarious! Almost as funny as some of the excuses for Goodwin's prices on PSA 8 commons!

[Leon]

One other thing...I have not had anyone bid on any lot I have consigned either ...and before I started an auction company I did consign to several auction houses. For some reason I never got spectacular prices even on nice pieces. There is no doubt what Greg said is true too....way too many variables to know too much for sure.

I have had friends, and swore never to tell so I won't, tell me they have indeed had friends bid on their lots....so I know it happens...and it happens at every auction house. The only way to protect yourself is to always only bid what you feel is a comfortable price for you. Otherwise you might just be bidding against a shill. And, supposing many of these things that are being bid on are in fact won by "friends", that could explain why they go right back to auction so quickly... Sometimes it seems that these cards are hot potatos.....They never seem to find a good home...

[chiprop]

Edited, because it wasn't relevant

[Vintageclout]

I have to agree with "Bigfish".....Over the years I have never had an issue BOTH buying and consigning in Bill's auctions, and have been fortunate enough to receive my consigner checks virtually at the speed of light. Additionally, I have won MANY high end cards with ceiling bids far greater than the hammer price. In fact, I just won the Fredierick Foto Ruth Thursday night and could have paid, via a ceiling bid, much more.........bottom line is all consignments and winning bids are based on an infinite number of variables that boils down to the "luck of the draw"!

Happy Bidding!

Regards,
Joe

[barrysloate]

As someone who once ran an auction house, I have opinions on this matter but choose to express them diplomatically. I do not participate in Goodwin's Auctions and have never placed a bid, so I am not going to pretend I know what's going on. And maybe it's nothing- but I do admit that some of the prices I see strain my imagination. I have often auctioned the same card in the same grade and see it go for double my price in a Goodwin Auction. Frankly, that's a head scratcher. Sure, there are some discrepancies in the marketplace, but they are usually isolated examples. I have seen prices consistently go 1.5-2 times higher than my own, and my experience is the same people bid in all the auctions. So I can't explain it.

I do agree with Leon that there may be an atmosphere of friends regularly bidding for other friends but I can't say for sure. For those who have said that their consignments didn't do well, well that's the free market at work. For those who got incredible prices for their cards, well above previous recorded prices, there has to be some explanation for it. I am suspicious by nature, so my take is I am concerned with many prices realized I see, and that goes for many of the auction houses out there. As far as exactly what goes on, I don't know and the auction houses don't tell me. But from where I'm sitting... I say hmmmmm.

[calvindog]

Barry, I guess the answer is that when friends bid up their friends' lots in auctions they only do so in Goodwin and not your auctions. Or REA. Or B & L. Or H & S. Must be that special secret software you guys all employed.

[Rob D.]

If nothing else, it seems this thread has prompted participation from folks rarely heard from previously on the board.