Why the extended bidding?

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

OK Pre bidding SHOULD tighten things up a little bit, but I bet it ran about 6 hours.

Also that's 1000 lots. Very different than the 3000 plus of a major auction. Live I could've gotten through 1000 lots in roughly 10 hours with no pre-bidding.

The Hunt live auction is a fun way of doing it. It does take a long time though.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Carter08

The Hunt live auction is a fun way of doing it. It does take a long time though.

When Paul Fusco of Fusco Auctions was still with us, used to love going to his combined live/internet auctions in person. People would pre-bid online, and then the live bidding would start at a designated time, just like extended bidding. Paul would then go through, lot by lot, and sell each lot live and in order. His wife, Debbie, sat next to him on his right-hand side and monitored the computer and online bids as they came in, calling them out alongside bids coming from people in the audience. He told me one time he was on 5 different online auction sites all at the same time, and that even people in China could be bidding live against you in attendance.

Paul was very quick and dedicated, and when on a roll could get through 75-100+ lots per hour. Still, you could easily be there a good 4-5-6 hours waiting for the lot(s) you were interested in to come up, and for the auction to finally end. He always used to bring in pizza/sandwiches and pop partway through the auction for those in attendance. One of the nicer things of attending his auctions live was you could come early and have a chance to personally see and examine everything in the auction. Also, as each auction lot closed, his staff would bring you the auction item(s) you had won. He also always had another staffer or two then handling a checkout/cashier's office where you could pay for everything whenever you were ready to go. You didn't have to wait till the entire auction was over to pay and be on your way. They constantly updated people's winning bids in the cashier's office. Also, by being in attendance and paying by cash/check, there was no surcharge the online winners usually got tagged with for paying by credit card. And if you did stay to the end, you were usually rewarded with several late auction entries that were not available to online bidders, only those in attendance. These late, live auction only lots, also generally included what Paul called "balance of one man's collection" lots, which would sometimes literally cover entire tables, or be stuffed into single or multiple boxes. Never knew what you would find, but had fun just looking through them. It was the stuff Paul said he couldn't usually see selling as individu.al items or in small lots, or that he didn't want to have to pack up and pay to have shipped to some online buyer. Aaahhh, those were the days.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by BobC

When Paul Fusco of Fusco Auctions was still with us, used to love going to his combined live/internet auctions in person. People would pre-bid online, and then the live bidding would start at a designated time, just like extended bidding. Paul would then go through, lot by lot, and sell each lot live and in order. His wife, Debbie, sat next to him on his right-hand side and monitored the computer and online bids as they came in, calling them out alongside bids coming from people in the audience. He told me one time he was on 5 different online auction sites all at the same time, and that even people in China could be bidding live against you in attendance.

Paul was very quick and dedicated, and when on a roll could get through 75-100+ lots per hour. Still, you could easily be there a good 4-5-6 hours waiting for the lot(s) you were interested in to come up, and for the auction to finally end. He always used to bring in pizza/sandwiches and pop partway through the auction for those in attendance. One of the nicer things of attending his auctions live was you could come early and have a chance to personally see and examine everything in the auction. Also, as each auction lot closed, his staff would bring you the auction item(s) you had won. He also always had another staffer or two then handling a checkout/cashier's office where you could pay for everything whenever you were ready to go. You didn't have to wait till the entire auction was over to pay and be on your way. They constantly updated people's winning bids in the cashier's office. Also, by being in attendance and paying by cash/check, there was no surcharge the online winners usually got tagged with for paying by credit card. And if you did stay to the end, you were usually rewarded with several late auction entries that were not available to online bidders, only those in attendance. These late, live auction only lots, also generally included what Paul called "balance of one man's collection" lots, which would sometimes literally cover entire tables, or be stuffed into single or multiple boxes. Never knew what you would find, but had fun just looking through them. It was the stuff Paul said he couldn't usually see selling as individu.al items or in small lots, or that he didn't want to have to pack up and pay to have shipped to some online buyer. Aaahhh, those were the days.

Reminds me very much of our live auctions except we were live-only, no internet bidding.

[JollyElm]

551. Undeadline
The continually reanimated ending time of an auction with “extended bidding” rules in play.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Reminds me very much of our live auctions except we were live-only, no internet bidding.

If I lived close, would gladly be coming. Live auctions are fun though.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by BobC

If I lived close, would gladly be coming. Live auctions are fun though.

I agree, a lot of fun, and a LOT less work. I do miss them, but they just don't make a ton of sense from a business standpoint for us. I can put (on a good day) about 100 people in a room to bid on 500 lots, or I can sell well over 1000 lots to thousands of people. Plus people are understandably leery of consigning big items to a live only auction, but if you introduce online bidding, at least around here, you kill your live audience. Our consignments have improved by an order of magnitude since the pandemic forced us 100% online. We talk about doing one live auction a year as an excuse to get together with our old clientele face to face.

[ClementeFanOh]

Hi all- so, last night I held my nose and participated in an ebay auction that
was actually real- not Buy It Now, but a 7 day auction. It was not for a
card, but rather for a slabbed "Golden Age " comic book. The way it
unfolded serves as a great example of the advantages of "extended bids"
or live auctions...

So, the auction ended at 11:30 pm Eastern. I went to bed with
the high bid, but had work so I didn't sit at the desktop until 11:30. I knew
some clown would snipe me, but the details are remarkable- in the last 60
seconds of the auction, there were NINE bids. Of those 9, 3 came in the
very last second of the auction. EVERY bid was from a bidder who hadn't
bid previously; in other words, by people who couldn't be bothered to
participate in the first 6 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes of the 7 day event.
People who use a snipe tool but don't actually "participate", determined
the outcome.

So, I already know the objections- "if you wanted the book that badly you
should have bid higher", "should have stayed up later". Yep, I get it, not
my first rodeo. The larger point is that, if I truly wanted that book,
extended bids would have afforded me at least a puncher's chance, and
may have dissuaded the snipe heroes. THIS is why I prefer the concept
of extended bids- it's more "honest" and benefits people who have truly
established a previous stake in the auction. Trent King

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I agree, a lot of fun, and a LOT less work. I do miss them, but they just don't make a ton of sense from a business standpoint for us. I can put (on a good day) about 100 people in a room to bid on 500 lots, or I can sell well over 1000 lots to thousands of people. Plus people are understandably leery of consigning big items to a live only auction, but if you introduce online bidding, at least around here, you kill your live audience. Our consignments have improved by an order of magnitude since the pandemic forced us 100% online. We talk about doing one live auction a year as an excuse to get together with our old clientele face to face.

Scott,

I hear you loud and clear. That was why Paul ran his auctions with multiple online groups also. He expanded the marketplace and bidders for his auctions that way. He also did way more than just sports cards and memorabilia. He did antiques, stamps, coins, estates, you name it. I remember going to one of his live estate auctions he held right in the front yard of the person's house. He let people know there was sports stuff there so, a lot of his sports customers, like me, showed up.

Because of all the other things he was into, especially the antiques, he had to have warehouse size spaces to store furniture mostly. And since he already had the venues and space, the history as a live auctioneer, and he was already doing other types of auctions more geared for live attendees, he just continues to do the sports auctions as live and online, even though he may only get 50-100 people at them. That is what he enjoyed doing, and he had a number of steady customers always showing up for the live auctions, like myself. And as you said, live auctions made it a lot less work since he didn't have to pack and ship everything, and he would get paid right then and there by the attendees. And like I said, he'd always throw in some extra live only lots at the end for those attending.

It was also nice to meet and catch up with other attendees you'd meet at his live auctions over the years as well. It was always worth going to his live auctions, and he seemed to have a knack for picking up some really cool, obscure stuff as well. He was a great guy.

You really should look into some online venues to maybe try a live/internet combined auction. You might be surprised since the pandemic how many people may turn up just to get out and do something as opposed to sitting on their computer at home. Throw in some live only lots, and maybe a slight break for attending and paying in cash/check in person, so you don't have the credit card or other payment service fees. You know how many people on here complain about things like sales tax, so if you can knock even 1%-2% off live attendees paying in cash/check, you may get more people showing up for that live auction as well. Plus all the time and shipping costs you save. You should think about it.