Auction Houses. Do we need more?
 

So with all the auction houses out there is there room for more? I have been thinking how nice interaction with someone would be. The fact you're waiting what seems like 30 days for an auction to close only to stay awake for the next 48 hours to try and win it. The fees are absurd to say the least.

A format where everyone logs on and bids in real time. Questions can be answered, certain views or angles can be shown, hammer drops that evening before the next auction goes live. BP is minimal because the overhead is minimal.

I guess I want to know if anyone would consign to and/or buy from a format like that?

Not sure exactly what you are asking, but I share your frustration.

Auctions is announced. It is closing 30 days later. Yawn.

And then it drags and drags and drags. And drags.

And then maybe the catalog shows up. Gee, forget all about this one.

I look at it again. Gee, now closes in 19 days.

A day before closing items a little activity begins.

Now last night of the auction is the height of insanity and I have to write it off or figure a way to be up at 5 am EST.

With this system I make the effort for the few and far between "must haves" and "can affords". A lot of smaller fun stuff that I might bid on I just stop paying attention to.

Are you thinking like a live auction over a video feed?

Heritage Sunday Auctions have live bidding format. There is still very little interaction though. Combining that platform with a video feed could be interesting.

Andy you hit the nail on the head with that one.

A video feed live format auction at a set time. Maybe biweekly or monthly. Only take in X amount of lots. I seriously think I can get the % to a solid 10 across the board no matter the hammer price. Fair and transparent deals in a real time format. Small picture preview of consignments.

I believe it would be worth a shot. With the technology and the common place of video in communications, I think it is a matter of time. Someone will have to be the first.
I think high detail photos would still be needed. Video doesn't always work to pick up things. The high detail images for zooming in the Heritage auctions is always nice.

How 'bout plain old live? ��

The scans are the easy part. The audience is what is needed and the consignments need to be great to draw an audience.

Just one person's opinion, but it seems like the market is saturated with AHs. If the amount of good material to sell stays relatively constant, I don't know if the market can sustain this many AHs. There will likely be some winners and losers, but I just don't see how 10-15 players offering a similar product can sustain success in the long term.

That said, maybe a significantly different approach as you suggest could disrupt things, but you still have to fight to get the material that will pay for your labor, overhead, advertising, etc.

Honestly, I love this idea. I would definitely be a participant! We had an auction house about ten minutes from my house close down a couple of years ago because the owner was retiring. I looked forward to it every week. I typically don't pay a ton of attention to the current auction houses because I usually forget about them once the time comes... Plus, this just seems a lot more fun!

AH
 

I agree that there are too many houses right now. The ones that run until 6 AM do a disservice to the Hobby and have to go. Live auctions via the net with reasonable hours would be great.

Places like Liveauctioneers and Proxibid do this to some extent. Live auctions and all that. Just no video and not much in terms of interaction.

To me the idea has some merit if it could be done right. Would have to work out all bugs well beforehand. Last thing you want would be technical difficulties during the first auction. That might end things right there.

Tom C

I'm just about over auctions of all kinds these days. I'll happily "over pay" with a BIN than deal with competition and absurd time restraints...it's just not worth the hassle to me anymore.

Hell NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are too many auctions houses as it is, the last thing we need is more!!!!!!!!!

JMHO :)


Steve

Auction Companies
 

Obviously I am a bit biased about the number of auction houses out there but I think people fail to realize that more auction companies breed competition. Competition helps us all out with lower seller's fees. Do you think that if there were only 2 or 3 sports auction companies, that they would offer 0%?, -5%?.

Many of our customers use our live auction format www.morphyauctions.com , www.celebrityauthenticsauctions.com , www.goldinauctions.com runs 2 to 3 live events a year as well.

Again, I realize that I am biased but lets give things some thought before we open our mouths

I was able to speak with my friend last night about setting up a live auction format with electronic bidding and ect. It is going to cost a tiny bit but I am going to give it a shot and see if we can get the site set up and some testing done. Will keep you all posted.

I also agree there are way to many AH around. I am not looking to post 1000 items a night or allow bidding into the next day. The whole point is to bring something old and new together and make things better right.

I will be looking forward to feedback as I start this journey. I want to make sure its a great experience overall for everyone.

revised

I totally agree with you, that competition is good. I am all for healthy competition. There comes a point however, where the playing field becomes over-saturated.

As it is now, very few of us, if any (and certainly not me), are able to keep track of all the auctions going on. I do get the more than once per week email from auctionreport.com, but even it does not list all the auctions either soon to open, or that are currently taking bids.

It seems to me that when so many collectors are unable to keep up with the goings on, it is not good. Too much of a good thing, just like drinking too much water, is unhealthy, and can even be disastrous.

Just some examples:

- All the cards that were produced in the late 1980s - too much of a good thing

- All the card stores that opened in the late 1980s-early 1990s - too much of a good thing

- Overproduction of collector postage stamps in the 1990s - too much of a good thing

- Same thing has been said about US coins (especially commemoratives), collector plates, Star Trek action figures, Beanie Babies, and on and on and on.

I just don't want future collectors (or Heaven forbid, those of us here today) to be able to say the same thing about sports card auctions contributing to the demise of our hobby!

Steve

Apples to oranges comparison.

You are equating the over production of a good to the proliferation of auction houses that do not produce goods.

I can see no scenario wherein increasing the number of outlets through which hobby items can be bought and sold would somehow contribute to the demise of the hobby.

Tom C

I think we need to make a distinction between what we'd want as collectors and what's feasible given the laws of supply and demand. As a collector, would I want more outlets from which to buy? Sure, why not!

But if, for sake of argument, the number of AHs doubled, would the supply of quality cards to sell double? Unlikely.

So, you'd have a dilution of the quality cards available to each house, and some would simply not get enough good material to pay the bills.

As consumers/consignors, competition is great. But competition creates winners and losers, and the losers don't tend to stay in business long.

I feel like there is already dilution in that we see cards going from one auction type venue to the next...pretty regular...never spending time in a "collection!"

So I have really good news. I spoke with a company yesterday afternoon that is able to create and do all that I am after. The good part is they have all the technology and programs but now need to combine it to make one for me. Its exciting because that means I will either have great software or that the big guys know something I don't and I will soon be in the drink:D



I am hoping to have an idea of what things will look like soon. If anyone has any feedback in what they would like to see I am open to anything helpful.

So far We have a live Video feed screen with sound on my side to communicate with the bidders. It should take up 1/4 of the Screen in the Upper right. The Left half of the Screen will be for chatter and questions. Below the video feed on the right side should be all the bidding info you need including an UP Next Preview. I am hoping by adding a chatter section that bidders can share info or ask questions during the auction. In case there is a questionable card brought to attention with sufficient proof it will be automatically cancelled and returned to consignee. I am hoping by adding all these features to keep as transparent as I can and always uphold the utmost integrity.

Personally, I would love to have an AH that specializes in mid-range material...like VG sets from the 60s and 70s and a nice g-VG Carew rookie, lower grade raw t-cards and the like. Sadly it does not seem like a viable business model. I used to get a few, got fun cards I enjoyed at cheap to reasonable prices...which was the deathnail of the auction.

That would be great but reality is it cost 4% or $500 per auction I run with that software. So as long as the AH makes a little profit then it should work in theory! Also with the low open bid set at $.99 to start should help drive the bids.

This is great

Huggins & Scott

I agree !00% with you . Huggins and Scott will take your collection no matter what it is like, how much it is worth , or how large it is and work with you . They , of course like all AHs love rare high -end items , but they won't cherry pick your collection for just the best items . They offer very competitive consignor fees also.

Of course I'm biased :)

auctions
 

Huggins and Scott will not try to sell your lower cost items individually. They generally bundle them into lots and sell the lots. You will never get top dollar that way.

Andrew's 99 cent starting bid is a great idea. Some of the auction houses have become the equivalent of high priced eBay BIN's. The starting bids are so high that no one makes an opening bid. There was one particular auction a few months ago that had 200 items with no bids and another 200 items items with only one bid.

Todd, I would think that Sterling Auctions pretty much fits the description of what you are looking for. And, Sterling has an auction every month, which always gives me an auction near term to look forward to.

Love For The Game also seems to have a lot of mid-grade collector oriented lots. Though they aren't monthly and don't seem to have a set schedule.

+1 on Sterling. And the Brockelman Auctions auction ending this evening also has lots of collector friendly cards as well as some higher end ones.

Personally, I think we need 1 more auction house.

Auction Houses
 

www.cardboardpicasso.com is something to check out. They market themselves as an alternative to sports card auctions and have "buy now" prices, 0% buyer's premium, free next-day shipping with insurance, a loyalty program, and coupons up to $200 off (through their loyalty program). They have an ebay site as well but the prices are always cheaper on their site.

3 posts, 3 references to the same business. Any chance it is yours? If so, why don't you just say that's?

DJ

How about a niche auction house? I see so many generalists doing the best they can with a variety of items. Wouldn't it be nice to see a niche auctioneer devoted only to prewar baseball, for example.

I think that's why I love RMY Auctions. It's a niche auction for photo collectors. How many times do you actually see photos featured in an auction house? Not very often. Most of the time it's a Ruth...Mantle...Cobb...game used bats...hats..etc or personal awards from an estate.

This thread made me think of Don West
https://youtu.be/CTaxttRR3Lc

If more auction houses meant more great cards coming to market then yes. I fear that what it would mean would be more stuff that you could just as easily find on EBay. I say no. In fact, we probably need less than we have now.