Posted By:
Jason LSteve,
thank you for coming on here and answering these questions. Very forthright and honorable business behavior.
All,
I think it would be very good business practice for an auctioneer to disclose his own lots, and here's why:
I believe that over time, the practice of doing this will actually engender more trust in the honest auctioneer, because it adds more information for the buyers. If an auctioneer has a history of disclosing all of his own material, then this becomes a quantifiable population of items that offer up proof of the auctioneer's honesty and the integrity of his auctions....because presumably, a buyer could see that those lots have sold at comparable and fair market prices to those lots which were consigned.
I make some assumptions here regarding ability to track these transactions, the concept of fair market prices, and the like, but I think my main point is that disclosure adds info, and buyers like to feel informed...
I don't think it's a required practice, but I think it would be a very profitable practice in that it should attract buyers