Paragon auctions

[glynparson]

Ends tonight any guesses on what the Boston garter matty. Or the Sgc 92 Joe jax will end at. Unfortunately the auction is a year to early. Or I might be bidding on the Matty I love those Boston garters.

[e107collector]

I guess I'll be the first to take a stab at the ending prices of these two gems.

$80-85K on the Boston Garter Matty. I know for a fact there are two big name collectors going after this card. Who knows when another will come up for auction.

$50-55K for the SGC 92 Joe Jackson.

Tony

[oldjudge]

The high reserves are a turn off for me. I will not bid under this format.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by glynparson

Ends tonight any guesses on what the Boston garter matty. Or the Sgc 92 Joe jax will end at. Unfortunately the auction is a year to early. Or I might be bidding on the Matty I love those Boston garters.

Why do u say "a year too early"?

[glynparson]

I am opening a new business and most of my capital is tied up that is why I said a year too early for me. I have no problem with reserves of any kind if I want an item I bid if I don't meet reserve I see it no different then being outbid. Plus a first time auction may not have as much exposure as an established auction making reserves more necessary, in my opinion.

[Delray Vintage]

I agree-wanted the ewing and mascot n172 but kept bidding and never reached the reserve- I wrote them that I am tired of wasting my time trying to guess a reserve. They should put a minmum bid high enough to satisfy the consignor-otherwise all they do is annoy potential bidders. I was willing to pay a fair price but will no longer bid in "guess the reseve auctions". The consignor should not put it up for auction without a high minumum bid so serious get bidders can get involved.

[glynparson]

I've now seen people on the board complain if minimums were too high and people advocating for high minimums over reserves. I guess no matter what an auction company does they will have critics of their formula.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by glynparson

I've now seen people on the board complain if minimums were too high and people advocating for high minimums over reserves. I guess no matter what an auction company does they will have critics of their formula.

Cute job with the word-smithing. The folks that are unhappy with high minimums are not unhappy with the fact that high minimums are used instead of reserves - they were just unhappy with how high the minimums were. Setting a minimum so high that there is only a 50/50 chance even 1 bid would be placed is more like a sale then an auction. Setting a strong minimum bid instead of a reserve would placate most folks, so long as the minimum was reasonable.

[bh3443]

Hi Glyn,
I've been buying cards here in the greater Boston area for decades and found virtually every card type from the 1880's to present, but NEVER was offered any Boston Garters. Were they distributed here in my area? I'd appreciate any insight and if you want to post some here or on facebook, that would be awesome!
BTW, Glyn, I hope you had a great birthday with your child yesterday.
Thanks,
Bill Hedin

[botn]

Originally Posted by Matt

Cute job with the word-smithing. The folks that are unhappy with high minimums are not unhappy with the fact that high minimums are used instead of reserves - they were just unhappy with how high the minimums were. Setting a minimum so high that there is only a 50/50 chance even 1 bid would be placed is more like a sale then an auction. Setting a strong minimum bid instead of a reserve would placate most folks, so long as the minimum was reasonable.

Write what you will but it is obvious Paragon's formula worked very well for them and their consignors. I will certainly place them at the top of my list when considering where to consign my material.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by botn

Write what you will but it is obvious Paragon's formula worked very well for them and their consignors. I will certainly place them at the top of my list when considering where to consign my material.

I never intended to say there was an issue with Paragon's formula; I apologize if that was conveyed. I was just responding to Glyn's suggestion that people were being unreasonable/impossible to please.

I'm all for the disappearance of the BP confusion that Paragon has adopted.

[glynparson]

Your response sounds like wordsmithing they weren't complaining but they were complaining? From your response you feel that a consignor should be willing to let the market dictate what the card will bring? Why does a consignor have to risk a loss or selling a valued piece of ther collection for less than they want? If a company is willing to give some cool items a shot at what you perceive to be retail why shouldn't they? It seems Keith was still going to get his money as it was based on number of items you wanted per page and not a flat commission per item sold. I welcome the new approach and if I decide to sell some of the better items in my collection it is certainly an avenue I would consider. Why should I RISK the possibility of losing on an item if I dont have to? I may be misunderstanding your post but it sure seemed like that was what you were saying.

[glynparson]

I guess what I'm trying to say is the times they are a changing. And Keith I believe has found a new way to give a consignor the opportunity to still possibly sell his items while still collecting a fee. This is a strange and unpredictable market right now and I don't blame any consignor for wanting to protect hIs investment.

[botn]

Hi Glyn!

I think I must have misunderstood Matt's initial post to you, as well. It would have been unreasonable of Matt to be critical of Paragon's auction formula when he himself normally uses very high minimum or high opening bids when he lists his stuff on ebay or grandslam. He must have been remarking on why bidders might be upset with Paragon's model.

Take care,
Greg

[barrysloate]

Sometimes the only way an auction house, especially one conducting its first sale, can get high end consignments is by offering collectors a reserve. Maybe if they didn't the consignment would go somewhere else, perhaps to a more established company with a proven track record. And starting lots low and letting them ride worked very well in 2006, but might not today. I don't blame Paragon for starting lots high. The reserves may be annoying to bidders but that's life. I would guess those who are complaining would not like to see their own consignments open at 20% of fair market value without a reserve. It's a sign of the times, that's all.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by botn

Hi Glyn!

I think I must have misunderstood Matt's initial post to you, as well. It would have been unreasonable of Matt to be critical of Paragon's auction formula when he himself normally uses very high minimum or high opening bids when he lists his stuff on ebay or grandslam. He must have been remarking on why bidders might be upset with Paragon's model.

Take care,
Greg

Yikes! I believe every auction style item I've sold on GSB has been with a 0.99 start and no reserve. I do sell fixed price as well, but those aren't auctions...

As far as the comment, feel free to ignore it. I was explaining how reasonable bidders could both not want a reserve and also not want a too high starting bid, but it's not an important point. Your enthusiasm for Paragon and zeal in rushing to it's defense when it wasn't even being attacked is noted.

[Peter_Spaeth]

If he can keep his fee structure as low as he says it is, I think he is going to attract a lot more consignments away from the higher (much) priced competition.

[GoldenAge50s]

---is all these new auction venues popping up the last couple of months! Many predicted the demise of many houses during these tough times but new ones are coming out of the woodwork!

I get a new EM every few days about outfits I never have heard of before!

Can anyone explain?

[glynparson]

I will defend a friend when I think they are being unfairly criticized. And I do consider Keith Vari a friend of mine. For the record I had 0 consignments in the auction and bid on 0 items.

[rnisly]

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/H813-1/go.html

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/H813-2/go.html

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/H813-2/go.html

These images were culled from various internet sites.

As you can tell even images are tough to find.

Roger

[glchen]

Out of curiosity, is Paragon somehow affiliated with SGC? I received my winning item from Paragon today (which was actually a PSA card), and it was in a package with an SGC return label. When I first saw it, I thought that SGC must have sent me someone else's submission by mistake. I had just sent in my submission to SGC yesterday, so there's was no way turnaround could be that quick.