Posted By:
Aaron Michiel"It could just be that my opinion is skewed as I only have the time to watch the biggest sellers, but their prices always amaze me. I have to wonder though, if they could do so much better in a catalog auction, why sell on ebay?"
I think you have several factors:
1. An item might not be valuable enough for an auction house to sell as an individual lot, so it is rejected. (Conversely, the consignor is reluctant to group a collection of items into a single lot, believing it will diminish the eventual price he might see.)
2. A potential consigner might feel that the higher realized price on an auction catalog might not matter as opposed to E-Bay when considering his shipping costs and 15% buyer's premium. (You have to figure a consignor must feel he can make at least 20% - 30% higher on an item through an auction catalog in order to justify going to the trouble.)
3. A potential consignor might not want to wait for an item to be offered in an auction catalog. On E-Bay, you can start an auction anytime you want. Literally. If you want to consign through Hunt or Leland's or Grey Flannel who only offer two auctions a a year, you could wait as long as six months before your item is finally offered. Then another month before the auction closes. And then another several weeks until you receive funds from the auction house. That's as long as eight months from sending the item off until you receive a check in the mail. Mastro, at 3 auctions a year is only slightly better.
4. A potential consignor might not want to sacrifice control. On E-Bay, you can decide if you want a reserve, if you want to end an auction early or make a side-deal, what and how many pictures you want to include, how you want the description worded, what category it's listed under, what extra features, etc. For an auction catalog, you are taking the risk of a nominal reserve and the rest is completely up to the auction house. They decide what picture to use, the text, etc.
5. So basically, you have to wait for funds, sacrifice control of your item's auction and incur considerable additional fees. With all that in mind, you then have to feel that if offered through an auction catalog, your item will bring such a higher premium so as to justify the trouble. It's no wonder many don't.