What Is Your Auction Strategy?

What Is Your Auction Strategy

During the past 15 years of our 36-year collecting career, approximately 55% of all the better items and high
grade cards that we have acquired have emanated from one of 15 different auction houses (albeit four are now gone). Whilst prices have
generally risen during that period, there has, as we all recognize, been a 10-25% price drop since the start of the current recession.

While said drop has enabled many former runner-ups to win, it has also changed the bidding strategy of those still
active in the hobby.We generally bid in 20-24 auctions per year, and bid on a total of 100 lots (not including E-Bay items).
Over the past four months, we have found that half the lots we bid on received our bid, and one or no others up
until the day before the auction closed. Most of these lots eventually sold in the $1000-6000 range, but had
not reached half the final bid total until the day before or the day of the auction.

Our question is when you identify an important item that you plan to bid on, when do you actually
place your initial bid? Let’s assume that the average duration of the more important auctions is 3 weeks.

Why, in your opinion, do so many collectors wait until the last day to place a bid?
We recognize that the final hours’ bidding will determine the price, but why wait until the last minute to bid?

We look forward to hearing your comments.

Bruce Dorskind
America’s Toughest Want List
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com