T206 Plank Auction

[ScottFandango]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Meant with no disrespect to Net54 members, Net54 or Leon and the fellow moderators, I respectfully disagree with the above statement Scott.

The hobby is much bigger and there are many, many collectors with amazing collections who are not on here, further more many of them are not even that aware of our little playroom in cyberspace.

Once again I feel we really tend to simplify the hobby, its collectors and place them into our box when its simply not the case.

Cheers,

John

You are assuming they need to "post" to be here....

Many many people look at this site and never sign up or post...I know several..

If you google info about cards, many times a link to this site comes up...it's not hard to find this place, one can almost stumble upon it....

This is basically SGC' s message board and PSA's second board....

Just look at the monthly pickup threads and the amount of views....

We collect cardboard...there aren't that many people in the world that do this...eventually most serious collectors DO FIND THIS PLACE....

You did

[MVSNYC]

Yeah, but Wonka's not a "serious collector."

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

You are assuming they need to "post" to be here....

Many many people look at this site and never sign up or post...I know several..

If you google info about cards, many times a link to this site comes up...it's not hard to find this place, one can almost stumble upon it....

This is basically SGC' s message board and PSA's second board....

Just look at the monthly pickup threads and the amount of views....

We collect cardboard...there aren't that many people in the world that do this...eventually most serious collectors DO FIND THIS PLACE....

You did

Actually I think both you and Wonka are correct. I think there are a lot of whales not signed up for this site that read it every day, religiously. I also think there are quite a few that probably don't read it. But to the first point, anyone that has stayed at our table at the National for very long will know what I am talking about. And I do think that most serious collectors, on the internet, know about our site. But concerning the whole discussion surrounded not knowing about the auction in question. You would have to be a bumbling idiot not to think advertising here wouldn't have helped that auction (collectively, I don't know about the Plank in particular), especially after reading this thread.

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

You are assuming they need to "post" to be here....

Many many people look at this site and never sign up or post...I know several..

If you google info about cards, many times a link to this site comes up...it's not hard to find this place, one can almost stumble upon it....

This is basically SGC' s message board and PSA's second board....

Just look at the monthly pickup threads and the amount of views....

We collect cardboard...there aren't that many people in the world that do this...eventually most serious collectors DO FIND THIS PLACE....

You did

Not assuming anything Scott I know of countless collectors and collections that have no part of any website in fact some of these folks hardly use the Internet let alone chat board.

Scott I can assure you that you are the person assuming a bit. As you said "everyone who is anyone knows of this place". Did I find Net54 yes but years after I built the bulk of my collection and I'm also a daily computer user.

There are also lots of collectors/investors who drop huge coin with auction houses who are not a part of this board. I think you would be shocked if we asked say a Lifson, Goldin, Allen, Goodwin how much of their overall business is tied to Net54 members I can bet you good money that the percentage is very low.

Example I spend quite a bit each year on art, illustration art etc. I'm sure there is a forum somewhere but I don't know about. I wonder in that place if their members are saying everyone who collects this stuff knows of this place.....

Cheers,

John

[Leon]

John, while I agree with most of what you say I think you would be very surprised by the amount of money our board members spend in auctions. I politely disagree with your assessment. I think it's far more than you think. Actually, I am fairly sure of it, just going by our members list and who I have spoken to about our forum. Not all members post or want to be publicly known. I think you would be surprised. And the people that aren't members but read the forum is quite large too. I have personally spoken with a handful of hobby whales who aren't registered but read the board every day.

[wonkaticket]

Leon, no doubt there are members who are very active in the hobby but not active on the board per say. However to say that if you're not on here your not really in the hobby is a bit naive. Not only the old timers but many of the hobby's biggest purchases have been made from folks outside the hobby investors etc. not all of those folks know of this place nor would they flock here if they did.

Look I like Net54, and other chat boards as much as the next guy but they are not the driving force behind this hobby and if Net54 and the banner ads went away overnight theses guys would still be selling cards and lots of them.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

John

[Leon]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Leon, no doubt there are members who are very active in the hobby but not active on the board per say. However to say that if you're not on here your not really in the hobby is a bit naive. Not only the old timers but many of the hobby's biggest purchases have been made from folks outside the hobby investors etc. not all of those folks know of this place nor would they flock here if they did.

Look I like Net54, and other chat boards as much as the next guy but they are not the driving force behind this hobby and if Net54 and the banner ads went away overnight theses guys would still be selling cards and lots of them.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

John

Where did I ever say if you aren't on the board you aren't in the hobby? That sounds crazy. I would never say that.
Of course all of the auctions would still have sales if there were no Net54baseball at all. The point is though, they probably make more sales and or get higher prices, at least sometimes, because of the ads. To think differently would be very naive indeed. Just look at the several responses in this thread alone. They would have bid in the auction had they known about it...and if that company advertised on this board those members would have known.
Do you really think these advertisers would be advertising if they didn't think they get a good ROI? You think they are throwing their hard earned money away? And some of them have been doing it for over 5 yrs straight. There is a reason. And of course, if they didn't advertise they would still get sales. They just get potentially more sales and higher prices, and maybe a few more consignments because of them.

[Matthew H]

I heard from an auction house that some of their bidders don't even have email addresses, so I'm assuming they aren't members here. with that being said, what is probably the best collections ever assembled belong to hand full of people that are members here, they even post from time to time.

I don't think that plank could have been helped by advertising here, but I do think many lots could be helped by a few things. Like maybe not changing the name of your company every few years. I'd say I miss at least half of his auctions. All of his emails end up in my spam folder. That doesn't happen to any other AH. His auctions just seem a bit more low key. Definitely more low-key around here. I have never seen a Greg Bussineau pick up thread.

[Thromdog]

Wow, my intent in initially posting this thread was simply about the Plank itself but its turned into a great discussion. My 2 cents as a low scale card hobbyist....
1. The Plank, even as a low 5, still seems undervalued and the buyer got a good deal.....which means the seller (gets 63k) likely got hosed considering it sold for roughly 90k last go round....which leads to.....
2. This auction house should be advertising everywhere hobbyists visit. If for no other reason then to do everything for his client who has trusted the house to do whatever possible to get bids and every dollar available. That includes advertising and email campaigns. I've registered at 2 houses just from seeing banners here on net54.
3. I found this auction by proactively googling "Plank t206 for sale". Considering time spent online searching boards, etc, I shouldn't have had to do that.
4. If you are consigning some of your collection, would you hand your stuff over to a house that people have said "man, there was some good prices on stuff over there....who is he"? That would probably be a red flag.

Anyway, I'll be watching for Greg's fall collection. Good site, some interesting stuff.....

[wonkaticket]

Leon, didn't say you said that it was Scott who made the comment "anyone who is anyone is on this board".

Leon no need to be defensive about your business model. I'm not asking you to justify the merit of why someone would advertise on net54 I can see the value for some folks.

My discussion here was more that not everyone who is a collector, investor or has a nice collection is a member of Net54 or any other forum nor do they have to be. Saying something like "anyone who is anyone is a member" I felt was naive and uninformed. I think you would agree perhaps not.

In terms of ROI with costs of $150-450 bucks a month for an ad it's hardly about ROI. If anything it's more about PR. Those numbers for any auction house worth a salt ends up as a rounding error not a serious investment in advertising with ROI concerns IMO.

Cheers,

John

P.S. I think saying that anyone who doesn't see the value in advertising on here is a bumbling idiot, isn't the best way to win them over as a customer. Obviously Greg feels he can pass on placing ads hardly makes the man a bumbling idiot just a potential future customer.