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#1
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Alan
Taking Black Sox fan's idea of a previous post on auction websites -- |
#2
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Dan Koteles
Mastro may be the best practiced at this. |
#3
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Daniel Bretta
I think Mastro once again probably does the best overall job, but one thing I don't like about most of the auction houses is that when they have a large collection in one lot they may only show a couple of pictures. The Neal Ball collection had about 10 different items in it, including his lifetime pass, and a couple of panoramic photos, but none of the items were pictured even though they used the entire page to advertise the single lot. |
#4
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: J Levine
I really like Mastro's catalog but REA has done a great job the last few times. Rob's last auction catalog was great with super pictures and write ups. |
#5
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: davidcycleback
One complaint about MastroNet is the 'fancy' writing style of some descriptions. Reading some sentences can cause seizures. |
#6
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: barrysloate
David- I agree with you fully. The photos and presentation are superb- but the writing is so convoluted and so many words and phrases are so poorly used that sometimes I am not even sure what I am reading. I think they feel the more they write the better the item sounds, but from the feedback I get from collectors they would prefer that the descriptions were more succinct and didn't stray so far off topic. If the writers are reading this- I know Peter is- please consider that this would be a great improvement. |
#7
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: BlackSoxFan
This post, in addition to the thread i started has been of great use to both my staff and myself. |
#8
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: warshawlaw
excellent, informative descriptions without much of the frothing that Mastro does. Mastro's catalogs tend to be verbose hype-fests. |
#9
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Julie Vognar
Mastro short spaces some things....they're both awful good, though. |
#10
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Jay Miller
I think there are really two classes of catalogs. There are the big, fancy ones and in this category clearly Mastro and REA do the best. I find their descriptions interesting and many times I walk away from an item's description with a new appreciation of the card or the piece of memorabilia. This can only add to the consignment's realization. |
#11
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Julie Vognar
enlargable pictures. Sloate, too. |
#12
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Frank Wakefield
Mr. Lipset is a great fellow... good place to buy cards. |
#13
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: davidcycleback
The MastroNet writers know grammar and can put together sentences, and the introductary stories are often interesting. I also understand that they're going to hype. My single recommendation to the writers is that they stick to normal adjectives and nouns, especially when describing something like a Topps baseball card. |
#14
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: warshawlaw
when I write an auction description for a boxing card I just plagiarize my own book |
#15
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: barrysloate
You can't plagiarize your own book- it's yours. You are merely recycling the information. |
#16
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: DJ
Mastro, REA and I really do like Lelands. You think Mastro's writing is nauseating...the writer's at Lelands think they are a combination of James Joyce and James Thurber. Too flowery. I do like Josh's "vision" though but wish they would go back to the old days where Lelands would simply offer decent descriptions beside the photos. I am also very impressed by my Huggins And Scott catalog I got in the mail the other day. |
#17
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: BlackSoxFan
Interesting observations, so do you feel the catalogue or the site is more important to an auction houses success? |
#18
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: DJ
Ted, |
#19
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: BlackSoxFan
DJ - |
#20
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Julie Vognar
I got my thing from REA before they could POSSIBLY have gotten my check. I sent them an e-mail: hey,. how come? Do you do this often? Rob Lifson writres me back "There's a rumor going around that you very seldom stiff auction houses..." |
#21
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: barrysloate
The bottom line is to make the customer happy, and that takes work and isn't always successful despite your best intentions. As far as costs: when I felt the cost of my color catalogs was becoming prohibitive, I switched my business to ebay. While I've had good success I've come to realize that if you sell an expensive item, say several thousand dollars, between ebay's increased fees and those of paypal, I'm losing a couple of hundred dollars off the top. Suddenly, the color catalog is looking very affordable. As such, I'm going back to a catalog auction for my better pieces and using ebay for my less costly ones. Try a catalog auction, it can be quite successful. And keep the descriptions short on verbiage and long on facts. That's what customers appreciate most. I love Mastronet's auctions but there is too much to read. REA can be a bit long winded too but they get to the point of what makes a lot special in a more concise manner. The Mastronet descriptions are often unfocused, and jump around a lot between facts and then veer off into superfluous digressions. Well, that's just my experience. Truth is as long as the customer is happy you can make anything work. |
#22
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)
I'm your typical 1st grade level reader... give me BIG pictures and I'm happy. |
#23
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Daniel Bretta
Add Huggins and Scott to the list of exceptional catalogs. I just got mine in the mail today and spent a couple hours looking through it and they did a fantastic job. |
#24
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Nick
Half of Mastro's descriptions remind me of bad 1920s sportswriting. Step away from the thesaurus, and just tell me about the lot. |
#25
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: DJ
Ted, |
#26
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: BlackSoxFan
I think you have some very astute points, which is why we are still struggling with exactly how to approach a mass marketing for our business. We are very simply an outlet for people with nice stuff to use. We can sell their items for more money and reduce a lot of the stress for the end user..... see auction drop..... |
#27
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Andy Baran
I have always thought that the large auction catalogs should have some kind of index, either at the front or the back of the catalog. Many of us save the catalogs to be used for research purposes. I have kept all of the major catalogs for the past decade or so. However, trying to locate an item without remembering which auction catalog it was in is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. |
#28
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Julie Vognar
in--no thanks to them, though! Lipset (after, I think, a few featured items) lists things by date and name--holy cow, what a concept! |
#29
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: davicycleback
I like an auction that is run smoothly and where you get what was described. I like an auctioneer who is knowledgeable and honest. The weight of the catalog or the shape of the packaging peanuts does not effect me. |
#30
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Charlie O'Neal
I like both the catalog and internet for big auctions. I mainly look at a catalog to make sure I didn't over look something when scanning the internet. If you are trying to get away from using ebay for your auctions please do not have a registration fee. This is a big turn off for me b/c I do not want to spend $75 dollars to have the right to bid on an auction. Until I get to a point where I have to have an auction without regards to price, spending $75 on a whelm is pretty absurd. |
#31
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Best Auction Catalog ?
Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)
What I would like to know..... |
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