I think you guys must be crazy if you think shilling is partially the buyers
fault! By your logic, price-fixing and collusion are perfectly OK too.
Demand is like half of a bell curve. Sure, there will always be a few
people at the end who are willing to pay a lot more for an item, but it
still isn't fair for the supplier to shift the curve in that direction.
This is why DeBeers wasn't allowed to sell diamonds in the US for the
longest time... Was it the consignors' fault when the major auction houses
were caught colluding and price-fixing? No. It was their fault, and it was
illegal.
Cheers,
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Moore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 9:40 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Bruces' sale and Heritage.
Sorry to see that Dario feels bad about being possibly "run up" or
"shilled" at auctions. Frankly, i've been bidding in auctions for so many
years that I have a different perspective on it.
The only way anyone can be shilled or run up is IF they allow it to happen
to themselves. Let's face it, if you want to bid on something, you have a
price you're willing to pay. If you get it for that price- Great! If you
get it for less- even better! But if you end up paying MORE for it than
you were originally intending to go, well that's you're own fault. No one
holds a gun to your head and says, "Pay more or I'll pull the trigger."
If you bid more, then you're willing to pay more. No "Shill" at any time
knows what amount you're willing to go to, so if you get "run up" then you
only allowed yourself to get run up. Getting something for less than what
you wanted to pay or were willing to pay is not an entitlement or right.
The only true way you can be shilled- is if you tell someone what you're
willing to go to on an item and then that person or their agent decides to
take advantage of it. If you told them that price, then you only have
yourself to blame. End of s!
tory.
On another subject - but related to bidding in sales, I know Bruce likes
to hype the fact that his sales (by their virtue of being on ebay) don't
charge buyer's premiums. This is a MINOR difference between his method of
conducting auctions and Heritage's (where they charge a BP of 15%). I
think this has more to do with the fact that his sales are on ebay where
the hammer IS the price and BP's are NOT allowed. When Bruce conducted
his sales through Christie's and Howard Lowery's auctions, there were
buyer's premiums on those auctions as well.
If you guys can go out to dinner- where waiters are involved in serving
the meals- I think you can calculate the tip (15%). Waiters provide a
service- just like the auction houses do. So, for example, if you bid on
something at Bruce's auction and are willing to pay $100, then bid on the
same thing at Heritage and bid $85.00. It's the same thing! And it's not
difficult to figure out. You're still paying the (approximately) $100. So
don't fall for that - "Gee, paying a buyer's premium is a bad thing"
routine.
And speaking of Heritage... the first day has come to a close and there
were quite a number of interesting results. Many of the premier items
brought premiere prices. For example; the Out of the Past one sheet
brought $11,500.00. Suspicion one sheet $6,325.00, Crime School three
sheet $5,750.00, Destry Rides Again three sheet $10,925.00, Rainbow's End
one sheet $3,450.00, (yes, westerns are doing well again), Rebel Without a
Cause 40x60 $5,750.00, High Sierra three sheet $16,100.00 etc. These were
some outstanding results. That being said, there were also some real
bargains to be had. There was an Across the Pacific half sheet for $184.,
Wagons Roll at Night one sheet for $230., an Adventures of Robin Hood
portrait lobby card for $299., and many more deals in Bogart, Hitchcock,
etc. - Proving that there were some real bargains in the sale. If you're
not registered to bid in this sale, then you're selling yourself short!
There's still time- call Heritage in the morning !
and get on their phone bid lines. There's still one more day to the sale
and some great material is getting ready to be sold. Okay, I'm going to
commit a heresy here and suggest we all stop watching college football on
Saturday and check out the sale. (Go Longhorns!)
I see Bruce launched his preview for his upcoming sale in December. Lot's
of great material for sale once again! Admittedly it is a lot of the same
material we've seen over the years with a few new items we've never seen
before- but let's face it, those same old favorite classics we've come to
know and love are what we all want to collect anyway. So, I expect his
December sale will do as well as his Halloween sale did!
Thanks to Grey at Heritage and Bruce for continuing to supple all of us
collectors (and dealers) with great material and keeping the hobby alive
and well. And indeed, it is doing well.
Ron Moore
Cinema Icons
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