At 03:54 PM 12/1/2006, Claude Litton wrote:
Rich
I find it interesting that you cannot address what I said, which in
my opinion is the truth. All you can do is use insults without
addressing one single word of what I said. Is it because you cannot
find fault with my words? I will not waste any more time on your
insults either now or in the future.
Claude
Claude,, now that I am home I can respond properly. as I said to you
in my earlier email (privately folks) that your email came in just as
I was leaving home & going to my warehouse. Unfortunately I did not
have an extra moment to write a whole email as I had to meet someone
there and I can't post to MoPo from my warehouse. I get rejected by the server.
now I am home.
first of all.. I have no problem with this part of your original email:
"All I seemed to get were the words "RESERVE NOT MET" and frankly
---------I will not chase reserves. I will not bid on a poster either
here or on ebay until the reserve is met."
I have no problem with that. It is a valid statement and while I
don't always agree with it, I can understand a buyer's personal
feelings about the issue.
However, if you are going to complain about reserves, then you should
complain that Heritage's auctions, Hollywood Poster Auction, Vintage
Poster Auctions, Sotheby's, Christie's etc etc etc all make
prodigious use of reserves - to which the question arise "Why do
auctions use reserves?"
reserve auctions protect a seller from getting doused. The thing to
be aware of when you use reserves is to have one that a seller can be
happy with, and a buyer can also be happy with. If the reserve can
meet that standard, then the entity that made the reserve did a good
job. If an item is reserved at say $5000 and the bids end at $5001,
the reserve was perfect. If the bidding ends at $4999, believe it or
not - the reserve was still perfect. It is after all only one dollar
difference and it is quite a trick to get so close.
That brings the next question.:
If an item is reserved at $500, but only gets to $125, is the reserve
wrong (or a bad guess) ??
the answer is "probably not" presuming the item is a true value at
$500, but "most certainly" if it is only a true value at $125
As Andrea exemplified in her email, they had an item that did not
sell the first time around, but sold for over the reserve the second
time around. The reserve was right in that case, but the customer
wasn't available the first time.
So as long as a reserve is "reasonable to value", there really isn't
anything wrong with it.
One thing I made clear to all sellers in the MPB auction is that the
better your price is regarding reserves, the better results you will have.
HOWEVER.. I did not ask anyone to "throw their merchandise into the
trash with too low reserves"
A good reserve value at a major auction house is somewhere around 50%
of perceived retail value.
I think you will find that 90% of all reserves on my own stuff is at
a price that I can be hapy, and that the bidders can also be happy.
But even further, 2/3 of all of my own listings have no reserve at all!!
That includes lobby cards from Rebel Without a Cause, Psycho and
other quality merchandise. However I have no interest in selling my
Day at the Races window card at a price that is too low, even if I am
willing to sacrifice Rebel Without a Cause cards.
But then Claude I know you have to be asking what about your post I
thought was objectionable.
This statement from your post:
"checked a number of posters for sale on movieposterbid and they are
a waste of time"
is irresponsible and potentially defamatory. You can say it is a
waste of "YOUR" time, but to indicate that it is a waste of anyone
else's time is wrong, and potentially damaging to my business if it
makes someone who may have otherwise gone to the site for bidding
stay away because of your statement.
also, this statement:
"The posters on movieposterbid are either overpriced ..."
is uneducated and insulting. You have no way to know whether this
statement is true because you are not privy to the information that
would help you to make such a claim. You do not have access to the
sale database
very simply Claude, those two statements could hurt business at
MoviePosterBid, are inflammatory and un-informed and it surprises me
that an attorney who understands those facts would make the
statements that you had made in your post.
I do not begrudge you the right to make comments, but I entirely
begrudge you the right to make statements that are clearly false,
misleading or defamatory and could affect my business.. It's as simple as that
Best
Rich==============================
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