JR First of all the live auctions are normally much better material. They also take place a few times a year (Heritage has 2 or 3 and Everett has 2) The auctions move very quickly and the auctioneer does about 100 to 120 posters per hour. You can pick and choose what you want to bid on there or via telephone, which is my normal bidding operation Once the bidding starts you must make up you mind in seconds not 5 minutes and then 5 more. I make time for these auctions because of the better material . I do not have the time to sit at the computer and watch while the bidding goes up, adds 5 minutes,etc. I don't know what you do for a living but I work about 60 hours a week. I play racquetball 3 times a week at a club for 2-3 hours on Sun, Tue, Thu. I go to the gym 3 other days a week and run for an hour. Friday is my day of rest. I make more money per hour than most on those on MoPo make in a week and they don't pay me that for sitting around playing with poster auctions. If you Google me you will see who I am and why my time is heavily scheduled. I have a wife, 4 children and 8 grandchildren. These are more important to me than sitting at the computer waiting for extended bids. My work day starts at 6:30 am after 15 minutes looking at ebay. If I see something I want, I immediately place a snipe bid and that is it for the week on that poster on ebay. I generally look at Bruce's auctions on Tuesday and Thursday nights around 10 to 10:30 and then go to bed. I only placed one high bid recently on Bruce's auctions because I loved that poster and haven't seen one in many years. (I won if you are interested). Had I been able to snipe I believe it may have gone for less but not much. There are too many auctions on the internet every week for extended bidding. I do believe one thing because I have given it some thought. Most of the people who complain about sniping are those who really do not bid a lot for posters. I'll bet an hour's wage that the bulk of those who complain never bid as high as $100 for a poster. Their mentality is that if they had only placed one more bid they would have won. They have no clue about how high the snipe bid really was. Finally, sniping prevents the auction house from taking your bid higher. Please don't misinterpret this to point a finger at Bruce or Grey. I believe they do not do this and I have placed high bids on both and I was not run up. However, the current state of the hobby has created too much turmoil, doubt and finger pointing which can be helped using sniping. I said enough and Bruce will now answer me. We have a friendly adversarial relationship on this subject and I will not budge. Maybe, he will on his better auctions which are infrequent. This could be a good compromise. Claude Litton In a message dated 10/3/2009 4:01:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Claude, First of all, I'm not advocating eliminating sniper programs... it is great that they keep one's maximum bid secret, even from the auction house and it is great that they mean I can keep bidding automatically as the auction is ending when I can't be at my computer. The only thing extended bidding times at Heritage would do would be to prevent the behind the scenes, last micro-second ambush where the other bidders don't have an opportunity to try to try to outbid the last bid. Which is *exactly* how live floor auctions work -- do you have a problem bidding in live floor auctions? They *all* have "extended bidding time" where the guy holding the gavel says "I now have $5,000... do I hear $5,200? No? $5,200 anyone? Going once at $5,200... going twice.." etc. If you don't have a problem with live auctions which have extended bidding times, why should you be so adamant about internet auction having the same thing? Whether the other bidders can win if it happens to be you they are bidding against is immaterial -- the other bidders should still have the option to try. And besides, if you keep your promise that you will never place a high maximum on an extended time auction... wait... doesn't that means that in those cases we actually do stand a chance of winning, even against you (if you keep that promise)? -- JR Claude Litton wrote: What is the point of you seeing a bid in the last few seconds if you cannot outbid me (as you stated). There isn't a single poster that I cannot buy so if I want it I can bid with an outrageous price and you cannot beat me. For example: If a poster has a value around $4,000 to $5,000 based on rarity and recent sales, what good does it do you if I place a snipe bid of $10,000? You are tilting at windmills. There was a poster I wanted a while ago with a value of $5,000 based on previous sales and similar titles by the same actor. I placed a snipe bid of $15,000. So what does the knowledge of being beaten every time you place an extended bid do you? You can't win. There can only be one winner and these weekly auctions have to end sometime. The most important factor here is this. I will not under any circumstances place a very high bid in an extended format so the loser is the seller. I do not want anyone to know what I am willing to pay for a poster. Sniping is the only way to go. CJL In a message dated 9/28/2009 5:33:21 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) writes: Todd (and others opposed to 1 or 2 minute extended bidding times), This is an example where modern technology has corrupted our cultural philosophy. Letting the sniper programs battle it out in the last micro-seconds behind the scenes where no one can see what is going on is just fine if you don't care about the concept of public auctions being a level playing field where everyone bidding has the opportunity to keep bidding after a higher bid has trumped their own. But that is exactly how things are done at live auctions. Why shouldn't it work that way for internet auctions? Just because Ebay never did it that way? I *like* sniper programs and use them. I do agree that it is a good thing if the auction house cannot see your maximum bid -- no temptation, no potential conflict of interest and no foul. That's one of the big positive aspects of sniping programs. And, as you say, it's great that you don't have to sit at the computer with your fingers glued to the mouse counting down those last seconds. But we all know that one's theoretical "maximum bid" is not always writ in stone. Have you never adjusted your maximum snipe bid as the auction was nearing its close and you saw how the bidding was going and decided that maybe your original maximum might not be quite enough? I certainly have. If someone has enough money to place extremely high maximum sniper bids on anything they want and so virtually guarantee they will win 99% of what they bid on... well that's very nice for them, isn't it? But most of us -- even those who do use sniper programs like myself -- don't have that luxury and we should be able to see what the last bid is and decide (quickly) if we want to try to outbid or not. Fair is fair. -- JR Todd Spoor wrote: To All, I really don't see the point of extended bidding, if you put in the MAXIMUM you want to spend in the first place, if you get outbid in the last second, so what, you weren't going to spend more than that anyways!!! Sniping is a great way to enter a Maximum bid and NOT have to watch the auction especially if it closes at an odd time or if you are at work. I win 99% of every auction I bid because of sniping plus the AUCTION HOUSE can not see my maximum bid!!! Todd Spoor -----Original Message----- From: James Richard Sent: Sep 28, 2009 4:05 PM To: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Subject: Re: [MOPO] An odd incident on this past Sunday Heritage Auction Grey, How is extended bidding a waste of time? If no last second bid comes in, then the auction closes as scheduled. If a last second bid does come in, automatically extending the auction's end time by maybe 2 minutes gives other bidders who want the item a chance to trump the last-second bid. Hardly a waste of their time if it means they win and auction they otherwise would have lost -- and both Heritage and the consigner make more money. Where's the downside? I do think the implementation of extended bidding at emovieposter.com is too broad. I think in that case that if a bid comes in during the last 5 minutes the end time is extended by 5 minutes -- since lots of people prefer to place a bid in the last couple of minutes, parameters like that *do* tend to waste people's time. To work more efficiently, parameters should probably be 1 or 2 minutes. An extra 2 minutes isn't going to bother someone -- not if they really want the poster -- and it puts everyone on a level playing field whether they are using gavelsnipe.com or not. -- JR Smith, Grey - 1367 wrote: Hi, John. Well, the email was supposed to go private but my mistake. Yes, many snipe bid on the site now. In fact, as you are aware, we end all items at 10PM CT every Sunday evening, so many prefer not to have to sit by the computer. My belief is that the extended bidding platform is a waste of our bidder’ s time, though one of our other divisions does use it. Grey Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at _www.filmfan.com_ (http://www.filmfan.com/) ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at _www.filmfan.com_ (http://www.filmfan.com/) ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
