*MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! Our new every four week auctions start in slightly
over two months, on July 13th!*We are switching from bi-weekly auctions
(after the last one ends on July 11),to our all-new *ONCE EVERY FOUR WEEK
AUCTIONS*, which we feel certain will prove to be *FAR BETTER* than the old
bi-weekly auctions, just as the bi-weekly auctions have proved to be a
giant improvement over the earlier weekly ones!
Note that even though the auctions start *FOUR* weeks apart, they run for
*THREE* weeks each! This will give us one week after each set of auctions
close to get all the items packed, invoiced and shipped, and then, one week
later, the new auctions will begin, and close 3 weeks later, and then the
process starts all over again!
*WHY AM I MAKING THIS CHANGE?* Several reasons!
1) After 31 years of auctioning (and 1,766,115 unique auctions!), I have
found that is it great to "slow down the pace" of our auctions. Yes, it
helped a *LOT* when we changed to bi-weekly auctions from weekly auctions
sixteen months ago (mostly it has given us a chance to almost completely
catch up on all old consignments), but preparing 3,500 or so auctions every
two weeks is still stressful, and I feel that now having auctions every
four weeks will give us the perfect balance (not too often, not too
infrequent).
2) When we changed to bi-weekly auctions from weekly auctions, I quickly
saw a *GIGANTIC* added benefit to having far fewer auctions. I could
*FINALLY* enforce my rule that single sale auction items have a minimum
realistic retail value of $20 each (not that we stopped auctioning sub-$20
items, but rather that they are now in bulk lots instead of in single
auctions. *GREATLY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF SUB-$20 ITEMS HAS MADE OUR
REGULAR AUCTIONS FAR MORE INTERESTING TO ALL THE BIDDERS* (and it has had
the great added side benefit of making the bulk lots *FAR* more interesting
as well (as more and more of them contain interesting $10 to $20 items)!
Now, with having even fewer auctions every four weeks, I will finally be
able to *COMPLETELY* enforce my "single sale auction items have a minimum
realistic retail value of $20 each" rule, which will make all our auctions
so much better than before!
3) I suspect many of you bidders are still getting worn on from having to
check 999 or more auctions three times every *OTHER WEEK*, and I strongly
suspect you will not mind having more of a break between auctions (just as
so many people have told me they prefer the bi-weekly auctions over the old
weekly ones, for that same reason; how did any of us keep checking new
auctions every two or three days for decades?).
*SO THAT IS HOW I ARRIVED AT THE NEW EVERY FOUR WEEKLY AUCTIONS!* Here are
the pluses:
1) As stated above, this gives you bidders far more "breathing room"
between auctions than you had with our weekly auctions, and also with our
bi-weekly auctions. We won't have *ANY* auctions closing three out of four
weeks! Imagine how happy your spouses, children, or significant others will
be to learn that they can once again do something with you on three out of
four Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays!
Remember that back in 1990, when the modern era of this hobby began
with my very first Christie's auction, most collectors and dealers had only
*TWO* major events a year to look forward to, the annual Christie's auction
in December, and the annual Cinevent on Memorial Day. Not only did
collectors and dealers manage to deal with this, but they also mostly
traveled to both! So having 13 weeks of three auctions each every year
(that you don't have to leave home for) is still an awful *LOT* more than
that was!
2) They allow me to catch up on many projects that I have never had time to
do, both at work and at home. That is a big plus for me! The number one
goal is to get every single old consignment auctioned, so that we are
*SOLELY* auctioning what has just arrived! *Those of you who consign will
send your consignments THIS month, and they will be auctioned the very NEXT
month, and you will be paid the NEXT month after that! So a total of 60 to
90 days from you sending your consignments to you receiving payment for ALL
you sent!*
3) They allow me to take off a week here and there, without it affecting
eMoviePoster.com at all, all year round if I want, because we will have 13
sets of auctions each year, four weeks apart. I have five children, and
four now live away from home, and I want the freedom to visit them more,
and to take trips all over the world!
Is there *ANY* downside to this? I don't think there will be any, other
than that everyone will need a little time to get used to the new schedule,
but I really feel that once everyone adjusts, they will all say, "I wished
you had done this years ago"!
Here is the best part of it, one you might not immediately think of. *You
might say "I don't want to have to wait four weeks between auctions", but
actually, you may well find you are waiting shorter times rather than
longer times!* What wizardry is that? It is because under our bi-weekly
schedule, we only auctioned each type of item every two or three months. So
if you like say, window cards, you might only see them at auction every
three months or so.
*BUT NOW, THERE WILL BE WINDOW CARDS EVERY FOUR WEEKS! *That is because
each of the "every four week" auctions will contain *ALL* of each size that
we were consigned the previous month! Now of course this means there might
be 50 windows cards this time, and 200 next time, and then 100 the time
after that, but you will see *EVERY* type and size of item every four weeks!
And here is the biggest change, which I alluded to above. With far fewer
auctions, we will no longer have the time to auction low value items
individually. So starting in July, *ABSOLUTELY* all items we are consigned
that realistically sell for under $20 each will be placed in bulk lots (or
returned to consignors). And each bulk lot itself also has to realistically
sell for $20 each.
So if someone consigns ten $2 items to us, we will make a single bulk
lot out of them, even if they are all different kinds of items. And if they
send twenty $5 items, we would at most make them into five bulk lots, but
more likely just one or two. But of course we will also offer to return
the items to that person. *BUT ABSOLUTELY ALL ITEMS THAT ARE SENT TO US
THAT REALISTICALLY SELL FOR $20 OR MORE WILL CONTINUE TO BE AUCTIONED
INDIVIDUALLY!*
So please remember that we absolutely *WON'T* be stopping auctioning low
priced items! It is just that we will be auctioning them *ONLY* in bulk
lots, and *NOT* in single item auctions. And since I am hoping to do 999
bulk lots every other month (instead of our current 500-600), we can also
actually auction more sub-$20 items a year than we did when we had
bi-weekly or weekly auctions, except they will be in bulk lots.
And one final change. We will have *FIVE* Major Auctions in 2020, as
opposed to the *SEVEN* we had last year (that was fun, and led to our first
$6 million dollar year, but unbelievably hectic!). *AND YOU WILL NOTICE
FROM THE ABOVE SCHEDULE THAT THE MAJOR AUCTIONS ARE NOW HELD ON ONE DAY,
RATHER THAN SPREAD OVER THREE AUCTIONS. *This means that more than ever, we
will reserve the major auctions for truly rare and desirable items (which
will both make them even stronger than before, and also make our non-major
auctions that much stronger as well)!
I will expand on all of the above over the coming weeks. I know this news
seems like a big change (and in some ways it is, and some ways it isn't)
but it won't start for over two months. Just as I was certain the switch to
bi-weekly auctions was a big plus for eMoviePoster.com, I am just as
certain the switch to every four week auctions is just as big a plus! Take
some time and think about it, and if you have thoughts you want to share,
please email me, because, as you know, I have always run this business by
listening to the feedback I get from our bidders, our buyers, our
consignors, and my employees!
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.
