Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

[metsbats]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

As a consignor in the current auction I don't have any issue with paying the asking consignment fees. The success of the first GUU auction made me decide to consign to GUU because of the amount of marketing and the advertising of the auction/material that Chris and team does. It is because of the amount of work that goes into the marketing of the GUU auctions that brings in the clientale that is current bidding on the some of the items.

Do we seriously think the consignor of the 2005 Derek Jeter game used jersey would get a buyer on this board to pay $3,000+ for it if it was listed in the for-sale section?

Now with all auction houses marketing is not free therefore as a bidder one should undertand that a consignor fee alone will not cover these expenses and provide a profit for the auction house. It's just the nature of the business.

I live in NY and could have easily consigned items to GFA or Lelands here in the Island. But I chose to send my items across the country because I feel comfortable knowing GUU is doing all it can to market and advertise their auctions to attract more bidders and are interested in taking care of both consignors and bidders rather than just themselves.

David

[David]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

How are consignment auctions supposed to make money if they don't charge someone for the service? Considering the costs involved in running an auction, they'd have to charge money to break even.

[David]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

I should add that eBay charges auction fees (mostly on the seller), and if you think these fees aren't reflected in what is offered and what you are finally charged, you are naive. eBay's fees influence things like minimum bids, reserves, shipping charges and even hammer prices.

[jboosted92]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

How are consignment auctions supposed to make money if they don't charge someone for the service? Considering the costs involved in running an auction, they'd have to charge money to break even.

+ the items have to be stored somewhere and secured. The large auction houses have warehouses for this stuff, Utilities , securities...etc..

[cohibasmoker]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

Hello Jim,

We actually spent a good deal of money advertising our auction for two reasons. They are:

1) We want to make sure collectors who are looking for quality merchandise are aware of the items in our auction, and

2) We feel we have an obligation to our consignors to do all we can to promote their items.

We advertised in SCD, as well as other venues in the hobby, and even sent our brochure out as in insert in the SCD publication. Although it wasn't cheap, our brochure was sent to their almost 16,000 subscribers in addition to the ones we mailed out directly.

While we certainly could have saved money by not advertising, at this stage we did not feel that would be in the best interest of our consignors or the collectors who are looking for the types of items we are offering.

Truthfully, I was very disappointed when I read a recent SCD article that talked about different approaches to validating items in auction and it didn't even mention GUU's model despite the fact that I think ours is the best, and most noteworthy, in the industry. While I was personally disappointed/mystified that we weren't included, I didn't let my personal feeling get in the way of trying to inform as many collectors as possible about what we are doing.

Are you suggesting we should do otherwise?

Sincerely,
Chris

Chris,

There isn't any doubt in my mind that you guys aren't doing everything you can to make everyone happy. My point was/is, was SCD a medium in which you should spend your advertising dollars? Can SCD deliver a "BANG" for the Buck?

Jim

[commando]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

Jim,

My impression is that SCD continues to cater to older collectors who are either unfamiliar with how to search the internet, or might not use the internet at all. Personally, I am very internet savvy, but just started coming to GUU a few months ago... I can't even say why it took me so long...

In my humble opinion, the average SCD reader is probably middle-aged or older, with "some" disposable hobby income available. Marketing is my profession and I think the target audience is spot-on with SCD (I may be wrong, who knows?) GUU would be wise to ask registrants where they heard about the auction, and of course use that info to further refine their campaign for the next go-around.


Anthony

[metsbats]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In "Buyer's Rape"?

Anthony,

I agree with your good accessment. To my point in my previous post the large bids being generated on such quality material in the GUU auction would never be coming just from ordinary folk who frequent the forum (myself included). The additional target audience in the auction is totally different from the forum audience and it's attributed to the marketing and advertising in such publications like SCD. Auctions like these usually separate the men from the boys.

Kudos again to Chris and team for reaching out and bringing in quality bidders.

-David

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

I subscribed (in the past) to SCD because I couldn't carry my computer into the bathroom.

[momen55]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

hey chris;
i never received a brochure for the auction?

[camarokids]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

hey chris;
i never received a brochure for the auction?

I was thinking about the saying the same thing a few days ago . I never received one neither . But save the postage and a little bit of paper . I can view online .......

[ndevlin]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

I was thinking about the saying the same thing a few days ago . I never received one neither . But save the postage and a little bit of paper . I can view online .......

I actually just got one in the mail today!

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

I actually just got one in the mail today!

I havent received mine yet.

[ndevlin]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

Well I probably should have said that it came with my SCD.

[GoTigers]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

How long until we can just get our own GUU magazine?? Seems like a logical next step!! Sign me up!!

[bigjimsguitars]

Re: Why The 50 Percent Jump In Buyer's Premium?

I know I'm late to the parade, but Sammy get real....you posed a unintelligent question and insult people who responded. Your question was unintelligent on many fronts and an "Intelligent" person would have never asked or posed it.

15% is a small fee for peace of mind not to mention the all items are at minimum have been vetted by a panel of respected experts in their field. Can't say that about ebay, can you.

Buying on ebay is safe if you are well armed with knowledge....

Just another thought, both of the items I was fortunate enough to win in this years auction were both had under my maximum proxy bid. Gee, how refreshing is that!

Sammy, lose the attitude as well.....