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I'm liking minuteman's idea Seth. I know you talked to me about these same ideas. A break for the real buyers Ray
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I always considered myself a real buyer, but I suppose I must not fall into that category. Thanks for clearing up my confusion.
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I'm not saying that I disagree with the idea of giving a break to buyers who spend more money. In fact, I think it's a good idea. What irks me is the comment about these people being "real" buyers. Just because you may have deeper pockets doesn't mean that you're more important than anyone else. Those who don't spend "the big bucks" still pay more for the items they win than anyone else there, don't they? I'm sick of hearing that the only "real" buyers/collectors are the ones with tons of money.
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A touchy subject. What is a "big bucks buyer"? B-J doesn't give discounts on items sold, whether the item sold for $1000 or $5 million(the top price for a car when we/I last sold a 'stang through them). Most auction houses I have worked with have the same policy(s). Why an auctioneer or auction house would pay for or get involved in shipping is crazy, too many variables to deal with. Be honest, as Seth is, he will earn each and every dollar. In fact when comparing total time and resourses spent -vs- payout they usually come out just barely ahead. Again my .02 worth.
Looking for Tide Water/ Tide Water-Associated/ Tidewater items
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It's funny...my brother & I had this same conversation when trying to come up with a "new" formula for buyer's premium. We were trying to figure out a threshhold where you begin to discount premium, without making those who don't reach that threshhold feel like second-class citizens. It takes ALL bidders both big & small to make an auction great (although a few "whales" can take one from great to out-of-sight). I'd like to hear more feedback....
P.S. Just came back from the OKC Thunder vs. Portland Trailblazers NBA game....we won! Take that Slama!
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Seth,
I like the reduced premium for more spending idea. It's not offensive just a simple marketing technique. Buy 3 get 1 free, spend 100 get 10% off, we see these type of promitions daily in retail.
Could you determine what the avg. expenditure per registered bidder of actual sales (not buy-backs) over the last 3-5 sales? If that number can be determined give a bracket of the top spenders a 2 % discount. For example the avg. is 1500, the top 25% spend $3500 then give everyone over $3500 (in the top 25%) a 2% onsite, cash/check buyers premium discount.
I wouldn't worry about making anyone feel 2nd class, when explained properly it is not that much different than many promotions found daily in retail. Some of the feedback in this thread may have very little to do with offering discounts at your auction but more to do with non-related comments in previoius threads regarding other posters.
Collect small Oklahoma Oil Co.'s 1920's-1940's. Barnsdall, Cushing, Eason, Marland, etc.
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The system does work for retail, but auctions and retail are as different as an auction and a garage sale. A retail item has built in profit, an auction item has no such guarantee. Why ask the "house", to take an automatic loss? The auctioneer/auction house does a ton of work that is done as part of his/their commission. He(the house) doesn't get a salary wage, they work on commission. If you(any of you) worked in, lets say a machine shop. And your boss came to you and said "from now on our big buck buyers will get a discount, that you will contribute to out of your wages". Is there anyone who wouldn't be screaming how unfair that is??? Yet you want Seth to do just that, take away part of any profits he makes? If it isn't fair to the machine shop worker how is it fair to ask the house/auctioneer, to "bite the bullet"? The auctioneer does all the prep work; catalogs, promotion, etc before the event. He does the cleanup afterwards. He also gets caught in the middle of any and all disputes. Again, he doesn't get paid a salary for doing these things, it is part of his expenditures. That says nothing of the time, phone calls and troubleshooting done before, during and after the auction. Seth, I take my hat off to you, I have done a handful of times what you do regularly. I gave it up, because it drove me crazy, getting out of the vintage car business was just the easy excuse.
Looking for Tide Water/ Tide Water-Associated/ Tidewater items
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I think I'll skip this auction ? ;;;;;;;;;;;Ron
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In my opinion the person that spends $20,000 vs the one that spends $5 are no different. They BOTH make a auction sell idems. I agree with Wes & Tara on this. I get sick of hearing about the "BIG BUYERS" or "REAL BUYERS" making a auction or wanting a discount. If they can afford to spend that kind of money whats a 10% buyers premium going to hurt them. Really? If there is going to be a discount it should be spread across the board not to just the "REAL/BIG BUYERS". If it was not applied to everyone I probably wouldn't spend a dime there. I always considered myself a real buyer, but I suppose I must not fall into that category. Thanks for clearing up my confusion. Wes,I guess we where both confused!! I guess I/we can just wipe our *** with our insignificant collections since I/we have not spent hundreds or thousands on each piece. Sorry a lot of collectors here & that I have met do not have DEEP POCKETS & they are "REAL COLLECTORS & BUYERS" too in my book. Now I am glad to see it was cleared up by some there are different categories of collectors instead of everyone being the same. Thanks for clearing up my confusion on this too!!! I feel so much better now. Just MY 2 Cents!!!! Anyway I am positive Seth will do what he sees fit for his auction to make it successful & a good experience for everyone!
Wanted Owens Motor Oil & Mobiloil Gargoyle. Brad Ralston & my website is www.petrobarn.com
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Awesome subject, For someone that can only afford to spend $200. on an item at auction, 10% means a heck of a lot to them, As gasoildude stated, If a person does not bat an eye at spending $5000-$10,000 and more at an auction, 10% is not going to mean diddily. So I too think if a discount was to be given it would be best if it was spread across the board for everyone, maybe on a sliding scale.
P.S. I should add that the Lower class buyers, like myself, probably are the ones keeping this hobby alive, There are only a handful of "Real" collectors like Ray who only spend "Real Money" for bragging rights, The rest of us Lower Class people get to enjoy our collections and feed our Families at the same time
Last edited by KZ1000; Sat Feb 07 2009 11:16 AM.
"Remember, history that is forgotten is doomed to repeat itself!"
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Or leave it at 10% for everyone. No questions or preference there. Everyone is the same
Wanted Owens Motor Oil & Mobiloil Gargoyle. Brad Ralston & my website is www.petrobarn.com
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Lets think about where this just went? People who have more money to spend... give them discounts? Why? You think someone is going to spend more money to save 2%? The lower money items are for who? People who don't have pockets full of money? How about new collectors starting out? What does that show to new people or people that don't have much money? Why would someone spending $5,000 on a sign care about 2% anyway?
Looking for anything from Hoosier Pete, Platolene 500 and Red Bird.
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Lets think about where this just went? People who have more money to spend... give them discounts? Why? You think someone is going to spend more money to save 2%? The lower money items are for who? People who don't have pockets full of money? How about new collectors starting out? What does that show to new people or people that don't have much money? Why would someone spending $5,000 on a sign care about 2% anyway? Kinda Sounds like the Goverment, taking care of the Wealthy and not Caring about the Little Guy.
***Wanted*** Always looking for Oilzum, Kunz, and Husky Cans, Signs and Smalls.
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I think I'll skip this auction ? ;;;;;;;;;;;Ron Ron...None of this back & forth between people has anything to do with my auction, other than I posed the question about whether or not there was a way to change the buyer's premium structure that might cause people to want to physically attend and to bid lots. I don't know why the arguing between posters about how a buyer's premium should be constructed AT ANY AUCTION, would automatically turn you off of this one. I have simply been thinking of ANY WAY I could to stimulate buying without making the promotion of this consignment auction a losing proposition for me. I hope anyone who's feelings have been affected negatively won't misdirect their ire towards my sale. I think the passionate responses on here so far are proof that EVERYONE is important and EVERY BIDDER matters. Probably, the BP will be left alone, but I'm still looking for that one great idea where there will be incentive for PEOPLE TO ATTEND THE SALE IN PERSON AND FOR THEM TO ACTIVELY BID. A few percent here or there won't mean a whole ton to any one buyer, but I would love to see a full-house rather than just a full internet. Don't get me wrong, I love you internet boys and your portion of the overall purchases goes up every year. But back in the first 6 years of this sale, we would sometimes have over 400 bidders in house and that made for very spirited bidding and loads of fellowship. Now we are seeing a few hundred onsite & a few hundred online. I'd like to see us back to 300-400 onsite AND a few hundred online. See....this is behind my reasoning for "tweaking" the costs....not to identify who's important & who's not.
Last edited by Seth Robbins; Sat Feb 07 2009 02:56 PM.
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I tell you what would be awesome...is if there was a way you could track bid frequency. I mean....I've been to Aumann & Dan's and have literally bid on maybe 150 of the items, but only bought 12-15. That's a guy you want at your sale, someone you can count on to get the bidding started and to run it up. Kurt Aumann got to the point that he KNEW that I would be willing to give the starting bid for just about anything in the house, so he didn't even wait for my hand to go up, he'd just point at me and move to the next increment. Afterwards, he thanked for my activity, if not for my purchasing.
It's like Vegas, the more you play/risk, the better chance you have at free steak or a free suite. If I could figure out a way to count how many times a guy bid, you could really reward them.
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