Sideshow Bob Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Bronty said: I dunno. I would guess they are thinking some percentage of their consignor pool May be hard up for cash right now That is how a successful auction house is run. Strike while the iron is hot when people want to buy, and strike while the iron is hot when people need to sell. They always get paid, either way and every time. Great chapter in Freakonomics that specifically addresses this topic for real estate brokers encouraging you to take that offer that's on the table, and it isn't because it's in your best interest. Twanj 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick2you2 Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 8 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said: That is how a successful auction house is run. Strike while the iron is hot when people want to buy, and strike while the iron is hot when people need to sell. They always get paid, either way and every time. Great chapter in Freakonomics that specifically addresses this topic for real estate brokers encouraging you to take that offer that's on the table, and it isn't because it's in your best interest. Other than the broker earns a commission, and a higher price rarely generates a major increase in the commission, assuming the broker even makes the sale during the exclusivity period? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tth2 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 23 hours ago, Bronty said: In a way I wouldn’t mind signatures with fewer items; there’s a lot of material to look through The problem is it's forcing them to do a CC and fill up their auctions with lots of dreck, so you still have to wade through a ton of stuff, much of which used to be weekly auction material. Plus there's more and more video games (which actually is okay with me because I don't need to scan those, I can just scroll right through those lots). I've got as few tracking bids in this auction as I can remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 22 minutes ago, tth2 said: The problem is it's forcing them to do a CC and fill up their auctions with lots of dreck, so you still have to wade through a ton of stuff, much of which used to be weekly auction material. Plus there's more and more video games (which actually is okay with me because I don't need to scan those, I can just scroll right through those lots). I've got as few tracking bids in this auction as I can remember. ha. I'm in the opposite boat, mostly just look at the comics, and go straight to the games, but I suspect they will break it off into its own subcategory soon. They have clearly built this backwards capability into the current auctions as they show as being listed in a video game category (that for the time being just points back to comics). They won't be comingled forever from what I can see. They will go their own sessions at the very least and you can just ignore those sessions if you choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBerman Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 18 hours ago, Rick2you2 said: Other than the broker earns a commission, and a higher price rarely generates a major increase in the commission, assuming the broker even makes the sale during the exclusivity period? Exactly. Freakanomics discusses how brokers hold out for higher offers when selling their own homes but encourage you to take lower offers on your own home, so they can move on to the next client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstoppablejayd Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 On 4/12/2020 at 9:38 AM, Bird said: Interesting that they are out there calling people but I cannot get any straight answers from them! (I had one piece left over from prior consignment due to non-payment and getting clear info about using that consignment money for credit). It seems they email me with useless info and ignore answering my questions entirely, just trying to be done with me as quickly as possible to go solicited items from others I guess. Funny thing is I was ready to consign another $25K worth of stuff but this hiccup is so annoying I am holding off!!! Sounds like a Bird sales thread is brewing???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Unstoppablejayd said: Sounds like a Bird sales thread is brewing???? I nailed the overall valuation, nailed it!!!, but individual prices were all over the map (so not such a good job with overall valuation perhaps). Pricing this stuff is hard, if I had just done a sales thread with fixed prices 2/3rds would have sat unsold and 1/3 would have sold waaaaaay under what I got at auction for it. In any event, won some comics last night so I guess I can live with HA after all. Some GA art selling tonight!!! And a Dave Sim dps that is weird so therefore very low priced right now!!! (not my consignments, just sayin') Edited April 13, 2020 by Bird Unstoppablejayd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstojano Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Bronty said: ha. I'm in the opposite boat, mostly just look at the comics, and go straight to the games, but I suspect they will break it off into its own subcategory soon. They have clearly built this backwards capability into the current auctions as they show as being listed in a video game category (that for the time being just points back to comics). They won't be comingled forever from what I can see. They will go their own sessions at the very least and you can just ignore those sessions if you choose. They actually have pulled the games into their own listing when you search in the main comics category heading. Not sure how that translates into lost order but they are definitely making the games more distinct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 20 minutes ago, cstojano said: They actually have pulled the games into their own listing when you search in the main comics category heading. Not sure how that translates into lost order but they are definitely making the games more distinct. Yes, its already started to some extent as there is a separate games session now, but there are also still game items in the comic session. It seems to be a process where they are slowly making them more distinct over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstojano Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Bronty said: Yes, its already started to some extent as there is a separate games session now, but there are also still game items in the comic session. It seems to be a process where they are slowly making them more distinct over time. I admit that Atari Adventure game got me looking into WATA. I cannot find much in the way of information on these graded games. I assume it is a very new market. Is a 7.0 for Adventure good or bad? No pop reports I assume. Not even sure if the grade means it was opened or not (merely that it was never in cello). Of course, I never had this game as a kid, or Atari. I was gifted with Intellivision instead. This led me to eBay searches for sealed games. Holy cow there must be warehouses of sealed unsold Intellivision games. My family had a great time with Astrosmash and crazy games like Utopia. Edited April 13, 2020 by cstojano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, cstojano said: I admit that Atari Adventure game got me looking into WATA. I cannot find much in the way of information on these graded games. I assume it is a very new market. Is a 7.0 for Adventure good or bad? No pop reports I assume. Not even sure if the grade means it was opened or not (merely that it was never in cello). Of course, I never had this game as a kid, or Atari. I was gifted with Intellivision instead. This led me to eBay searches for sealed games. Holy cow there must be warehouses of sealed unsold Intellivision games. My family had a great time with Astrosmash and crazy games like Utopia. Pre NES stuff is generally either not available sealed or available in massive quantities. There's very little in between. Historically you may recall or have heard of the sudden crash of Atari due to an overproduction of titles and inventory. Well, when that happened there were just a bazillion sealed atari cartridges left over. Some were sold some were wholesaled some were put into a landfill, just more of them for certain titles than you could ever get rid of. Intellivision was caught in that crash as well and so there are some common titles. Meanwhile the ones that weren't part of those overstock finds pretty much don't exist or are very rare sealed. I know that much but don't know much more when it comes to atari. As for grading, just look at the description to see if sealed or CIB. CIB means opened/used. Edited April 13, 2020 by Bronty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluechip Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 42 minutes ago, cstojano said: Holy cow there must be warehouses of sealed unsold Intellivision games. True scarcity and value of collectibles often have an inverse relationship. Dealers cannot make a consistent and dependable income by purchasing and reselling things which are so rare that they are hard to keep in stock. Dealers need things to be scarce enough that an average person can't get them without expending more effort than they like or want to -- but not so scarce that a dealer cannot reliably or even easily maintain a sizable inventory. Edited April 13, 2020 by bluechip Rick2you2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, bluechip said: True scarcity and value of collectibles often have an inverse relationship. Dealers cannot make a consistent and dependable income by purchasing and reselling things which are so rare that they are hard to keep in stock. Dealers need things to be scarce enough that an average person can't get them without expending more effort than they like or want to -- but not so scarce that a dealer cannot reliably or even easily maintain a sizable inventory. That's true of course but its irrelevant here - dealers are kind of horse & buggy in general. That train of thought applies to trophy type items though - you get the big price increases when something doesn't hit the auction block often, but at the same time just often enough for data points to ratchet the price up a little more each time. Edited April 14, 2020 by Bronty greggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjonahjameson11 Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 All of the working from home and social distancing, and no events to see, things to do has made me succumb to... Boredom bidding! Yup, placed a bunch of bids on items in the May HA Signature auction, just because it was something to do. im sure I won’t win any of the pieces I bid on, but it’s fun being in the lead, for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzminn Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 On 4/13/2020 at 10:34 AM, Bronty said: Yes, its already started to some extent as there is a separate games session now, but there are also still game items in the comic session. It seems to be a process where they are slowly making them more distinct over time. I'm not sure if this has been been mentioned before, but there is also a separate auction catalog exclusively devoted to video games, video game memorabilia, and video game original art. I may be late to the party on this, but it's about 60 pages long and fun to look at and review. My kids had many of the games available in this auction. Of course they opened their games and played them to their hearts content. If waves of nostalgia roll over me a bit in viewing these lots, I'm sure there is an age demographic that would be overwhelmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, dzminn said: I'm not sure if this has been been mentioned before, but there is also a separate auction catalog exclusively devoted to video games, video game memorabilia, and video game original art. I may be late to the party on this, but it's about 60 pages long and fun to look at and review. My kids had many of the games available in this auction. Of course they opened their games and played them to their hearts content. If waves of nostalgia roll over me a bit in viewing these lots, I'm sure there is an age demographic that would be overwhelmed. yeah, I got 4 catalogs yesterday and one is video games I save these things but not sure why! Wifey moved a computer upstairs to dining room table for work at home and was happy to find some HA catalogs to raise the computer screen! exitmusicblue and Rick2you2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstojano Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Did I miss the standard "reserves have posted" email? Another signature auction, another 300k Frazetta reserve. Any bets on the reserve tripping here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodou Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 2 hours ago, cstojano said: Another signature auction, another 300k Frazetta reserve. Any bets on the reserve tripping here? Those two Frazettas are small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick2you2 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 On 4/18/2020 at 2:22 PM, Bird said: yeah, I got 4 catalogs yesterday and one is video games I save these things but not sure why! Wifey moved a computer upstairs to dining room table for work at home and was happy to find some HA catalogs to raise the computer screen! I don't know what to do with them, either. I think I save them out of a sense of guilt that HA went to the trouble of making them and sending them to me. So I shouldn't just throw them out, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, vodou said: Those two Frazettas are small. The one is 17 by 22 per the auction description? Kind of in the ballpark for most frazettas I thought? It’s not a great one but it’s better than a couple of the most recent ones with the serpent and the female figure. I’d say no, it won’t trip reserve, but it maybe has a bit of a shot this time. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole but that’s me. The small one has no reserve Edited April 29, 2020 by Bronty vodou 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
