Stamp Auction Network Will No Longer Be Free For Bidding- Subscription Based Only

One should never leave bids before close, either on eBay or SAN. On eBay you snipe, and on SAN you bid live or use an agent/unattended bidding. Also, on SAN be VERY wary of any mail bid sale or "auction" that doesn't have live session bidding, as it is ripe for shenanigans by the auction house. I learned that lesson the hard way. If it's not live, don't bid.

On eBay it is especially key to not bid on anything when there are 0 bids for the item. If you want to ensure you get it, snipe these particular ones. Even a single bid on an item raises its viewability by orders of magnitude on default searches putting more eyes on the item. I have won countless items and got great deals for auctions ending that I believe just fell victim to low visibility. So I agree, when you want something, dont advertise.

back to topic. Id be curious to know what SAN wants in an ideal world. Do they want investors, a tech overhaul, to keep status quo, sell this biz, or enter new markets.

Customers want free stuff, employees want their jobs, management wants profitability, owners/investors want to sell the company and retire.
Don

For Rismoney, I will read you in a little bit on our playbook. All is not as it seems. The MBAs on this board might see what we are doing. We are not greedy, trying to sell, or fear of fading away. We are advancing. We are leveraging our data technology advantages to bring greater functionality and transparency to the market for the common good of the buyer. What we are doing isn't offered by our competitors and can't be copied.

StampAuctionNetwork was the first "Marketplace" (that's what they call these business models these days) and we are successful because we built and took advantage of "Network Effects" -- you can look that one up on your own. We are going to double down on that. We will create greater value for the buyer (in ways no one else can) and that creates greater value for the sellers. We already have 100's of savvy bidders that recognize the advantage the data gives them and are using it -- and gladly pay for it. You should actually be wondering WHY an auction house leaves StampAuctionNetwork -- again "not as it seems".

I observed something when we introduced Unattended Live Bidding. I did not want to bother sending invoices for 1% of the realizations when that might be only $5. So we send a notice of results, but we only send an invoice if the fees are over $20 = $2,000 winnings. So basically you can use Unattended Live Bidding for free as long as you don't spend more than $2000 in a sale. What I found though surprised me. People sent in, on their own, their $3 payment when they won a $300 lot. So my takeaway. Most or at least many, don't want to accept something for free if they value it. That is what we are counting on.

We have more ahead, and premium extended features is amazing. What the $49.95 structure lets me do, is give that group of bidders samplers from time to time of what is under the hood.

And I will close with this. We are the good guys. The day before this was announced, I spent 40 minutes with a kind old man. It because apparent that his short term memory was very diminished. I would tell him how to bid and where to find the "Submit Bids" button. I would show him once, he would say he got it, but I would say let's make sure you do. Well in 4 times, he never did. So I put his bids in for him. That is the kind of service we provide. Most of the time we don't need to, because though the site may be a bit dated, but it is easy, and designed around the catalog format. Which has its advantages -- its only recently that other sites have been able to put more than one bid on a page in at once. We always did that.

Guys, I am not going to argue with you on these points. Read between the lines and don't draw the wrong conclusions.

Tom - I want to thank you for coming here and talking to us. That says and means an awful lot.

This explains a lot. Never noticed this nuance as I rarely have sold anything on eBay. But what I have noticed is that many sellers I believe to be shill bidding their own lots always seem to get 2 or 3 very low, very early bids. Usually in the first couple of hours after the lot goes live. Could never figure out "the why" of it before reading this tidbit.

shermae - I think it is multifold on eBay. Low opening bids attract low early bids as either placeholder/reminders to people who track lots that will obviously go higher. If a lot opens at $1, is there a harm to a bidder to bid $1.50 if the stamp will go for $40? It could be a shill, noone knows, but if you get a bunch of low incrementors, suddenly your lot gets more traction... A forgotten lot can yield this person a steal, but thats rare.


Also sites that provide curated results, including this one have "hot auctions" purely based on bid counts. Then you have ebays default search results called "best match" that provides force rankings which I believe to be based on previous clicked through lots, lots with higher bids, similarities from previous purchases (sellers), etc - basically an opaque ordering.

Personally I ignore these and focus on newest and ending soonest.

But I believe bids beget more bids with the goal that now the desired item seems that much more desireable and the hope is a bagholder overpays in the frenzy.

Rismoney, thanks for the added detail and analysis. The sellers I am thinking of are non-stop offenders. I just didn't know why they place early bids.

"A forgotten lot can yield this person a steal, but thats rare."

I forget to bid all the time. It keeps me from going broke.

One of the folds I noticed is with sellers who start price at a close to sale level. For example a lot started at $110, cycled, then $100, cycled, then $90, cycled, then $80. I called the dealer directly to just buy it which he allows if something is cycling without bids. I just missed by hours. The $80 lot got a bid, thus the sale would go on. Of course it sold for more than the $110 first listed and yes, I bought it. Why did the 5 or 6 bidders (in addition to me) wait? The only change while cycling was the price drop, no other text.

Edit: to add, I have also seen bid or buy it now listing where the item sells for more than the buy it now when you could price. The worst was a low opening but a buy it now between $2-3000. The first bidder's low bid took away the buy it now possibility as per eBay programing. He later paid something north of $8000 for the cover.

But yes, I frequently place low placeholder bids as described. And yes due to real life, I fail to get back to the internet world. Sometimes, to my surprise that placeholder morphed to a winning bid.

I have to side with floortrader on this one. I've been using SAN for 20 years and it has been an important part of my Ebus. Not only the live bidding but also acting as a hub where I can easily find upcoming auctions. Last year I found Weiss auctions through SAN and successfully purchased a terrific collection for half what I was willing to bid. I would never have found this without SAN.

I do wish SAN would offer the 7 second clock like Rasdale. It drives me nuts when the auctioneer holds the auction open and begs for someone to outbid me.

Ken

Even if SAN were to implement this, it would have to be at the individual auction house's discretion, as some auction houses are taking online bids (some across multiple platforms), phone bids, and floor bids at the same time. An automated clock simply doesn't work easily in those cases.

LOL. I could not agree more. For me it feels like sliding in my truck on ice towards that utility pole. Seems to last an eternity and is a strange kind of uncomfortable.

Scott Trepel has made me wait the longest. I watched the clock once and he waited a full five minutes to close the lot. I lost.

I was in the room waiting for a lot. When they got to my lot which was the 1st in a Regional section the auctioneer said" Joe was interested in this section but I can't get him on the phone right now, I'm going to skip this section and come back to it when Joe is available"

It's their auction and they can run it anyway they want but I was not a happy customer!!

You gotta wait for the President, though.