Rare Stamps & Collections Auction 2/21/15 Ebay Online Live

A word from a national dealer and friend: "Fusco is a great guy and if you're ever in Willoughby Ohio (this was after I told him I was from Cleveland originally, and I still have family up there), stop by, he is one of most honest dealers he knows, describes very honestly but conservatively. You would do well to bid in his auctions." Take it for what it's worth, but I'm considering bidding on one of the lots to "test the water".

I enjoyed the day I spent there. If I ever decide to attend again, I will go the day before and spend the night nearby. They open up the evening before, for a few hours of preview. The next morning there is also preview time before the auction starts.

That's really the only way I could bid on those box lots that have multiple albums full of stamps.

Well I didn't win the item I left a bid on.

So would that be relief or loser's guilt?

LOL Well, it was the U.S. #824 (one of my favorite stamps) with the vignette shift.
Since I didn't run to ebay and throw down a bunch of bids, I guess there is no losers guilt.

It's not like I have a collection of printing errors for that stamp to join.

Occasionally I have winner's horror, when the lot I've taken a punt on arrives and turns out to be another heap of dealer's tat. The worst bunch I acquired actually had a dealer's note to himself or hs assistant (written in the 1990s) in each album, describing what he'd checked, and with the instruction, "Refill and auction". Strange that he saw me coming twenty years later.

I'm going to try to get to the Maresch Auctions this coming Wednesday evening for some early Canadian stuff. Pretty high end, not even sure if I'll get a chance to raise my hand.

18-23% is the standard now with major auction houses.

I sat through today's auction, as there was a single lot I was looking at, which I managed to win. Since online bidding was available through both invaluable.com and ebay, and I had not previously bid live with either, I registered in both places. I loaded each one in a different web browser to compare the user experiences in each.

In short: as live online platforms go, ebay Live is a pile of crap.

Every 3-4 lots, ebay Live would just get stuck on the current lot. While Invaluable.com would proceed with subsequent lots, ebay would just stay on that lot with the time counter ticking up. A manual browser refresh would force it to catch up to the current lot, but then several lots later the same problem. I cleared the browser cache and also switched from MSIE to Google Chrome and re-tested. Same problem.

So I killed the ebay Live version and stuck with the Invaluable.com platform, which worked just fine.

I think I may contact Fusco and relate my experiences, and recommend that if they paid ebay a fee for having the live auction there, they should receive a refund, and at the very least not bother paying for it again. Anyone who bid on the auction through ebay potentially got hosed.

Same here. After the auction locked up on me a few times using ebay Live, I simply shut it off and found something more constructive to do.

I had submitted my bid ahead of time to avoid internet issues. I don't trust my own connection, or Murphy's Law. I don't mind losing an item to someone willing to spend more. To loose an item due to a connection glitch...

Stamp Auction Network is TOPS!!
No affiliation with them....
My opinion....

I also was going to bid.....
I contacted Fusco before the auction and
stated my opinion about Invaluable.com....

I do not know the costs difference from any
of the 3 I quoted....buy if it was using SAN
I know for sure that I would have purchased a few items
or atleast bid them up for a higher profit for the firm.

Oh well....there are auctions every week!

Thanks to Bill's recommendation, I picked up this lot. I didn't bother with the live auction, I merely placed my max bid of $75 and walked away. There was only one other bid and I got the lot for $55.

Brian

I did use SAN yesterday for the Aldrich Auction....
There was plenty problems....

I assume it was at the auction....
Delayed start time....
sound worked for the 1st few items....then kaput!
Oh well....got the item I wanted!! (plus 1 more
for just being online at the time)

Oh snap, I knew there was something I forgot yesterday. I recently made my first purchase from M. Aldrich and was sent the auction information.

Nothing in the Aldrich auction really tripped my trigger. Also, word to the wise: always examine Aldrich lots VERY closely upon recipt. Lots of fakes and undisclosed faults.