Stamp Auction Network... Taking Over!

I just went on SAN to see if any new auctions listed. I found nothing of interest to me coming up from auction standpoint, but was somewhat astonished to see that SAN posted that in recent Robert Siegel Auction that 83 percent of winning bids were placed through SAN.

I came across SAN about 3 years ago and found it convenient. It makes stamp collecting easy and fun in a very busy time of my life.

Looks like there is a new sheriff in town. Comments?

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Not surprising. Since I can neither afford to, nor have the time to, travel to auctions, I bid exclusively online, almost always through SAN. I've been using SAN for bidding for many years.

I am not surprised. I love SAN and use it frequently. The interface is great and Siegel's are a joy to use. The ability to send real-time messages, see a scrolling accounting of bids as they close and the pace are all perfect. Cherrystone and Rasdale use their own live bidding and frankly it leaves a bit to be desired. In the last Rasdale auction I would have paid much more than one lot went for to another bidder but the buttons were sluggish and the stupid 7 second timer which resets after each bid is confusing at times. One problem which I had with Rasdale was that you can enter a SAN bid but it is not recognized as you when paddle bidding. In one auction I ended up bidding against myself which was a mess.

Ouch. Good to know about Rasdale. I've not yet used their online bidding.

The prices in that sale of medicine stamps were very strong as well. The balance lot brought about 75% of cat, which is almost unheard of for most areas of philately.

I assume SAN gets a small cut/percentage of every sold lot if someone wins through the site. I don't know the exact business model here but I will presume a few percent.

I enjoy the site very much, but I worry that cost is passed to consumer without consumer reaping a benefit.... i.e. most major houses raising buyer fee in last 12 months. Perhaps this is why?

I would like to see SAN offer buyer protections and ethical standards that must be adhered to in order to auction through their site, etc. Personally I am not an ebay fan as many of you are here at SCF. I would like me to see SAN offer reviews of transactions so auction houses get rated.

The idea/model of SAN has definitely taken off. Hopefully owners can make it even better.

Presumably SAN is a more specialised version of a site like The Saleroom. Here, I think some auction houses levy an additional charge for purchases made via The Saleroom, which presumably helps to cover additional expenses.

Buyers' premia are probably rising because the houses have nowhere else to go in covering costs, as the pressure from ebay must limit the levels of commission that they can charge the vendor. Of course, pressurs on houses will vary between the Spinks of this world and the smaller houses that I inhabit.

This link takes you to the SAN fee structure. I recently was told by an auction house that SAN gets 10 cents per image that it hosts.

No, auction houses pay per auction and per qualified bidder, not a percentage of bids.




As mentioned above, not due to SAN. Buyer premiums have been increasing industry-wide for the last several years, as auction houses try to maintain revenues in the face of decreasing activity, regardless of SAN. Also, I'm curious what you mean by "I worry that cost is passed to consumer without consumer reaping a benefit"? SAN costs the bidder NOTHING to use. I'd say that's a pretty healthy benefit.




Not feasible. SAN's job is not to police the auction houses that use its service. You would see a mass exodus of auction houses, were that to transpire. I don't want to see the platform create more hoops for the auction houses to jump through, like ebay has done. It accomplishes little and only serves to drive up costs for all concerned and/or drive auction houses away.

Also, since bids for most auctions through SAN are not taken ONLY through SAN, i.e., bidders can also bid via mail, fax, phone, email with the auction houses directly, or through the auction houses' inhouse bidding platforms, how could you possibly reconcile all the terms and conditions?

SAN is not the same as ebay. The "sellers" (auction houses) in most cases are selling across a myriad of platforms and methods, not JUST SAN.

Buyer protections? Never going to happen. Keep in mind, that in most cases the auction houses do not own the material in question; they are consigned goods. They would never want the liability for third-party goods... nor do I blame them.




Never going to happen. SAN would be biting the hands that feeds it. Bidders or buyers posting negative reviews is not in SAN's or its paying clients' best interests.

Auction houses are the paying customers of SAN, not bidders.

In short: SAN is not ebay. Let's not try and turn it into ebay.

I love SAN because it is NOT ebay.

Could someone please explain what SAN is and how onw gets on. A URL, maybe?

Thanks,

Don

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/auctions.cfm

Just click on Membership and register to bid with the firms on the list which interest you.

SAN is great. Performance during busy auctions is priority number one, and compared to other platforms, it seems as though they've done a very good job.

Occasionally I still have issues with the bid button during exceptionally popular auctions - it hangs, but overall its very good. I can still hear Scott Trepel yelling for someone to bid (me), and I was desperately banging away on the bid button, all while being berated by the auctioneer. It was worth it, though as I finally got through and won a great lot.

http://stampauctionnetwork.com/auctions.cfm

SAN is a cental hub for Stamp Auctions. SAN offers auction houses a variety of services. At a minimum an auction can use SAN to provide a link to their auction. Other levels of service are provided all the way up to having their auction "Live" on SAN and SAN bids are coomingled with Floor bids in Real Time.

Check it out it is very useful and I know I depend on it.

I use it frequently. The "losers" here are probably the auction agents, because now it's possible to attend the auctions live from your desk.

Scott Trepel definitely calls an amusing auction. I sometimes listen to them even when I don't plan on bidding anything. I did opportunistically pick something off in one of the December auctions that led Trepel to comment "bargain of the sale," which is always nice to hear.

The agents are doing fine, they are at all the auctions with lots of bids. Plenty of people prefer them to bidding online or by phone for a variety of reasons.