Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with auction

bibliomania

crazylegs — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:24:45 -0800

Looking for book auctions in Ontario and Quebec... I'm returning to Canada from the UK, and hoping to continue my book dealing. I used to live in Kingston, where the only 'auction action' is at Gordon's. Sometimes they have some good books there, but they don't specialize in them. I've gotten spoiled here in the UK, where one of the only things I like more than Canada is the book auctions. Now I'm trying to find auction houses that specialize in rare books within a reasonable distance of Kingston. I guess that means Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Any suggestions?

How much is that snowboard in the window? The one with the beautiful...er...sticker?

CitizenD — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:23:17 -0800

Pricing a used snowboard for resale/auction: Please Help!! I'm on the board of directors for a local theater company, and each year we do a live/silent auction for fundraising. I'm constantly bugging my friends to give me their stuff - so that we can auction it off and keep paying our stellar staff!

A friend, through her employer*, passed on to me a used snowboard for our group to auction off. Here are the details:

Brand: K2
Model: Eldorado
Size: 163

Boots: appear to be a different brand? "Switch" brand?
Case: Dakine brand

I have googled the hell out of this board, but do not find it. It appears to be older than 07-08 season. But, I'm out of steam. I'm not a snowboarder, and know (or care) little about this stuff.

Tell me, hivemind, what would be an appropriate minimum auction price for this board/case combo? Would $100 be too much?

Also, relatedly: do people just not buy used snowboards? I don't find a huge market out there, so it's worth asking. Perhaps there's something inherent in snowboarding (and/or personalizing one's board) that makes second-hand purchases ill-advised or taboo.

Help? Comments? Thanks!!!

*The board was abandoned at her employer's office building; after contacting everyone on staff, no one claimed it; so, they were going to give it to Goodwill when my friend asked if she could pass it on to me.

Looking for good freelancer script

Cochise — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:12:49 -0800

What's a good reverse auction/freelance site script? I'm looking to purchase (yes, I'm willing to pay for it), a script like Kubelance, Ilancer, Tukanas, or any other of the other freelancer script, but that actually works. I'm leaning towards getting Kubelance, but I haven't found enough reviews of it to convince me yet. Can anyone suggest another script that would be good? It's need to be very customizable.

Help find antique dealer in SoCal for vintage guitar

InfidelZombie — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:56:27 -0800

Help me find an antique dealer/auction house in the Southern California area that specializes in vintage musical instruments and/or country music memorabilia. My mom had tickets to the Antiques Roadshow taping in Palm Springs last weekend, so I had her take along my grandma’s National steel guitar. The guitar once belonged to Stuart Hamblen, and has been in our family since my great-grandpa bought it in a pawn shop in the 30’s. It’s a beautiful guitar, lots of engraving and inlay work, but it’s gotten a little beat up over the years as a plaything for kids and grandkids. I never thought it would be worth a lot of money, but the appraisal came in at $25-$35K so I think I’d like to sell it and pay off some bills.

Does anyone here have experience with antique dealers or auction houses specializing in this kind of instrument, preferably in the greater L.A. area? I’d also appreciate any advice you could give on what to expect with this type of sale: what’s the normal process, what kind of fees might I expect to pay, how much tax will I be liable for, etc.

Better Ebay selling

Solomon — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:11:20 -0800

Imagine you're browsing ebay for an item you want to buy. Two sellers have exactly the same item. What is it that persuades you to buy from one seller as opposed to the other? How can I enhance my ebay auctions, to make them more favourable to the purchaser, and therefore make them more likely to sell? If you're a buyer, what do you look for when purchasing an item? If you're a seller, what techniques have you found to work in your favour?

I already list an item with pictures, both in the search results and within the details of the auction, offer Paypal, and write a bit of blurb about the item itself. I'd rather avoid using techniques that cost money, unless they actually bring increased return on the item.

How to Raise a Zombie Auction

yellowcandy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:24:39 -0800

I'm trying to see an old, outdated eBay (or eBay.ca) auction (from approx. 6-8 months ago) and have the item number. Can I resurrect the listing? I've tried the usual places--Google cache, archive.org...but I need other options, since I am having no luck so far.

eBay filter: Get more specific results from a specific seller

doomtop — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:00:46 -0800

eBay filter: Get more specific results from a specific seller I am looking at vinyl records in the Music > Records category. From there, I can specify a genre, such as Rock or Blues. When I look at results from a specific seller (i.e. only items from that seller) I lose this ability to specify genre, and can only get as specific as Music > Records, which sucks for sellers that carry thousands of records in all different genres.

Does anyone know how to get search results showing only items from a specific seller and a specific genre?

Sell, sell, sell!

joshrholloway — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:23:30 -0800

How can I sell something that is not selling in the traditional ways, such as eBay or craigslist? I have a Gefen CAT5-5500HD sender and receiver that I am trying to sell. I have tried to sell it on eBay, and I have also listed it on craigslist and Amazon with no responses. It is brand new and when I am trying to get around $800 (though I am willing to let it go for less) for it, which is significantly under MSRP and retail.

The truth is, I didn't invest anything in this product, but I don't just want to toss it out because I know it's worth something. Now, I realize that this is not something that has a widespread audience, but it seems like someone who's interested in the product would have found my listings by now. I know I could probably be more patient and maybe get a hit, but I am anxious to get rid of this so it's not taking up space, and the cash wouldn't be a bad thing either.

So I guess my question is this: how can I sell something like this if it's not selling in the "traditional" ways? I've never dealt with a pawn shop before, but I assume they don't deal in these types of things, correct? What about those eBay shops where you bring in your stuff and they sell it with a cut of the profit? Are there any other routes you could recommend going with this? Any chance I would have luck contacting some reseller and offering them a bargain?

I would appreciate any help at all, AskMeFi.

eBay Return Policy

Miko — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:33:37 -0800

As a new eBay seller, I need a return policy. What's a sensible one? I'm trying to sell a number of items. A potential buyer just asked me what my return policy is, and the answer is - I don't know. I would like my items to sell and generally don't mind returning money if buyers are unhappy, but I also want to minimize the hassle of relisting and re-shipping and extra emails. What works well?

Help me sell my Magic: The Gathering cards

Who_Am_I — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:59:53 -0800

What's the best way to sell a bunch of old Magic: The Gathering cards? I've got a few thousand M:tG cards, mostly from 3rd (revised) edition and the expansions Legends through Weatherlight. I think they're probably worth some money if I can sell them right. What's the best way to get rid of them and turn a profit?

Listing them individually on a site like ebay would mean looking up the value for each card (ugh!), and it seems like I would get nickel and dimed to death doing that. On the other hand, it seems like people who sell big lots of cards hardly get anything at all for them. Is there a good way to do this? Is there even a market for these anymore?

Home Auctions

mhh5 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:07:32 -0800

What kind of risks should I watch out for bidding in a housing auction? I've looked at this thread already, but I'm looking for a list of the pitfalls to going to an auction. Obviously, foreclosed houses could have all sorts of problems.. but I saw an auction (for >50 homes) that advertised "inspection days" and listed financing available.. I was just wondering how they do this? Don't auctions usually demand 100% cash upfront, sight unseen, etc, etc? Are auctions becoming more mainstream or something?

Good items for an auction?

Shohn — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:39:36 -0800

I'm looking for ideas for items I can solicit as donations to an auction at a professional conference. I'll be attending a conference for Parks and Recreation professionals in February. I've been asked to help come up with items for the annual auction which supports several scholarship funds that the organization maintains. I've really been striking out with the vendors I use, because most of the stuff they sell is not really appropriate (i.e. playground equipment or bulk chain link fencing).

In the past, there have been various power tools and just miscellaneous stuff. Just to be clear, the attendees purchase these items from their personal funds, and for their personal use.

One thing I'm absolutely committed to bring is the "Tulsa Basket." Every participating city or town traditionally brings a basket of goods representing that city for the auction. I'm thinking about a BBQ theme for mine, but any ideas for different stuff for the basket would be appreciated as well.

Thanks a million!

How do I get credit card transaction processing set up for a charity auction. By tomorrow night.

Roach — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:08:53 -0800

How do I get credit card transaction processing set up for a charity auction. By tomorrow night. I and my mother have been helping a man from Bethlehem for the past couple of years. He is affiliated with an 'orphanage' in Palestine that does many good works for PTSD-afflicted children of all religious backgrounds.

Last year, we helped him set up a US non-profit for this organization. He has the tax ID #.

Tomorrow night he is hosting a fairly large charity auction in Seattle, but he has forgotten or been somehow unable to secure any kind of transaction processing capability.

I know that the non-profit banks with Bank of America. Does he have any hope here? Even just getting a carbon-impression machine and manually calling the deals in at the end of the night?

Any help at all would be tremendously appreciated, and my apologies for the short notice. I learned of this problem about 20 minutes ago, and I'm 4 hours away from Seattle, but I will be there by about noon tomorrow.

How can I re-sell a piece of art that I bought?

salvia — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:51:29 -0800

Selling art -- I bought a piece of art and have had second thoughts. How can I re-sell it? I was at an art auction and ended up buying a piece of art. It's very good, but after having it hanging in my room for a while, I realized it's not exactly my style. I'm wondering if there's a way to re-sell it. Any ideas?

The art itself is 18" x 24", mixed media (pen and ink, chalk pastels(?), some collage), sort of post-modern, somewhat sci-fi themes -- you can see it here. It's probably worth a few hundred dollars. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I'd guess there must be someone who'd be interested in this, but I have no idea how the art world works. Any ideas?

(I did read this question, but I think this situation is a bit different since the artist is probably not as well known.)

Online Buying Safety Tips?

snowleopard — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:26:06 -0800

What's the best way to protect myself from seller fraud on eBay when using alternate forms of payment besides PayPal? After reading the horror stories on paypalsucks.com, I'm appalled at PayPal's deceptive and unfair business practices, and I've decided to curtail my use of their service. However, I enjoy buying on eBay and I don't want to lose the ability to shop there, but I plan to buy primarily from sellers who accept other forms of payment besides PayPal. Thus, what's the best way to protect myself when paying in some other way?

Also, I heard that buying a cashiers check or money order with a credit card gives the same protections simply paying with a credit card would. If this is true, how does that work?

How to best sell my father's old-school collectible cards?

Ufez Jones — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:41:09 -0800

So, my father has a ton of old (50's-60's) baseball/football/collector cards and is nearing retirement. I'd like to help him sell them. I've a lot of questions here. We're talking the heyday of baseball, especially for the boomers. Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and the like, many of them rookie cards. There's also a lot of old football cards and those weird monster/comic book cards in his collection. When I last dug through them (several years back) there were a *lot* of impressive cards. They've been stored in shoe-boxes for a long, long time, but last I saw them, they were still in pretty good shape. We've talked about this before, but I'm headed up to see him this weekend, and would like to discuss this with him.

I know the market for collectible cards has taken a bit of a downswing, but I believe there's still a lot of value in these. My questions are:

1) What's the best avenue to sell these? I'm assuming there will be some variance between selling the individual classic cards vs. a grouping. Is E-bay the best resource? How would I value the lot of them as a whole to a big bidder?

2) What would be a fair commission on my part if I were to help him do this? This is something that we've brought up in the past, and we have a good relationship that I'd like to keep intact through it all. He's already talked about giving me a percentage of the take, fwiw.

3) What would the tax implications on my end be (assuming he doesn't just pay me under the table)? He's got a CPA that can take care of his side of the income from this.

For those that have specific questions about the cards and the best of the bunch, sorry, but I won't be able to answer those until Saturday afternoon at the earliest, but I'll post the best updates I can figure out both here and shoot you an e-mail (provided you have one in your profile).

Thanks.

Can we purchase an online auction solution to meet our needs or do we need a programmer?

bristolcat — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:03:14 -0800

Are there any good online auction solutions out there or should we hire a programmer? I am helping my brother research for a project he's working on. He needs to set up an online auction site with strict requirements, but I found our options lacking. After exploring phpauction among others, I wonder if our requirements would be better implemented by a freelance programmer.

The requirements:
-Needs a clean, simple interface for both admin and user.
-The payment must be submitted within 15 days after purchase to an escrow site, so no online payment.
-The admin needs to be able to restrict users based on eligibility.
-The auction must be posted for 15 days before anyone can bid on it.
-If the auction ends with no bids, the user must wait 120 before they can post again.
-Auctions must feature reserve prices.
-Each auction must include certain disclaimers.
-There should be as little hands-on work done as possible by the admin, outside of checking registrations for eligibility.
-Must be secure.

Does something like this exist? Does something exist that we could customize to meet our needs? Would we be better off hiring a programmer? How much would something like this cost if we hired a programmer?

We appreciate any help you can give us! Thanks!

Pricing for set of copper Jade Snow Wong plates?

healthyliving — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:50:59 -0800

I have a set of 12 copper enamel Jade Snow Wong plates that I need estimates for. I have a set of 12 copper enamel Jade Snow Wong plates that I need estimates for. I called an appraisor who wanted to charge me $400. I was informally told that they were worth about $700-900 per plate by someone else. Since then, we have posted on Ebay listing them with a minimum of $8800. We've received two responses, one said we were smoking crack, another said they have several items by this artist, and they are worth more like $50/plate. If they are worth $50/plate, I don't want to spend $400 to have someone tell me that. My google and ebay searching for comparable items hasn't led to much. I've also called the art appraisal society (which led to the $400 appraisal). I've since taken the listing down from ebay until I can get accurate estimates. Any suggestions where I can get the most accurate estimate or an appraisal that's not in the hundreds of dollars?

Best online auction site for a nonprofit's benefit artwork auction?

letitrain — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 23:00:40 -0800

I'm doing some volunteer web work for a small nonprofit. They want to auction artwork online in advance of a benefit event. They need an auction service to handle the bidding. Bidders would be local residents, items would be priced in the low hundreds of dollars, and the nonprofit would handle delivery of the art. Any easy to set up, easy for users to register and use, inexpensive providers out there?

Where to find a nice eBay/auction design template?

Ekim Neems — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:41:08 -0800

I'm looking for a free, simple, and attractive auction design/template for use on eBay. Googling turns up the obvious spam and five year-old crap, and after an hour or so of trying to dig through stuff to come up with something pretty, I've just about given up.

Is there a holy grail for me out there that has even one nice looking eBay template that can make my listings look more attractive?

What's the best way to sell antique jewelry (NOT ebay)

polexxia — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 10:05:55 -0800

I currently live in Utah, and my mother is sending me my great-grandmother's jewelry for me to sell as a way to help subsidize my move to California. I've sold contemporary jewelry in pawn shops before, but I think that with these pieces being from the 20s, I should be able to get more than "weight of gold"....what is the best way to go about selling these? FWIW, I live in Ogden, Utah. I don't know if I would be better off going into a jewelry store, finding an auction appraiser-type person or WHAT, so ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated. I don't expect I'll make a HUGE amount out of this, but I do want to make as much as I CAN

going once, twice, thrice .. submitted?

suedehead — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:52:11 -0800

Help me host an auction on my laptop! I'm hosting a four-hour long auction, not live, in which people can walk up to me and give in auction slips that I will then input. My laptop will be connected to a projector in which the prices of certain artwork will cycle through and be updated.

Is there any good way to do it? I'm using a Powerbook, by the way. I'm currently thinking of using a powerpoint presentation and updating the images in the slides with photoshop, but is there a better way to do it? Maybe use a perl script to use imagemagick? Does anyone have experience with this?

Thank you hive mind!

Looking for Web-Cart software that allows for multiple sellers to create a sort of "Farmers Market" online.

hatsix — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:52:28 -0800

[Selling Stuff via. the Internet]Filter: I have a friend that would like to host a "Farmers Market" on the internet. I'm trying to search around for software that will let this happen, but my google-fu is failing me. Here's the stipulations:

A)Self-Hosted, not some sort of Ebay-Mirror

B)Hosted on a linux server, so Windows-based software is out.

C)Multiple sellers that can manage their own goods. It'd be best if there were two groups, sellers and buyers.

D)Auction-type software would probably fit, especially if it's open-source, and I'd be able to fool with how long the auctions are listed. (We don't want people to actually auction off their goods, but the auction software is the only software we could find that had multiple sellers... for less than several thousand dollars).

Can anyone recommend software that will help us out?

Psychology of Auctions?

jayder — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:09:08 -0800

I have a question about the psychology and ethics of auctions. I have only participated in a handful of online auctions, but the other day I got caught up in an eBay auction that has got me thinking about the nature of auctions ... and curious about whether my actions were ethical. The item I wanted (a bit of pop-culture ephemera from the eighties New York art scene) was at a very low price until the last ten minutes of the auction, when a bidding war began between me and some other person, who apparently wanted this item very badly.

At first I thought I could outbid my rival, but no matter what price I put in, the person kept topping me. Pretty soon, I was bidding way more than I even wanted to pay for the item, and from that point on, my bidding was motivated by two mingled desires: (a) my curiosity about how high this person really was willing to go, and (b) a spiteful desire to make this person pay very dearly for this item, if he/she were in fact to emerge triumphant from the auction. Turns out, I did not win the item, and the price at which the auction ended was several times what it had been at the beginning of the last ten minutes.

Now, if I had won the auction, I would have (of course) grudgingly paid up and bought the item, but I really did not want the item at that price and I was hoping, during much of the time that I was bidding, that I would not win and the other bidder would be obligated to pay a ridiculously high price for the item.

After the auction, I was struck by how I had been caught up in it and wondered whether this is, perhaps, an integral part of what makes an auction an auction ... a kind of agonistic psychology pitting one person's pocketbook against another person's, to the extent that the desire for the product falls away and it's just a primal contest of my money against the other bidder's money.

So here are my questions:

(1) Is this a phenomenon that has been remarked upon or studied elsewhere?

(2) And, to the extent that I was motivated by sheer spite against the other bidder, and was bidding more than I wanted to pay (even though I would have paid it), were my actions unethical by any accepted standard?

What should I import from China to sell on eBay as a side-job?

weiler63 — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:13:35 -0800

What should I import from China to sell on eBay as a side-job? I have a friend in China who offered his services to allow me to import some goods to sell. I have some eBay experience, but I have no clue as what to request. Any ideas as to what I can import to resell in the US? Thanks in advance --Adam