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Baker Romance
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Started by JvR11,

13,351 posts in this topic

Darwination

Darwination

Posted
Posted

I did just a little looking around on the whole idea of auction shilling and when/where it's illegal and when it's not yesterday, a pretty interesting subject.

At eBay, the strategy would be for a shill to bid books up early.  We all know how it usually goes, a book gets listed and there's a flurry of early action that pushes the price up what is still usually a very low price.  Serious bidders (and I'd assume most regular eBayers) are going to snipe or at least do any real bidding at the end so as not to drive the price up.  I personally snipe as to limit emotional bidding and be happy with what I pay, win or lose.  Of course,  I always lose, so this is probably not the best strategy for a book that you really want to win.

Anyways, shill bidding is most effective earlier in the auction by increasing that initial push up towards or past the value expected so that the final bidding escalates from there.

Auction houses have at least some incentive to stop shill bidding.  Buyers don't want a crooked marketplace.  On the other hand, they have even more incentive for high prices, as the house is taking their rake from the sale price.  There's some countermeasures in place to monitor a single actor from bidding across multiple accounts, but I'm not sure how effective these are.  The biggest disincentive is that a seller would get stuck paying the fees on their own book which I suppose would be worth it if the book was going to go for peanuts but otherwise defeats the purpose.

It's tricky, though, as it's just like two guys at an online poker table (or three!) can greatly effect odds even just from knowing what the dead cards are besides greatly affecting the way bets proceed, and it's very hard to police against this before the fact.

My guess is it happens more than we know but there's also a simple solution which is not to bid more than you are willing to pay or a book is worth (shrug)

 

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Robot Man

Robot Man

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On 10/29/2023 at 10:19 AM, Darwination said:

I did just a little looking around on the whole idea of auction shilling and when/where it's illegal and when it's not yesterday, a pretty interesting subject.

At eBay, the strategy would be for a shill to bid books up early.  We all know how it usually goes, a book gets listed and there's a flurry of early action that pushes the price up what is still usually a very low price.  Serious bidders (and I'd assume most regular eBayers) are going to snipe or at least do any real bidding at the end so as not to drive the price up.  I personally snipe as to limit emotional bidding and be happy with what I pay, win or lose.  Of course,  I always lose, so this is probably not the best strategy for a book that you really want to win.

Anyways, shill bidding is most effective earlier in the auction by increasing that initial push up towards or past the value expected so that the final bidding escalates from there.

Auction houses have at least some incentive to stop shill bidding.  Buyers don't want a crooked marketplace.  On the other hand, they have even more incentive for high prices, as the house is taking their rake from the sale price.  There's some countermeasures in place to monitor a single actor from bidding across multiple accounts, but I'm not sure how effective these are.  The biggest disincentive is that a seller would get stuck paying the fees on their own book which I suppose would be worth it if the book was going to go for peanuts but otherwise defeats the purpose.

It's tricky, though, as it's just like two guys at an online poker table (or three!) can greatly effect odds even just from knowing what the dead cards are besides greatly affecting the way bets proceed, and it's very hard to police against this before the fact.

My guess is it happens more than we know but there's also a simple solution which is not to bid more than you are willing to pay or a book is worth (shrug)

 

If you pay whatever it is worth to YOU, you shouldn’t ever have any regrets…

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Yorick

Yorick

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On 10/30/2023 at 2:47 PM, Susanville said:

Had a few hit my doorstep recently I'm pretty happy with including this little tramp:

78803AB8-BB39-4903-B237-70A892DD42EF_1_2

 

I personally have a tough time with a subscription fold copy going higher than 4.0, but I certainly understand the spine stresses (nice St John staple placement!).  I have a fear of sending mine in.  It appears to be narrower than subsequent issues and it would be a waste to have a purple label...  Better to just enjoy raw with ALL that Baker interior art!

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Microbia

Microbia

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On 10/7/2023 at 11:52 AM, Dr. Love said:

That quite the copy there is actually quite the copy here.

Recently graded, and now second highest behind a 6.5 out of 17 in the census.  

Your book, Lady Death?

image.thumb.png.d1f4608a8d06f175b3a7dcfca373e55f.png

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/romance/teen-age-romances-43-st-john-1955-cgc-fn-60-off-white-pages/a/7342-94178.s?ic2=myconsignmentspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyConsignment-112816

My book. Content keeping my under copy, which is a slightly lower grade.

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Changer

Changer

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Posted (edited)
On 11/1/2023 at 11:30 PM, Darwination said:

Issue 7 was small, too?  Did St. John have "pocket comics" for any other titles?  And "pocket comics" means a full digest size, not like a true pocket mag size right?

 

both these were digest sizish 
2508210212091.jpg

Edited by Changer
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Yorick

Yorick

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Posted
On 11/1/2023 at 11:30 PM, Darwination said:

Issue 7 was small, too?

yes.

On 11/1/2023 at 11:30 PM, Darwination said:

true pocket mag size

Like a 1950's People Today pocket book?  No.  St John is larger like digest.  Think Manhunt.

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