JL "Punch" page thread-- cont'

[J.Sid]

 

When I saw it listed on ebay, I had made a decision to set my snipe and hopefully be able to buy it back. When I saw that the auction was pulled conveniently before the time to end a listing expired, it was as I figured, like most 'offerings' now-a-days, just a game being played.

 

Not only was I disappointed in seeing a piece that I sold mainly because I was told that it was the person's holiest of grails, but also because when I made the deal to sell, I followed through, which I still regret.

 

 

Hopefully you or some other dealer gets the page from him and puts a real price on it. I would love to try to get it without the BS.

 

I'd much rather see an honest price up front (even a big one) than try to sort out the deceitful tactics of a seller.

[Khazano]

[

I agree with you, one can never say never. Regarding my auctions...yes, I've eaten some big losses before. I had a piece I paid $5K for sell for $1500. I had a $4K piece sell for $2500. It happens. What also happens is the reverse...I've seen big gains, as well. It all evens out in the end.

 

 

Thats pretty much what I was getting at. In ten years never say never.

 

And a 5K piece moving at 1.5 would be enough to seriously cause me to rethink wether or not I should be playing in this hobby. But then again only in the past two years have I started buying pieces over a 1000 dollars, so hearing a loss like that, and imaginging all the artwork I could have bought for that much money, might be enough to make jump out a window, but all relative to someone like you playing in a much deeper pool. ( You got a DKR page for cryin out loud)

[Khazano]

 

The point that's been made over and over again (and which you've apparently missed) is that if you don't want to risk losing $$$, then put a RESERVE ON THE AUCTION.

 

 

speaking more directly towards Claudios stance that nothing on Gods green earth will ever make him bend an Ebay rule... (perhaps i should have taken the discussion with him in private as not to confuse the issue at hand.)

 

 

 

Penguins would make me end an auction early. I love penguins. They are so cute.

 

ah everyone has a weakness!

[Monster's Coll]

I appreciate all the props.

 

At this point, I rarely buy anything any more. In fact, i've only bought 1 piece in the last year or so. Still, if the right piece comes up at auction, I might give it a whirl.

 

My only advice about buying art is as cliche as they come: buy what you like. I have made a lot of $ on art and i've also lost A LOT, even recently. Still, nearly everything i've ever bought was because I liked it on some level. Most people seem to think they are entitled to a profit on everything they buy, and if they don't realize a profit, the person they bought it from is in some way (or completely) responsible. All I can say to that is, 'Huh?'. It's always someone else's fault, right? This is just 1 - pretty clear example of how our society views responsiblity in general and can be applied to nearly every facet of daily life.

 

Ok, enough of the heavy talk, back to more guessing whether the next 'no reserve auction' will make it to the end.

[J.Sid]

2 things to keep in mind when it comes to buying "for investment":

 

1. If you get offered something privately, you may very well be overpaying. But you buy anyways because, as we all know, quality rarely shows up on eBay. I've dealt with all the dealers who allegedly overprice their stuff, Moy, Danker, Burkey, the Donnel-- no wait, not them-- but most of the other people who get bashed for their high prices I've bought things from because I didn't want a placeholder piece. The high-priced items were all for my permanent collection.

 

2. If you win it at auction, YOU are the top of the market for that item. No one else deemed it as valuable as you did. People who buy things on eBay and then put 'em up for sale in their CAF with a 40% markup crack me up.

 

 

It's too bad David didn't let that auction end. Of course the # he wanted wasn't going to be there 24 hrs before the close...all serious bidders I know of had set snipes. I wish we'd been allowed to see the top of the market. I miss the good ol' days on eBay.

[malvin]

2 things to keep in mind when it comes to buying "for investment":

 

1.

 

2. If you win it at auction, YOU are the top of the market for that item. No one else deemed it as valuable as you did. People who buy things on eBay and then put 'em up for sale in their CAF with a 40% markup crack me up.

 

 

I'm commenting on point 2 so I cut out the rest. Yes, if you win on ebay YOU are the top for that item, AT THAT TIME and AMONGST THOSE THAT SAW IT. I have been repeatedly (well 3 or 4 times out of hundreds) offered more for something right after I won it on ebay. They either didn't see the auction or didn't have money at the time. It doesn't apply to all pieces, but there are people willing to pay more for what pieces go for on ebay.

 

Malvin

[buyatari]

 

 

2. If you win it at auction, YOU are the top of the market for that item. No one else deemed it as valuable as you did. People who buy things on eBay and then put 'em up for sale in their CAF with a 40% markup crack me up.

 

 

If you win a no reserve non-BIN auction on ebay you were willing to pay the most of all those collectors who both happened to see it during the 7 day window it was available and who happened to have the available funds at the time......and didn't forget to place a bid.

 

 

[Nexus]

 

When I saw it listed on ebay, I had made a decision to set my snipe and hopefully be able to buy it back. When I saw that the auction was pulled conveniently before the time to end a listing expired, it was as I figured, like most 'offerings' now-a-days, just a game being played.

 

Not only was I disappointed in seeing a piece that I sold mainly because I was told that it was the person's holiest of grails, but also because when I made the deal to sell, I followed through, which I still regret.

 

 

Hopefully you or some other dealer gets the page from him and puts a real price on it. I would love to try to get it without the BS.

 

I'd much rather see an honest price up front (even a big one) than try to sort out the deceitful tactics of a seller.

 

Not to defend what happened here, but stuff like this is pretty common. A piece gets shopped privately, then publicly (via these boards and/or Comicart-L)...and if there is still no buyer, it gets put up on Ebay to fish for private offers (after all, not everyone reads these boards or the L). When even that fails, the auction is shut down. This is what happened with the complete X-MEN 1 book last year. In that case, the art was able to overcome any stigma from the seller's actions as the pages all sold for good amounts when the book eventually got broken up. In the case of this JL page? Only time will tell.

 

As a sales strategy, I think "deceitful" is perhaps too strong a term. What I do find deceitful are dealers who masquerade as collectors. The ones who go around begging other collectors to sell them their art because they "love" it, it's for their "collection", etc. And then promptly turn around and flip it. Or those who try to dig up buried high-end art in the hopes of paying pennies on the dollar, or if that's not possible, act as a broker in order to extort "finder's fees" from a real collector.

 

The best way to avoid "games being played" is to invest time into the hobby and network as much as you can. Be observant. It doesn't take long to figure out who the BS artists are.

[J.Sid]

What I meant by deceit was 1st lying about a 'true no reserve auction' and then later deleting the record of his statements.

 

I know people close auctions all the time. Admittedly I'm just ticked because I thought I'd get to see the auction end after all the hoopla at the beginning.

[dem1138]

What I meant by deceit was 1st lying about a 'true no reserve auction'

 

I never wrote that -- Nexus did

[Claudio]

What I meant by deceit was 1st lying about a 'true no reserve auction'

 

I never wrote that -- Nexus did

What you seem to fail to understand is that you put it up on ebay with no reserve and that's what ticked people off. You were not going to be close to the ask price 12 hours before the auction ended so why even put it up? I, for one, would like to know the logic.

[dem1138]

I fail to understand nothing.

 

I have done numerous auctions on eBay - I decided to pull this one auction within the time frame allowed by eBay. And it was more like 48 hours than 12.

 

Clearly this page elicited quite an emotional response.

 

I apologize for ending this auction.

 

 

 

[Claudio]

Ebay "allows" you to pull an auction for various reasons but they do not "allow" you to pull it because you are unhappy with the price action. Don't kid youself into thinking you did something according to ebay policy.

[dem1138]

At this point, this argument is just semantics.

 

I apologized for my actions and now it's time to move on.

 

If you are infallible, then congratulations to you -- if you cannot accept my apology, then there's nothing more to say.

 

 

 

[Claudio]

At this point, this argument is just semantics.

 

I apologized for my actions and now it's time to move on.

 

If you are infallible, then congratulations to you -- if you cannot accept my apology, then there's nothing more to say.

 

 

 

You are right. Some here (myself definitely included) probably blew it out of proportion

[Mephisto]

What I meant by deceit was 1st lying about a 'true no reserve auction'

 

I never wrote that -- Nexus did

What you seem to fail to understand is that you put it up on ebay with no reserve and that's what ticked people off. You were not going to be close to the ask price 12 hours before the auction ended so why even put it up? I, for one, would like to know the logic.

 

Ebay about 8 years ago you could get a pretty good idea where something was going to finish. But now a lot of big bidders will just go ahead and put in their own personal max snipe bid in the last 10 seconds. And when you get more than 1 person doing this stuff , it winds up doubling (or more) it's price from 15 seconds before the auction closes.