Next CLINK auction is starting to stack up some interesting pieces

[AKA Rick]

Do you understand that Josh offered a guarantee on this auction, and it never would have sold below $95k?

 

Whether or not he bumped it up to reserve, it would NOT have sold for less.

 

So, yeah, he could have put a $100k reserve rather than bidding on it at $95k. End result is the same: Either someone bids $100k and the auction is live, or it fails to hit reserve and Josh buys it @ $95k. It seems to me that Josh is actually giving potential bidders more information to go on than they would have normally (i.e., not knowing what the reserve might be, etc). As a bidder, I think I would actually prefer that.

 

Also, in a way at least Josh is being forthright and honest. He could have done it undercover or had a friend or associate bid on his behalf, but he was honorable to have full disclosure, which would make me trust him and the system a bit more than criticize it, at the end of the day, the seller I'm sure is happy and the buyers, well, it's a supply and demand marketplace and it's an open auction not a straight buy, so let the highest bidder win it and that seems fair to me, as everyone has the opportunity to be that highest bidder.

[Doc Joe]

Do you understand that Josh offered a guarantee on this auction, and it never would have sold below $95k?

 

Whether or not he bumped it up to reserve, it would NOT have sold for less.

 

So, yeah, he could have put a $100k reserve rather than bidding on it at $95k. End result is the same: Either someone bids $100k and the auction is live, or it fails to hit reserve and Josh buys it @ $95k. It seems to me that Josh is actually giving potential bidders more information to go on than they would have normally (i.e., not knowing what the reserve might be, etc). As a bidder, I think I would actually prefer that.

 

Josh offered me a guarantee that my cover would not sell below $x,xxx .....he called it 'a reserve' price. It will not sell for less.

 

I think Josh has been extremely straightforward and honest. I wish Heritage would tell us which ones its people are bidding on in advance!

[Nexus]

A few observations/notes:

 

1. Comiclink policies come with a asterisk.

 

2. If you have a nice piece that Josh wants (either strictly for a consignment or potentially for his own collection), make sure you get a fat cash guarantee.

 

3. I congratulated Court earlier in this thread for having the balls to go "no reserve" on his consignments. I take that back.

 

4. I do, however, congratulate Court on doing so well here. What he lacks in balls he makes up for in craftiness.

 

5. I'd rather know than not know, but that doesn't mean I have to feel good about it.

[jjeanius]

A few observations/notes:

 

1. Comiclink policies come with a asterisk.

 

2. If you have a nice piece that Josh wants (either strictly for a consignment or potentially for his own collection), make sure you get a fat cash guarantee.

 

3. I congratulated Court earlier in this thread for having the balls to go "no reserve" on his consignments. I take that back.

 

4. I do, however, congratulate Court on doing so well here. What he lacks in balls he makes up for in craftiness.

 

5. I'd rather know than not know, but that doesn't mean I have to feel good about it.

 

1.). If you say so

 

2.). Of course. If the money is on the table, who would refuse to hedge their bets accordingly..?

 

3.). Josh offered the guarantee on ASM 238, but I didn't know he would be using a reserve. That was news to me.

 

4.). My other three pieces are all still "no reserve", including the ASM 317 cover, and we all know what I paid for that one! At any rate, I am sorry my balls are not big enough for you, Felix! Feel free to commiserate with my wife!

[Nexus]

Josh offered the guarantee on ASM 238, but I didn't know he would be using a reserve. That was news to me.

 

OK, but still not the same as a true "no reserve" auction. To suggest otherwise is misleading.

 

Anyway, I certainly don't fault you for taking the guarantee. I'm simply saying that knowing this now, future Clink consignors should ask for their own.

 

And your wife will be fine. Anyone who asks-- and gets!-- $7500 for a brand-new comic because it's a 10.0 has got big balls at least some of the time.

 

 

[Bronty]

It's not all it's cracked up to be. Sit down on the toilet at the wrong angle and you're dunking them like cookies into very cold milk

[jjonahjameson1]

It's not all it's cracked up to be. Sit down on the toilet at the wrong angle and you're dunking them like cookies into very cold milk

 

Candidate for best forum observation. Ever!

[Bronty]

[zhamlau]

It's fine, him offering this 95k guarantee. He is telling the guy "Comic Link will buy this piece for 95k if no one bids that much". So to give others a chance he put that price on it right away. If no one thought it was worth more then 60-70k, then huzzah Josh bought it at 30% over market value and would be sk-rooed. He was willing to take that chance, and it turns out he wont be winning it. No harm no foul.

 

But this does raise an interesting point. Does anyone have a problem with Josh guaranteeing this piece will sell for 95k? That the owner would get that no matter what even if Comiclink has to pay that? Or do you think there should never be any price guarantees?

 

 

[Bird]

I did not realize that I was outbid on my Clink Fever Dream books until after the Heritage Everett pages I wanted were already done with. So there was a few K I had tied up that I could have used; I do not think I would have gone to 3.5K for that Colan Cap page with Falcon and Redwing, but I may have gotten closer!. I have no idea what those full Brendan McCarthy books will bring but I wish I was still collecting bulk as I am a big fan of this crazy crazy book.

[vodou]

But this does raise an interesting point. Does anyone have a problem with Josh guaranteeing this piece will sell for 95k? That the owner would get that no matter what even if Comiclink has to pay that? Or do you think there should never be any price guarantees?

CL wants to offer guarantees, that's their neck stretched out. As long as nobody else is harmed when it goes wrong, who cares? Hopefully CL is aware that overzealous guaranteeing has nearly put both Sotheby's and Christie's out of business more than once.

 

But since it's come up so publicly, I'm wondering about the upside. Let's not forget that. Is CL (or perhaps Josh only?) "participating" on the upside over the guarantee number?

[J.Sid]

While I would much rather he do what he did (bid in advance and announce it) than do it the way Heritage allegedly does it, to me he is still ultimately undermining the integrity of his auctions by calling attention to this type of power/behavior.

 

Best to let people believe that fair is fair and they are playing on a level playing field than to remind them that they just might not be.

 

If he wanted it, why not just buy the page for $95k AFTER the auction had passed (if it passed).

 

 

[Mephisto]

I plan on dishing out plenty of punishment bids on Gene during the Comiclink auction since he only spent 1/3 of his Heritage budget.

[vodou]

If he wanted it, why not just buy the page for $95k AFTER the auction had passed (if it passed).

Big ticket items have tremendous marketing value to a company that doesn't really offer anything deeper than a matchmaking service (and price discovery!) If a big ticket goes way over the top, oh so much easier after to pull in more big consignments. But if it backfires and passes...that's significant lost ground for sure*. Especially as CL doesn't have a buyer's premium, only seller's. If this lot doesn't go over the guarantee...does anybody really think Josh is tossing 10% back into the CL kitty on a private treaty?

 

Remember, everyone in this game wants to be Heritage someday. (And Heritage wants to be Sotheby's/Christie's.) Heritage would be happy for the smaller competition to fade away also. The stakes are high.

 

From a company perspective, a public pass on ASM 238 is very bad, even if it's good for Josh's personal collection.'

 

*Sidenote: And how unprofessional was it when the Heritage lady yesterday did back-of-the-house talk on "live tv" re: the hit they were taking to sold/pass % due to the European consignments? See...that stuff is very important.

[delekkerste]

I plan on dishing out plenty of punishment bids on Gene during the Comiclink auction since he only spent 1/3 of his Heritage budget.

 

[Koa]

While I would much rather he do what he did (bid in advance and announce it) than do it the way Heritage allegedly does it, to me he is still ultimately undermining the integrity of his auctions by calling attention to this type of power/behavior.

 

Best to let people believe that fair is fair and they are playing on a level playing field than to remind them that they just might not be.

 

It's better people know. We all knew. Some of us just wanted to believe McGwire wasn't on steroids when he hit 66 home runs.

 

[TMNT]

1. Comiclink policies come with a asterisk.

 

My primary issue is this. It seems like depending on Josh's mood anything might be on the table. I mean, what's to stop him from editing the auction again and saying "On second thought, I will bid ONLY one more time...pinky swear".

 

I'm not trying to say Josh is up to something but think about it, this piece is obviously very important to him. How many of us collectors, with the chance to nab something of great importance to us, would bid only once and so far out in advance? Is he really doing it this way to try to land the piece? Is it marketing? Both? Whatever it is as buyer I can't help but feel going forward that there is more going on beneath the surface. And of course I'm not naive enough to think there isn't stuff going on behind closed doors, here, other auction houses, and everywhere else in the real world. But I guess it's just the confirmation that all isn't what it seems stings a little...

[J.Sid]

If he wanted it, why not just buy the page for $95k AFTER the auction had passed (if it passed).

Big ticket items have tremendous marketing value to a company that doesn't really offer anything deeper than a matchmaking service (and price discovery!) If a big ticket goes way over the top, oh so much easier after to pull in more big consignments. But if it backfires and passes...that's significant lost ground for sure*. Especially as CL doesn't have a buyer's premium, only seller's. If this lot doesn't go over the guarantee...does anybody really think Josh is tossing 10% back into the CL kitty on a private treaty?

 

 

I agree 100%. And that was kinda my point. There is more to the bid than he actually disclosed, which goes back to the integrity issue. He probably wasn't as "up front" about it as it seemed in his paragraph explanation.

 

It's a complicated can of worms, and it'd be better if employees/owners bidding didn't further complicate things.

 

How do we know the ten-day-early $100k bid wasn't somehow arranged after the backlash started as a means to take the heat off? Even if a list member came forward and claimed it, it still leaves questions.

[J.Sid]

Of course I think what allegedly goes on at Heritage is worse...but that's not where we're at with this thread.

[vodou]

Ex-Heritage employees from all areas, not just comics, have many tales to tell. Surely some is sour grapes and/or exaggeration...but where's there's stink...there's usually some sht too.