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Goldin Auctions Enters the Market
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354 posts in this topic

On 9/19/2021 at 12:30 PM, domuhnator said:

Its a carryover from the Card auctions. Normally they are 1000+ lots and There is quite literally not enough time to Bid on everything you want in 3 minuets or even 10 minutes. 

The pre bid to qualify is so that any item you are seriously interested in shows up on your page with bids. Its a lot easier to track items you have bid on vs ones on your watch list. They system is really set up for auction with many many more lots. I realize its overkill for an auction like the one last night. 

We have been working on a 100% Ground up platform that will launch later this year. It should be a little easier to use. 

thanx for the explanation.  I kinda worked out that this auction with 20 comics lots wasn't a great fit for what has been working for you for years.  Still  a half hour is endless... Do some of your lots stay open till early in the morning?  or go all night?  I like the old fashioned auction style of one lot closes at a time. But there are plusses and minus on both methods for sellers and buyers.

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On 9/19/2021 at 9:30 AM, domuhnator said:

Its a carryover from the Card auctions. Normally they are 1000+ lots and There is quite literally not enough time to Bid on everything you want in 3 minuets or even 10 minutes. 

Are you saying that ALL of your individual auction lots ends at exactly the same time and then go into the 30-minute extended bidding sessions from that point on depending if there are any further bids?  ???

If so, that is indeed a ton of lots for a potential bidder to try to keep track of.  In that case, the CC auction model would definitely be a lot better with lots ending something like 30 seconds after each other, with any further bidding on a lot resulting in an additional 3-minute extended bidding session.  (thumbsu

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On 9/20/2021 at 2:00 AM, lou_fine said:

Are you saying that ALL of your individual auction lots ends at exactly the same time and then go into the 30-minute extended bidding sessions from that point on depending if there are any further bids?  ???

If so, that is indeed a ton of lots for a potential bidder to try to keep track of.  In that case, the CC auction model would definitely be a lot better with lots ending something like 30 seconds after each other, with any further bidding on a lot resulting in an additional 3-minute extended bidding session.  (thumbsu

Correct, But when a bid is placed in the last 30 minute the timer resets. So stuff normally doesn't end at EXACTLY the same time. 

Well, not really. With the larger auctions 2500 lots or so, or even 1000 lots. If they were all staggered 30 seconds the auction would be waaaaay too long. I Don't think anyone has the attention span to sit at a computer for 10-20 hours if your interested in one lot every 100 or so. 

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Looks like some pretty stellar results especially on the high grade SA keys, but with such a small sample size there's still a long way to go for these guys.  Will be interesting to see if they can bring in any more super high caliber books in future auctions...and I don't mean SS TMNT#4s in 9.2 even though that went for an obscene price as well.

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On 9/20/2021 at 10:06 PM, szav said:

Looks like some pretty stellar results especially on the high grade SA keys, but with such a small sample size there's still a long way to go for these guys.  Will be interesting to see if they can bring in any more super high caliber books in future auctions...and I don't mean SS TMNT#4s in 9.2 even though that went for an obscene price as well.

The key to the sustainability of Goldin as a comic auction site isn't the big books.  Those will sell at a top price no matter where they're listed because the big dealers and big collectors simply won't let someone get a steal just because they're listed on a lesser known site.  You don't need to attract a lot of eyeballs to get big prices for those types of books.

But there's also only so many big books.  No comic auction site can create a sustainable business model based on 6-figure books only.

No, what will be the real test is how run of the mill books do.  If there's a big gap in prices of those types of books compared to the big 3 comic auction sites, then Goldin will struggle to remain viable. 

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On 9/20/2021 at 9:03 AM, tth2 said:

The key to the sustainability of Goldin as a comic auction site isn't the big books.  Those will sell at a top price no matter where they're listed because the big dealers and big collectors simply won't let someone get a steal just because they're listed on a lesser known site.  You don't need to attract a lot of eyeballs to get big prices for those types of books.

But there's also only so many big books.  No comic auction site can create a sustainable business model based on 6-figure books only.

No, what will be the real test is how run of the mill books do.  If there's a big gap in prices of those types of books compared to the big 3 comic auction sites, then Goldin will struggle to remain viable. 

Fair enough, long term it is the average stuff that needs to do well for the company to be financially successful, and for them to gain the average consignor’s trust, but the big books will be what cause most people to even take a first or second look at the site to begin with.  I think it’s still important that they bring in a noticeable number of six figure books and that they continue to do well with them.  It will be interesting to see how they go about it with their next auction anyway.
 

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On 9/20/2021 at 11:03 AM, tth2 said:

The key to the sustainability of Goldin as a comic auction site isn't the big books.  Those will sell at a top price no matter where they're listed because the big dealers and big collectors simply won't let someone get a steal just because they're listed on a lesser known site.  You don't need to attract a lot of eyeballs to get big prices for those types of books.

But there's also only so many big books.  No comic auction site can create a sustainable business model based on 6-figure books only.

No, what will be the real test is how run of the mill books do.  If there's a big gap in prices of those types of books compared to the big 3 comic auction sites, then Goldin will struggle to remain viable. 

Long game, you're right.  But for the immediate future ...to establish themselves as players in the "comic auction" game... they need to hit record public sales with hot key books above their expected price points.  That will get press attention.

What will catapult them to the front of the pack are top end sales and payouts of 110% of hammer.   Unless I'm mistaken, HA tops out a bit less (108%) to sellers on major consignments. The extra points over price realized will bring folks with high-end books on-board if they see top prices realized consistently.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see HA make some adjustments to match their slightly higher payout.    

Like you say though, it's the lesser books doing well that'll make or break Goldin's viability in the comic auction marketplace.  At some point there have to be sufficient numbers of books to make these auctions more than anecdotal.  That said, I'm revising my forecast for Goldin to a bit more optimistic based on the sales I've seen so far.  My two cents, or rather percents, playing the percentages.

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On 9/20/2021 at 6:55 PM, bpc3qh said:

My understanding is that Goldin has pretty robust procedures in place to prevent non-payment. I'd expect all the winning bidders to pay.

Robust is an understatement. You have to physically prove you can pay for whatever invoice you want to generate. 

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On 9/20/2021 at 8:48 PM, Chicago Boy said:

Next pieces at auction will tell a lot I think what direction this is heading.  How did the video games fare post all the WATA talk ?

Video games were more of a mixed bag. There were still a lot of record breaking sales for many different games and platforms. But there was a handful of items that I think will look like very good buys in the future. 

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On 9/20/2021 at 8:23 PM, gadzukes said:

Has the "Goldin Vault" been discussed yet here on the boards?

I like the free insurance, but the thought of leaving my rare comics with someone else leaves me feeling a bit queasy.  

What does anyone else think of this concept?

https://vault.goldinauctions.com/

 

I've spoken to them personally.  I am against it as enticing at it is.  They appear to know nothing about comics (let a lone how to store them) and to date they haven't shown a picture of the "real" vault.  I would only consider letting them vault slabbed trading cards 

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On 9/20/2021 at 6:46 AM, domuhnator said:

Correct, But when a bid is placed in the last 30 minute the timer resets. So stuff normally doesn't end at EXACTLY the same time. 

Well, not really. With the larger auctions 2500 lots or so, or even 1000 lots. If they were all staggered 30 seconds the auction would be waaaaay too long. I Don't think anyone has the attention span to sit at a computer for 10-20 hours if your interested in one lot every 100 or so. 

That's why all of the major comic book auction houses run their auctions over multiple days which would take care of your concern.  (thumbsu

Instead, it sounds as though you have your 1,000 to 2,500 auction lots all initially set to end at the eact same time and then it's up to the bidders to keep track of all of the individual lots they are interested in.  This sounds like a pretty formidable task for any potential bidder to be able to maneveur through, especially if they have a large number of books which they are interested in and most of them going into extended bidding.  Sounds as though they just might need a whole lot more than 30 minutes based upon the auction format which you are using with all your hundreds, if not thousands of lots set to end at the same time prior to the extended bidding sessions.  :screwy:

I guess this probably goes a long way to explain the low number of bids and extended bids which your lots tend to receive as compared to the other major auction houses like Heritage and CC where a lot of their bidding activity is actually done right at the end during the live or extended bidding sessions.  Perfect examples being your CGC 8.5 graded copy AF 15 which received only 7 bids while a CGC 8.0 copy sold a few weeks ago at CC received 40 bids and your copy of Batman 1 received only 15 bids while the one auctioned off on CC recived a total of 65 bids.  hm

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On 9/21/2021 at 4:12 AM, lou_fine said:

That's why all of the major comic book auction houses run their auctions over multiple days which would take care of your concern.  (thumbsu

Instead, it sounds as though you have your 1,000 to 2,500 auction lots all initially set to end at the eact same time and then it's up to the bidders to keep track of all of the individual lots they are interested in.  This sounds like a pretty formidable task for any potential bidder to be able to maneveur through, especially if they have a large number of books which they are interested in and most of them going into extended bidding.  Sounds as though they just might need a whole lot more than 30 minutes based upon the auction format which you are using with all your hundreds, if not thousands of lots set to end at the same time prior to the extended bidding sessions.  :screwy:

I guess this probably goes a long way to explain the low number of bids and extended bids which your lots tend to receive as compared to the other major auction houses like Heritage and CC where a lot of their bidding activity is actually done right at the end during the live or extended bidding sessions.  Perfect examples being your CGC 8.5 graded copy AF 15 which received only 7 bids while a CGC 8.0 copy sold a few weeks ago at CC received 40 bids and your copy of Batman 1 received only 15 bids while the one auctioned off on CC recived a total of 65 bids.  hm

Sure, and lot of the auctions are multiple days already. But its the way Goldin has been running since 2014. All the card guys are used to bidding on 20-30-40-50 lots and keeping an eye on them. Overall its generated record after record sale. Im not saying its the best way. But it works pretty good and im sure all the new registers will adjust fast.

That doesn't really tell the whole story though. Sure batman 1 only got 15 bids but It also started at 250K. 50 of the bids on CC are ones from when it started at 1$ not to mention that the increments on CC are TINY. For lots over 1 million CC increments are 25k. Ours are 100K so every bid placed on Goldin is worth 4X what one CC bid is worth. This also helps with the 30 minute reset, each bid on Goldin gets you to the final bid much faster. 

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On 9/17/2021 at 3:55 PM, domuhnator said:

It is 20% in addition to the current bid. I apologize for not explaining that clearly. We are working on a few platform currently where that will be a feature from my understanding. But you are right it is not currently shown in the hid.

 But yes 20% on top of the current bid.  

 

On 9/18/2021 at 7:41 PM, Aman619 said:

Lots are closing…. I for one don’t like this extended bidding format.  Batman 1 is at 1.2 plus 20%. Not bad…

It actually looks like it's the hammer price plus another 23% on top, so I imagine the extra 3% must be for some type of payment fee.  ???

The site now shows the AF 15 with a hammer price of $575K with a final price of $707,250 while the Bat 1 had a hammer price of $1.2M with a final price of $1.476M, with both books getting an additional 2 bids during the extended bidding sessions.  (thumbsu

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On 9/21/2021 at 10:18 AM, lou_fine said:

 

It actually looks like it's the hammer price plus another 23% on top, so I imagine the extra 3% must be for some type of payment fee.  ???

The site now shows the AF 15 with a hammer price of $575K with a final price of $707,250 while the Bat 1 had a hammer price of $1.2M with a final price of $1.476M, with both books getting an additional 2 bids during the extended bidding sessions.  (thumbsu

23% is if you pay by credit card. Its 20% if you pay by any other form of payment. 

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On 9/21/2021 at 8:02 AM, domuhnator said:

23% is if you pay by credit card. Its 20% if you pay by any other form of payment. 

That's what my initial thought was also, but not aware of any regular credit cards that accepts payments for $690K, let alone for $1.44M.  (shrug)

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