Does the Cybertron Soundwave have its Laserbeak? Can't tell from the picture if it's in the chest compartment.

 

This is an odd debate to be having, but here are my thoughts. I have bid in the past in strange number increments mainly as protection from sniping on eBay. Since eBay doesn't have a soft close, bidding in odd increments helps a little by obfuscating the actual amount you bid. If you can only bid in increments, well, then it would be easy to guess at what your bid was likely. A lot of this doesn't apply since you use a soft close, but that's always been some of my though behind it.

Though I do have to say, a required 10% increase in bid is quite high.

 

It only has what's in the pictures. I believe if it were in the chest it would be out.....

We're auctioneers so we talk about industry standards and best practices. It's not a true "debate".... but we're discussing it.

I just think it would get more money if you allowed people to not be forced into a schedule. The instance of someone bidding $25 and previous bidder had a maximum of $25.58 for example. In this case, the $25.58 would be in AT $25.58 and I gained 58 cents on my end as the auctioneer. If I would have forced the schedule then I would assume both bidders would land on $25 and the earliest recorded $25 would be the high bidder.... I'd have lost that extra 58 cents or whatever in between bids where it lands.

And yes I do agree that such a large increment jump in an online auction is painful.

When I call live auctions I run in dollars from 1-5, then in $2.50 increments to $20 to $30 depending on the piece. Then I'll jump to $5 (again depending on the piece) to $50 or $100.... just depends. Above $100 I get into $10 if I've ran dollars and fives below 100.... if I've ran strong, I'll jump into $25's and so on.

Without the time constraint of a live auction, I don't see the point of forcing such high increments on small items.

 

I hope this isn't because of my weird bids  

I tend to bid an odd cents amount by habit thanks to eBay sniping. This kind of auction isn't really like that but it's a habit nonetheless.

Also Beast Megatron is still missing a pic..

 

I definitely side on the non-bid schedule side of the debate. More bids! Flexibility!

 

I agree with whatever amount someone wants to randomly put in, which equates to more bids, which on the surface makes the item more interesting, IMO.
I have placed ebay bids of $123.45, $97.65, etc.

 

I agree. I also feel like ... if I have the ability to make a bunch of smaller bids, I'm more likely to do that, unlike having to bid in specific increments. More bids makes bidding more ... more normal.

 

I try to keep the bidding increments fairly low. But I don't want to get people annoyed.

For the most part what I see in doing auctions is that people tend to be very frugal at first with very small bids. Toward the end they'll just bid and walk away. They realize the 25 cent bid gets annoying and they just bid what they think they're willing to pay for it.

My strategy and what I suggest to people unfamiliar with the system..... bid what you want to bid at the first sitting and forget about it. If you're going to win.... you're going to win. And you aren't going to invest a bunch of time into it, which for me is the same as investing money.

But anyway..... LAST DAY GUYS!!!!

Thanks so much for everything! I really do appreciate it. I think we've had most things go off without a hitch. About 10 pieces were damaged in shipping if anyone is interested in those kind of numbers. But when you think we've sold several thousand pieces, the number is close to .25%. So not too shabby.

 

I went to increase my max on an auction I'm winning and instead it made a new bid against myself!

 

Ugh! I won with that last bid that I outbid myself on! It's only a couple bucks but still...

Good luck everyone!

 

I am now a huge fan of the soft close and wish it was standard everywhere. This one's a nail-biter.

 

 

My reaction to the bidding on MISB Minerva.

 

Phew! The Minerva auction finally ended. Really thought it was going up over $2,000. Wonder if anyone on the TFW board got it?

(No, I wasn't bidding on it. Just marveling.)

 

I though it would easily go over 2,000 considering it would probably grade for an 85 easily. Lucky guy whoever won it.

 

OMG I am red with rage and passion over the person who kept bidding against me on the Universe Soundwave and the Cyber Jets. Really seconds away from it going off and you made me fight bitterly for that thing for essentially no reason. You could have literally let it go and the result would be the same, but now we are here and I'm angry because the result would have been the same without that nose dive in to stir the pot... Just UUGGGGHHHH... Rant over I'm sorry... Go back to your goings ons.

 

Dammit! I was gonna bid on the Pepsi Convoy but I lost track of time playing Transformers with my kids.. Ah well.. At least it's not a super rare piece. I got the others I wanted.

 

Yeah, I don't know the going rate for a MISB Minerva, but I know it's a highly desired piece. When it was at $800, I thought to myself, "It's going higher."

 

Not me, but I was looking at that one and thinking how nice the decos were and how much of a pain it was tracking those down at retail back in the day. Good pick.

 

also: congratulations to whoever got Big Powered and Dia Attacker. You bastard.  

 

How long before we can see what the winning bids were?