To auction, or not to auction?

[disneyvillainlover]

I'm inspiring you..?! Oh you!



If I could at this point, I would... Haha. I mean I'm happy with the PODMs that have been bidded! But I would DEFINITELY like to see some Tangled! heh..

Oh no I mean the Jessica one. Hold on to it for something awesome!

 

[erudolf]

I have enjoyed the auctions much more as the auctioneer rather than the bidder, mostly because I suspect there is some "DPF shill bidding" going on in order to circumvent the no reserve rule. That has pretty much ruined my desire to bid on anything unless I know/trust the auctioneer.

 

[2Infinity]

Mostly I just hope people don't get discouraged with doing pin auctions, because they look like so much fun to be in and they are so much fun to watch. Soon as I get enough of a traders list going, I want to hop in. But I do understand it's a total gamble on the auctioneer's part, and that it might not feel like it's worth the risk.

Exactly! I mean, right now I'm actually pretty happy with my standing since I've gotten more bids (like Kayla's! ). My auction ends Sunday. If all goes well, I'll definitely post another and hope for the same results!

I bid my little sister if you do auction off ursula, LOL she is great at holding your place in line at pin releases and for being able to purchase an extra set of pins if you need more then your allowed to buy haha jk

HAHAHAHA, omg. dying. :rofl:

Sadly, I would love to bid on your pins but I've been over your wants at least twice and have nothing to offer. I would bid except I wouldn't want to trade you a pin that you may have to accept that would not result in a fair trade.

I'm sure the Jessica as Ursula pin would spark a lot more auction activity though. I would LOOOOOVE to bid on the Jessica pin, but again, nada to offer. :cry: Don't give up hope! Those tangled and marquee pins will be yours someday!

Oh no I mean the Jessica one. Hold on to it for something awesome!

Right now, I'm totally hanging on to Ursula Jessica. I probably will for a loonngg while, haha. She's my most sought-after pin!

I have enjoyed the auctions much more as the auctioneer rather than the bidder, mostly because I suspect there is some "DPF shill bidding" going on in order to circumvent the no reserve rule. That has pretty much ruined my desire to bid on anything unless I know/trust the auctioneer.

Really?! I haven't had any luck in bidding, but I'm sure eventually I'll get pins that'll suit others' wants.

 

[Goofy_Moe]

I can weigh in here I think... I have a little bit of experience in having an auction or two and after a typical learning curve we have figured out a way to make it always work for us... Well almost always... So I will add my top tips on how to run a succesfull auction with little fear of failure...

1. Expand your Wants list... This is number one most important thing to do... A typical wants list is just that... The pins you want. If you want more offers then you should expand your wants to include several if not hundreds of pins that are not necessarily what you collect but helps people understand what you would accept as a pin you can use in the future...

2. Auction Times... Most of my auctions are no more than 2 - 3 days in length. This keeps your post in the minds of people since it only is listed for a couple days. Also the days you want to auction are typically on weekends since more members on active on the forum. Also my auction during the week end at 6:00pm PST so that the East Coast members can participate for the ending.

3. Universal Appeal... We have learned this lesson very quickly with big losses in items that were valuable but appeal to few members... If you put up a good pin that you know people want, you will never be lowballed... But you may not get pins you want, you will get the value out of the pin. If you take the risk with a pin that everyone wants (Pixar's Brave Pin) you will get a bidding war for sure...

4. Shipping Consideration... Do not put up items that have large shipping cost(Framed Sets, Heavy items, Box Sets)... Even if you do get a trade of the value of the item, in the long run you will lose with having to ship the item.

5. Reputation and Involvement... These are very important in my opinion... If you are an active member on the forum, that is honest and nice, you will have your threads looked at... If you are the opposite, then you will have people look past your threads to see who else is active on the forum... My extensive forum involvement has helped me develop a reputation that for some people draws them to my threads to see what I am doing next...

6. Quality and Feedback... We only trade pins that we are 99.9% confident are authentic, noboby can be perfect... We also work to try to keep good feedback from fellow traders... But what helped me develop a base of people who continue to view my auctions is I take risk with some pins that are very nice. After getting the fan base, we can auction off most items and even if they do not like it, they are going to take a look and see what it is...

7. Title Line... If you notice I rarely post the item in my title, I want them to click on and see what it is... The more views on it, the more others want to see why... Also instead of putting the word Bump in any auction of mine, What I often do is change the Title a bit, like ending soon, and then after I post a comment/leader... The word bump makes it look like the item has little interest...

Well I am not sure if any of that can help anyone, but that is what works for me and I have no complaints about the results of our auctions...

 

[daniellee626]

I also was considering doing an auction, but I feel the same way! Personally I think I might wait until people are actually asking in posts for the certain pin. But at the same time I'd really like to do one just to see what their like! In the end its your decision, but I really hope you get some better offers! I know you got all of those amazing pins in a zap(those were crazy amazing!) and I think that the Jessica Rabbit as Ursula will attract a lot better bids. I know that a ton of people want that pin. But hey, I could be wrong. Regardless good luck!

 

[2Infinity]

I can weigh in here I think... I have a little bit of experience in having an auction or two and after a typical learning curve we have figured out a way to make it always work for us... Well almost always... So I will add my top tips on how to run a succesfull auction with little fear of failure...

1. Expand your Wants list... This is number one most important thing to do... A typical wants list is just that... The pins you want. If you want more offers then you should expand your wants to include several if not hundreds of pins that are not necessarily what you collect but helps people understand what you would accept as a pin you can use in the future...

2. Auction Times... Most of my auctions are no more than 2 - 3 days in length. This keeps your post in the minds of people since it only is listed for a couple days. Also the days you want to auction are typically on weekends since more members on active on the forum. Also my auction during the week end at 6:00pm PST so that the East Coast members can participate for the ending.

3. Universal Appeal... We have learned this lesson very quickly with big losses in items that were valuable but appeal to few members... If you put up a good pin that you know people want, you will never be lowballed... But you may not get pins you want, you will get the value out of the pin. If you take the risk with a pin that everyone wants (Pixar's Brave Pin) you will get a bidding war for sure...

4. Shipping Consideration... Do not put up items that have large shipping cost(Framed Sets, Heavy items, Box Sets)... Even if you do get a trade of the value of the item, in the long run you will lose with having to ship the item.

5. Reputation and Involvement... These are very important in my opinion... If you are an active member on the forum, that is honest and nice, you will have your threads looked at... If you are the opposite, then you will have people look past your threads to see who else is active on the forum... My extensive forum involvement has helped me develop a reputation that for some people draws them to my threads to see what I am doing next...

6. Quality and Feedback... We only trade pins that we are 99.9% confident are authentic, noboby can be perfect... We also work to try to keep good feedback from fellow traders... But what helped me develop a base of people who continue to view my auctions is I take risk with some pins that are very nice. After getting the fan base, we can auction off most items and even if they do not like it, they are going to take a look and see what it is...

7. Title Line... If you notice I rarely post the item in my title, I want them to click on and see what it is... The more views on it, the more others want to see why... Also instead of putting the word Bump in any auction of mine, What I often do is change the Title a bit, like ending soon, and then after I post a comment/leader... The word bump makes it look like the item has little interest...

Well I am not sure if any of that can help anyone, but that is what works for me and I have no complaints about the results of our auctions...

Moe, this is AMAZING! Wow! Thank you SO much! I think having a minimal wants list (which I guess is really just a list of grails... ha) is what discourages people most. Welp, off I go to expand that list! Hah!

As for hot ticket pins... I thought Wall-E was right up there?! :/ erm..

As far as my reputation, I'd like to think that I'm not disliked..? I haven't had any sore encounters with anyone on here or in person, so I definitely hope that's not the case! But, your point about the title... amazing.

Really, Moe, thank you thank you thank you for this! Will definitely keep this in mind for my next auctions!

(Wish you weren't giving up trading as I'd love to trade with you! You're always so chipper and kind!)

 

[tinkerbellfan117]

That is the question. William Shakespeare.

 

[Goofy_Moe]

Wall-E is a loved character but limited traders who collect him...

As far as your reputation there is no question you guys are one of the best on here and your constant involvement shows traders that you are always around spreading the joy of this hobby...

I will never give up trading... I just need to vent frustrations now and then...

 

[Combatdre]

Wall-E is a loved character but limited traders who collect him...

As far as your reputation there is no question you guys are one of the best on here and your constant involvement shows traders that you are always around spreading the joy of this hobby...

I will never give up trading... I just need to vent frustrations now and then...

Pin trading and I share the same love/hate relationship... Pin trading, can't live with it, can't live without it... What's a guy to do :crazy:

 

[2Infinity]

Pin trading and I share the same love/hate relationship... Pin trading, can't live with it, can't live without it... What's a guy to do :crazy:

Amen!

 

[Psycho Pixie]

I would wait a bit to auction.... Just to see if any changes happen. Right now the auctions seem to be shifting from high value to simple 1 pin or easy pin bidding. There are also soooo many auctions running that if everyone bumps their thread in a day, the current auctions take up a page and a half. So yours might get lost in the shuffle... I have to bump mine regularly to keep people viewing.

I wonder if there is a way to control or limit the number of active auctions? hmmmm.....

 

[bombardon3]

I wonder if there is a way to control or limit the number of active auctions? hmmmm.....

To be honest I wouldn't mind if there was a limit of 1 auction per person at a time and a limit of 5 days per auction. I like having multiple auctions going at once, but I could live with 1. I've found that most people will either bid right away if they see something they really like or wait until the last 2 days to bid so they can size up the competition. I used to do week long auctions, but I think for my future auctions, 3-5 days will be enough.

I guess while we are being constructive, I wouldn't mind if there was a reserve in the form of maybe a rule such as if no one bids any non-HM pins on the auctioneers' want list, then the auction can end without a winner. That way people can feel comfortable knowing they'll get at least something they like. I also think, since leaderboards are optional, that if people do post them they need to stand by them. If I'm not first on your leaderboard then I should be able to move on to another auction. People shouldn't be able to suddenly change their mind.

I personally have really enjoyed auctions and want to thank Goofy Moe for coming up with the idea.

 

[starry_solo]

Instead of auctioning it, why don't you just put it up for trade? In the regular trading section (sorry if this was already mentioned but I didn't go to page 2 to read the comments).

LOL.

And for those who bid crap for auctions (yes, sometimes I am one of them) - maybe it's because they don't really want the item/pin, but see an auction with one lonely bid and figure, why the heck not?

 

[fatdaddy68]

This is just my 2 cents here but from what I've seen on here the people that get the most attention are the people that are constantly posting on here they are giving up pins for good everything is for sale then turn around 2 days later and post a wants thread or an auction thread. I'm not referring to Goof Moe but there are a few people on here that do this just to get attention I think, and it works their threads get a ton of hits. Maybe I just have sour grapes because I have tried to deal with 2 people in particular and had bad luck both times? I want to start an auction because I have some pins that I really can live without and rather than posting them in trade and getting a bunch of private messages which I have to weed out and reply to everyone I can have everything right there in an auction. Like I said its just my 2 cents in all of this....

 

[DumboLover21]

Ditto! I am in the same boat as you are! I have posted auctions and so far not alot of bids...its kind of disspointing but I am thinking maybe after my 2 auction ends I might take a break from auctioning and just hold on to them for trading....I noticed people were going crazy over the auctions especially for the "hard/rare" ones to find but so far it seems like not a lot of people are doing it....

 

[Vixy]

I guess while we are being constructive, I wouldn't mind if there was a reserve in the form of maybe a rule such as if no one bids any non-HM pins on the auctioneers' want list, then the auction can end without a winner. That way people can feel comfortable knowing they'll get at least something they like. I also think, since leaderboards are optional, that if people do post them they need to stand by them. If I'm not first on your leaderboard then I should be able to move on to another auction. People shouldn't be able to suddenly change their mind.

I personally have really enjoyed auctions and want to thank Goofy Moe for coming up with the idea.

I think that's a terrific idea... make a three-person leaderboard mandatory-- maybe a daily one?-- and a rule that you can't change it once you've posted it unless there are bidding changes. It might make people more likely to bid (since they know the pin's not tied up anymore once they're beat), while not placing a huge restriction on the auctioneer.

Also I had no idea the auctions were originally Goofy Moe's idea (since they were already in place when I got here). I want to thank him too; they're one of the things that impressed me most when I first got here as a fun and original way to trade (and a fun thing to watch even if you don't participate).

 

[mickeymousje]

Hi Drea, I totally understand. I would love your Wall-E pin, but when I place a bid I would love to bid something from the same value or something you might like or what you can use as a good trader
Maybe you can try to open a trades thread for the Jessica as Ursula pin and see what people offer you and if you don't like it you don't have to trade it Just my opinion
Hope you will get some nice bids for your Wall-E pin

 

[hopemax]

7. Title Line... If you notice I rarely post the item in my title, I want them to click on and see what it is... The more views on it, the more others want to see why... Also instead of putting the word Bump in any auction of mine, What I often do is change the Title a bit, like ending soon, and then after I post a comment/leader... The word bump makes it look like the item has little interest...

I'll just say that that I rarely look at auctions without the pin in the title. The majority of the auctions I can't bid on because I don't have the level of pins it takes to win, so clicking on unknown auctions usually is just a waste of my time. There are certain auctioneers I do click on because I have been able to trade with them on the paste, so maybe they are offering something I can win. But most auctioneers I know I can't win any of their pins, and I'd prefer to know that without having to click and then scroll through a really long post to find out what is being offered. And number of views, I don't even pick up on that when reading the forum. Number of replies, yeah, usually that equals drama. But views doesn't do much for me.

 

[fluffycat1]

Wish I read this first before we posted our auction. We like the idea of shorter time. It's difficult to decide what people want and we wish there could be some type of reserve.

 

[GhostTrains]

i personally would no auction any pins. it does not seem enjoyable but that may be because i am very selective with my wants and trades. i dont collect anything out of my collections specific area. unless you could make the auction for your wants only then i wouldnt.
It is a gamble so take it as such. you could win or lose.

happy trades
Kirk