[meteorite-list] Steve Arnold's Famous Reverse Auction

Tue Apr 29 00:18:13 EDT 2008

Hey Guys,

I really didn't want to get into this yet, as I wanted to  be the first to 
try this on Ebay.  Talk about it too much, and someone else  might try this 
before I get to do it first!

But I will explain it so you  guys don't get too confused.

Ebay has an Auction format and a "Buy It  Now" feature.  

Yes, "Buy It Now" is NOT a true "auction," even  though most people think of 
Ebay as an Online AUCTION Site.  With "Buy It  Now" sellers can place items on 
sale for a fixed price.  As a seller, if  you want to discount things for 5% 
or 50% or 90% off some of your items, you  can.  Michael Cottingham had a 40% 
off sale for a few days, just  a couple of days ago.  So I am sure most all of 
you are aware of  this Ebay feature.

Since, so many people seemed to enjoy my so called  "Reverse Auctions" I had 
in the past, I thought "Hey, why not do it on  Ebay?"

The problem with doing it the old way was that there was a LOT of work on  my 
end, lowering prices, dealing with an influx of emails on people that wanted  
to buy it at the new lower price.  With Ebay, it will be much easier to do  
this.

So that is my plan.  

My email earlier was simply an attempt to contact some of you that have  
previously bought from me, people that enjoyed the process.  I wanted to  talk 
with you guys off line about some things.

Of course, in my description on the Ebay lots, I was going to explain how I  
was going to progressively lower the prices, in my "Reverse Auction" style,  
starting with my asking price, then maybe a day later, putting a 10% discount 
on  the ones that had not sold.  Then maybe the next day, putting a 20%  
discount on the remaining ones.  This keeps going until everything is sold,  or 
until I raise enough cash and decide I don't want to sell some or all  of the 
remaining at too low of a price. 

The opposite way of  doing this is with a normal auction with a reserve 
price, or at a starting  price.

Theoretically, a lot might get down to 99% off, before someone  "Buys It 
Now."  If the lot was a $1.00 item at the start, then it would  then be marked 
down to $0.01.  If it was a $1,000.00 item, then it might go  down to $10.00.  

In fact, someone might not even pay $0.01 for some  meteorites.  It happens 
that some "Normal" auctions start at $0.01 and the  seller hopes that the bids 
go up, yet sometimes no one even bothers to bid once  on them, so there is no 
sale at $0.01.

Is it a "scam" to start high and  then lower the price until an items gets in 
a price range that someone decides  they want to buy it?  I don't really 
think so.   

If I  think a 100 gram Goa is worth $1/g or $100, I might start it out at 
$100.   If someone likes that rock, and agrees it is worth $100, they can "Buy It 
Now"  at that price.  If not, I might drop the price with a 10% of Sale, and 
it  is now $90.  If no one likes that price, and I want to go lower, I can  
offer a 20% off price, and thus the "Buy It Now" price is temporarily at  $80.  
And so on.  If I have 2 Gaos up, each 100 grams, and one is  oriented, and the 
other isn't, someone might jump at the $90 price, while  someone else might 
wait until the price gets to $50 to Buy the nonoriented  one.

In fact, I think some dealers put "retail" prices on their web  sites, but if 
you call them, or email them they are willing to lower the prices  to make a 
sale.  Maybe the first day they put something up, they might not  sell 
something too discounted.  But talk to them a week later, or a month  or year later, 
and sometimes buyers can talk a seller down.  No scam  involved.

Is this a gimmick?   Well, I guess it depends on the  definition of 
"gimmick."  I would tend to think it is  "marketing."   Of course, it being on Ebay, no 
one is forced to  participate.  Is Ebay a "gimmick?"  Is "Buy It Now" a 
gimmick?   Is offering a discount a gimmick?  Is "Free shipping" a gimmick?  Is  
saying "hurry up and buy before I sell out" a gimmick?   By a broad  enough 
definition, about anything can be called a gimmick. 

AND having  said ALL that, I don't even know if I will call this a "Reverse 
Auction."   My original email to the group only asked if anyone here had 
participated in one  of my "Reverse Auctions" of the past.  Maybe my previous 
"Reverse Auctions"  didn't fit the legal definition of a true auction, but those 
that enjoyed  participating in them in the past, know what I meant when I asked 
my simple  question to contact me off list.

Doug mentioned, this more as a "Going  out of business sale" format.  I would 
agree, with the exception that I am  not "going out of business."  Maybe it 
would be best compared to a  furniture store that is having an inventory 
liquidation sale.  The goal of  the store is to move out enough inventory so there 
is enough room for the new  inventory coming.  The sale gets better and better 
each week, until there  is the floor space for the new, then the sale goes 
off.  You expect the  best stuff to go early, and real bargains can be picked up 
on items that others,  for whatever reason, don't seem to value.

Maybe if you have had a yard sale, you know that over time you get to be  
more flexable on price, often lowering prices, maybe more than once, over a  
weekend sale.  At the end of the sale a guy shows up with a truck and  offers you 
$20 to haul it all off, and you are happy to take the deal!

I  had items in previous auctions sell for 80% off what my first asking price 
 was.  In those cases, either I totally missed guessing what the real value  
was, or someone got a real sleeper of a good deal.  

"Sniping" can  occur, but it happens EARLY instead of at the last second.  

I have just acquired a lot of inventory some of which, to be honest, I  don't 
know what it is worth.  I could put it on Ebay, and let the price go  up, but 
that requires I sell it.  With a reverse auction, someone could  offer me a 
trade for something, as the price is going down, and if I wanted to  take, I 
could tell them to "Buy It Now" and I could take barter instead of cash  or 
paypal.  With and absolute auction, you don't know until the very last  second 
what it will (or will not) sell for.

Anyway, my request of asking  those of you that have done it before, if you 
enjoyed it, please email me off  list. I still want to chat with you.

If you didn't enjoy the process in the past, I would have to assume that  you 
didn't participate, or you were too greedy, hoping the price would go down  
one more time, and someone else jumps in and gets it before you do.

If I do end up doing this on Ebay, by all means, if you think it is a scam,  
and you don't want say a 3mg crumb of Chassigny from the Natural History 
Museum  in London for $100, or $90, or $80, or $70, or $60, or $50, or $40, or $30, 
or  $20, or $10, or $5 or $0.01 by all means don't bother participating. 

In  fact, there are a lot of people that might like the Chassigny at $10 that 
would  hope you DON'T show up and "Buy it Now" at $20 and you get it instead 
of them  getting it.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that?  Now no one will probably want to  say 
anything nice about it hoping to run off all the competition.   Drats...

Steve Arnold #1

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