New Auction Format Comments

[pegasus]

What is the rationale for not joining the bidding late, so to speak?

It's more for the auctioneer, ounce hands are up and those are the ones they will be looking for. They hate to give the lot to someone and have it contest by someone who got is hand up late or behind their back.
But auction are for the benefit of the organization and the sellers, and they seem to forget this. The comment I got last night was like " thank you for your fish, we are making enough money from all the sellers, we don't need to try to get more! ".

[BigDaddy]

Yeah... its good that the club gets some funds, and it is a service to the sellers to be able to bring their goods in front of a larger audience.  But by the same token, there has to be a balance between keeping a good pace and ensuring the seller gets as good a price as time allows.

[pegasus]

My beef has nothing to do with speed but more on respect for the sellers and the buyers. In Montreal we were to mark the lot# we wanted to buy. There were 18 tables to view, a room packed and only an hour to do so. During the auction, the lot# was only important for the cashiers, we had problem knowing exactly what was for sale. When I heard FRONTOSA I bid, would I've known the lot#, I would have wait for the other bag instead of bidding on the worst one there. How do you think I wound-up with an Acara?
As a buyer, I've miss bidding on about 20% of what I would normally bid on because I could not see what was on for auction or I was to slow to put up my hand. The end result is 20% less audience for 10% more commission. On a seller point of view big auction means more buyers, more sellers and same selling price. That's why I paid $2 for a mature tropheus, $8 for my Frontosa and sold my famous pair & holding C44 for $1

[artw]

I think we'll put the kiebosh on the sorting of tables idea right now...   the way we did it last year works well.   Sellers put the bags wherever they want,  and we draw tables randomly.

The electronic sign idea (etc.) is a very good one but it brings up another point -  We will need an additional volunteer to "man" this unit.   Recorders cant do it, cashiers cant do it, auctioneers, lol, can't do it

keep the comments coming... we're listening

[pegasus]

We will need an additional volunteer to "man" this unit
I should really take care of my own pet-pee; I will certainly help in that regard. It should also help Marc registering the sales.

Ok ...    Got the easel, the white blackboard and a front seat at the auction.

[TBarb]

3 iIdeas came to me while I was sleeping....

1. If (big if) we can get our hands on a projector and hook it up to someones camera. This would allow the items to be easily seen projected on wall. (this is a more of a "nice to have" than anything)

2. If the items were either a) prelisted on an auction list with all the details, then you can circle the items you are interested in and be ready for them when they come up for bidding OR
b) have a blank list for buyers to write down the lot number/item
This would depend upon the seller to write down (legibly) the item, description, lot number.

3. Auctioneer begins bidding by shouting "Hands UP for lot XXX - item name". When auctioneer sees the hands after say 5-10 seconds bidding begins.

I like the new format overall though, you can get through a lot. But this is dependant upon buyers who are awake!

[Marc]

If the items were either a) prelisted on an auction list with all the details, then you can circle the items you are interested in and be ready for them when they come up for bidding

At the Giant Auction it's a good idea but OVAS itself doesn't have an auction list until at least 1:00pm.  We dont know what will be for sell until the vendors have arrived, registered, and their information has been entered into the computer.  Then, we would need to go out somewhere and get some 150 photocopies made of the list....

At the mini-auctions, it's the same problem...

OR  have a blank list for buyers to write down the lot number/item

At the Giant Auction there is space on the inside of the bidder number meant especially for this.

At the mini-auctions you need to bring your own pen and paper to make your list when you preview the items.

This would depend upon the seller to write down (legibly) the item, description, lot number.

At the Giant Auction the items labels are computer printed but space is limited and the data entry person (usually me) can only type in what the vendor has written.  I don't have time to check that the information is accurate or to go ask the vendor what type of cichlid it is.  The vendor himself stands to lose the most by providing incorrect or incomplete information.

At the mini-auctions buyers have to read the vendors hand-written label themselves....  This really is the responsibility of the vendor, not the club...


Marc

[Marc]

Auctioneer begins bidding by shouting "Hands UP for lot XXX - item name". When auctioneer sees the hands after say 5-10 seconds bidding begins.

I completely agree.

[Greg]

My plan was to make my previous comment and then quietly observe rather than seem too vocal.

But there is one thing that may well get the volunteers in hot water, so a quick comment on late bidding.

I love late bidders and as a buyer I like bidding late however, using this new method there are a few reasons why it is unrealistic to expect the volunteers to pick-up on late bids at the big auction.

1. This method requires the volunteers to watch the current bidders to see who drops out, not focus on finding new bidders.

2. When counting the volunteer has nothing to do to "buy-time" to look for more bidders, there is no auction chant of numbers and words to take a few seconds to look for that new bidder or get more from an existing bidder.  It is only 4..5..sold  

Point: If the method is likely going to cause volunteers to miss late bids some sellers and buyers will just be annoyed and not come back, but some will be yelling and screaming.  

Therefore, you might as well warn them at the start, BID LATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  This way most people will bid at the start.  Then the odd bozo like me, who will jump in if they missed the start or if it is cheaper than expected may join, but they have been warned that the auction staff may well miss the bid.  

I will be volunteering but I am not likely going to be at the front, but I have respect for those who will be and really don't want to see volunteers put in a bind.

[pegasus]

Marc, are we gonna have advance registering for the sellers. If so, a list of those lot# and descriptions could be available.

Greg, thank you, I'm not sure why they had that rule of hand-up at the start of bidding, but it was very annoying.

[Marc]

Marc, are we gonna have advance registering for the sellers. If so, a list of those lot# and descriptions could be available.

As usual advance registration for the Giant Auction is encouraged.  Email me your list of items before noon on March 5 and I will have your labels waiting for you when your arrive on auction day.  If you need more labels on auction day, no problem. Similarly if you have a few labels you don't need just return them to me and I'll delete them from the lot inventory.

If you do email me your list make sure to bring a copy of your list to the auction in case I dont receive your email.

my email id:   or  

I don't think I want to get into producing and distributing a partial list of the lots.

Thanks everyone for your comments and ideas.

Marc

[dannypd]

I am new to this site, and I am NOT a member (I dont have time, well, for the physical part) and I am a full time student.

However, a good way to produce a list of items is a webpage/rss type feed.  Personally, I do NOT like RSS feeds, but I'm sure a simple webpage could be generated by a CGI script.  All the moderator would have to do is message the "server" with some generic commands: "Add:  name of chiclid here"  "Remove:  name of chiclid here", etc.  "Modify: name of...".

In reality (for the programmer (if any??) here), it would parse and process strings as such:
"A-I-#####-D"  where "A" is the command Add, I is the item # (faster processing the tables in an SQL database), and D is the description.  Something like this can listen in on a hidden webpage or accept e-mails at a private address.  (authenticating by IP# or alias of somesort).

[Marc]

When the Giant Auction takes place we are in a room at the Jack Purcell Community centre where neither the OVAS executives nor the bidders or vendors have access to the internet.  (except of course for the lucky few who have wireless access)

[dannypd]

I dont mean from the ACTUAL auction date, I meant prior to the bigging, prior to the meeting...and yes, I have wireless *chuckles*, but personally, my computer and fish dont exactly get along...

For example, I say, I have a puffer for sale (not really) and lets say you're the 'admin', you send a message (somehow) to the cgi-TYPE script (perl, bash, whatever...) like this:  AI0001DPuffer fish...

Now on the "webpage" thats public, you see:
Item# 0001
Desc:
Puffer fish.

If you remove it, same process:
RI0001, and it simply "disapeers".   I'd suggest using a cummulative counter, so it wouldn't "recycle" used numbers.  An interget (in c, or c++) can store quite a bit...and unsigned int would be fine for our usage.

Sorry if this is too technical, I'm just trying to help as best I can...I know fish keeping is EXPENSIVE, and most people truly passionate about this ain't too rich either

Because, if you ARE rich, you PAY someone to take care of your fishies (eg:  US...)

[pegasus]

Only pre-registered items would make the list, as in Montreal. If the list can't be produce by whaterver software you are using, then yes that would be way to much work to re-write.
Think how nice it could be if the audience knew in advance which are the two next items comming up ( using the blackboard).

[artw]

Michele, we appreciate your volunteer effort.

The projector idea is noted, and will be discussed, however we have hard enough time getting ahold of a decent sound system, let alone a video system

in Montreal they write the next 5 items up for auction on a whiteboard. Apperently, Michele will be doing this, for us this year

[pegasus]

Michele, we appreciate your volunteer effort.

My mother never agreed to this.

Michel