jcp wrote:Why do you feel that way? It's a provision of how much stuff they have to auction not in how they run the auction in the first place. Though I wasn't able to work the auction this year, last year I helped gavel the rares till the bitter end and I recall everything selling for top dollar to the last item. Is it a marathon push? Yes, but it's also a once in a year event of epic proportions so the late hours seem entirely acceptable. If we can play a game of D&D until 2am, why not enjoy a rare collectible auction of one of a kind items till the same time?

It can't be selling for top dollar when there are 15 people in the room at 2 am (and 4 of those are asleep).  It's not of "epic proportions" when there is no one there to witness it.  

Simple mathematics tell you that your chances of getting a higher bid for your item are better with 100 people than 20.  I understand that collectibles tend to go to a certain type (collector) and that those types tend to be present until the bitter end, but there is simply no defending something going into the wee hours of the morning that should be a premier event. No matter what the circumstance, I'd rather my stuff go up at 11 pm than 2 am, without exception.

That this happens is a direct effect of how T&T run the auction.  First, the charity auction goes on far too long and features far too much crap to justify it dragging late into Saturday night.  It was suggested many times that a charity store or section be used to accomodate the overflow. If I went again I would probably skip the charity portion entirely, as it typically runs an hour or more over and features numerous lots of crap that dealers cannot get rid of...taking a write off to dump a case of Spellfire cards for $1 is preferable. Not to mention the pencils, anime videos, and Hello Kitty merchandise that gets dumped into this portion of the program.

Second, far too many non-gaming items are accepted. Frankly, some of that crap wouldn't sell at a garage sale. The years I went I saw VCR movies (non gaming related), comic books (non gaming related), paperbacks (non gaming related), anime merch (non gaming related), clothing items (non gaming related) and other assorted crap coming out again and again, wasting time. T&T could say they will stop accepting crap...but that would hurt their bottom line, as they collect money (registration fees) for everything entered in the auction, sale or not. It's to their advantage to accept EVERYTHING, regardless of sellability.

Third, I was assured by Mr. T&T himself when I picked up my commission check last year that they would take steps to make sure the auction did not go past midnight.  As a matter of fact, I was PROMISED this would be the case.  So since the guy running the auction's word is worthless, why should I trust him to get the max price for my goodies?

The next time I go, I'll stick to putting stuff in the auction store, and bidding on rather than trying to sell any rares in the auction.

Mike B.

Choice Auction:

They also started puting up a block of items on the front counter and had people bid for the right to purchase them at xx.xx dollars each instead of having to auction the items indiviudally.   The high bidder can then purchase anything on the counter for his bid on a per item basis.

I don't think it sped up the process and it caused a huge log jam in the front and blocked the line of site for the auctioneers and the audience who were bidding on items at the time.

Plus if it was my item on the block I would be upset if somebody messed up and didn't realize how much the item was worth in the block of stuff.

I agree they sell way to many non-gaming items.

stephenf wrote:Choice Auction:

They also started puting up a block of items on the front counter and had people bid for the right to purchase them at xx.xx dollars each instead of having to auction the items indiviudally.   The high bidder can then purchase anything on the counter for his bid on a per item basis.

I don't think it sped up the process and it caused a huge log jam in the front and blocked the line of site for the auctioneers and the audience who were bidding on items at the time.

Plus if it was my item on the block I would be upset if somebody messed up and didn't realize how much the item was worth in the block of stuff.

I agree they sell way to many non-gaming items.

While I think the idea of the "choice auction" is novel, it could have hurt one of the items I had in it. Granted, it was a beat-up 7th printing D&D Boxed set with a couple of beat-up books in it, but T&T could have had that bid up to $15.00 for me in no time  

Novel idea... please do not do it again...

jcp wrote:I would say for many rares you're lucky if you get 15 people interested in bidding in the first place so 100 people in the room isn't going to change a lot of the bottom line.

I'd probably still go with the "future interest" argument. Doesn't sound like a bad idea to have the possibility that someone else outwith the "usual suspects" has a go and strikes lucky with the big ticket items (and/or the regs feel sorry for newbie).

Surprised, too, to hear there's as few as 15 people at the end when that's as early at 2am. Past time for evening cocoa these days?


[edit] Oh; just spotted the TD#1 comment. Akkk... sorry to hear that, too, Tim.

jcp wrote:
I would say for many rares you're lucky if you get 15 people interested in bidding in the first place so 100 people in the room isn't going to change a lot of the bottom line. The hard core collectors are the ones buying the rare stuff so if 10 of them are left at 2am that's all that matters because no one but them was likely to bid on let alone win those items in the first place. Sure I want 100 people to be sitting there but that is not always realistic or easy to do.

But see all you need is ONE...one extra person bidding can make a dramatic difference on an item. And in that case I'd rather have 100 potential bidders than 20. I don't know that there is a good solution but I'm just saying as someone who put stuff in the auction last year, including some rares, I doubt I would do so again unless things changed dramatically.

And Frank not being part of the auction is a non-issue, IMO. Frank and his stories are part of the Gencon experience as much as anything else, more so since he's one of the few links to the original days.  I honestly didn't think he slowed down the process more than, for example, a bunch of lots containing buttons or stick ons for $1 bid that never got sold.

From the two auctions I attended, the main problems I saw have already been mentioned....too many non-gaming crap items and too many dealers dumping dead wood stock for the charity auction.  Both problems are very easy to solve...change the rules for registering items (say, no vhs tapes, beanie babies, anime items, paperbacks, etc); and take most of the items that won't be bid on in the charity auction and assign them to a "Charity Store" so as not to gum up the works Saturday night.  

Mike B.

Rabbit_67 wrote:I have to say that I really enjoy when Tim and Frank are the auctioneers.  They add a lot with their description of items and also cause the bidding to go much higher than it normally would with a little bit of prodding to the bidders we all know.  I saw this happen with more than a couple of items prompting the bidding up by as much as $100 or more.

It's the other auctioneers I could do without, as well as the selling of worthless crap.  The sale of the stuffed diseases made all the more nausiating and time consuming with the stupid jokes like "Give me $4 and I'll give you syphilis" went on and on.  Another thing witnessed personally was an idiot auctioneer who didn't even know what a  Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan was so he said "Who wants a Hidden Shrine of Something Something".  Please!  How many years have you been doing this auction (yes, I recognize him from previous years) and you still don't know the TSR product?  How are you going to drum up interest and encourage bidding if you don't even know what you have?

Some of the auctioneers should be embarrassed to be up there, not only a lack of knowledge of the items they are selling, but a lack of knowledge in gaming, period. Frank, Tim, Harold Johnson, a few others, do a great job. I will say I thought Jason (JCP) did a very good job the few times I caught him selling something, he was very professional.   Some of the comments by the other spare ass auctioneers weren't funny and didn't make me want to bid...hint:nerd jokes to a bunch of nerds isn't funny unless it's not serious.  I understand after doing it for hours you get a little loopy, but suck it up.

"Give me $4 and I'll give you Syphillis" should be your new tagline, Rabbit....

Mike B.

I'll post a list of some of my auction acquisitions in bbarsh's other thread.  But a few thoughts on the auction this year.

There were clearly too many irrelevant items.  And too much time spent on them.  What the heck plushie diseases are doing in the GenCon auction escapes me.  ("Who wants to get syphilis from me?" says the auctioneer . . . .   )

I've heard most of Tim's and Frank's stories so many times I've certainly lost count.  But that's what makes the GenCon auction.  And it isn't just for old fogies like me.  This is the history of the game, and there are people in the room who have never heard them before.  It's our equivalent of telling old tales around campfires.  It's got to stay.

T&T was buying an awful lot of items.  I don't remember this from prior years, but I may not have been paying close attention.  I do recall reading, however, that the auction is owned by a separate company (ominously called "The Partnership"), jointly owned by Bruce Carson and Jon Huston (T&T's president).  T&T pays the same fees that other buyers pay.  While Jon may get a share of the auction's profits, it doesn't go back to T&T.  Frank may have more specific information.

I actually felt that the auction did a little better job with the rares than in prior years.  Instead of piling every rare item at the very end, they were spaced out a bit during the general collectors auction.  I had to leave before the end Friday night (my son had driven in, and couldn't find the entrance to our hotel), and by then almost every rare item had been sold.  Similarly, on Saturday, the remaining rares (the plan had been to sell all of the rares Friday night, but some got held over, and a few -- like the woodgrain -- didn't come in until Saturday) were sold off by around 8:30 or 9 pm, IIRC.  After that was the charity auction, which was much smaller than last year.

Best moment of the whole auction?  Easy.  Just as the charity auction is beginning, the fire alarm rings and the whole convention center is evacuated.  Josh (one of the auctioneers) gathers a crowd around him just outside the building.  He leads a reading of some booklet he has.  It's something put out by a religious organization years ago, about the demonology spawned by D&D.  It's hilarious.  When that's done, we have a game of Red Rover across the street ("Red Rover, Red Rover, let pirate guy come over!").  He did a fantastic job of keeping people around, so there would still be a charity auction.  If Josh reads these boards, let it be noted that I felt that was one of the best moments I have seen at a GenCon in many years.

Kosh Vorlontay wrote:Any pics of the con to post for this year?

I've got pictures.  May take me a week or so to find the time to download them.  Unfortunately, my camera's battery went dead sometime Saturday morning, at which time I discovered I had failed to bring the charger with me.  

Also played a game with Tim and a load of Acaeum guys and another with Bracton weaving the story.  Both good games.  Introduced my oldest boy to 1st ed as well.