The Sale of NOS Johnnyphi hats begins.

[John K Stetson]

Wow

Johnnyphi and others - quite the collection and process for a targeted-audience auction. Thanks for the opportunity.

My only comment is around the ending time. It seems, that for the 1st threads, the end time for the auction is the same for each hat. A couple of points here:

- if one wants to treat this more in the model of a live auction, that is, bidding in increments until the end, it will be virtually impossible to bid on more than hat at the very end. Even the most adept of FL'ers with respect to multiple browsers, tabbed windows, multiple monitors, will likely not be able to keep up - worse, they could make errors. In a live auction, the lots are presented serially, so I can bid, for example, on lot 1, sit out lot 2, go for lot 3 - and be willing to go higher on 3 if I missed out on 1. Doing this serially via the forum would take forever, so perhaps a suggestion is to stagger the ending times by 5-10 minutes? I do realize that at least in the first threads, the hats are of different sizes, so one might not want to bid on more than one (and that echoes an earlier suggestion - spread the same sizes out over several weeks), but one might want hats of different sizes - gifts, relatives, friends, etc.

- second comment involves potential load on the FL server(s). Unlikely they've been tested for something like this, and who know what the load will actually be, but is there a feeling of confidence to handle a potential spike in the load? Again, with all auctions ending at one time, there's some potential for unknown behavior. I'm sure you are all hoping to have this "problem" but the above suggestion for staggering the ending times will help this too.

Apologies for the long post, and thanks again for this opportunity.

 

[John K Stetson]

Well, this is how a live auction works. You can either lift your paddle as the auctioneer increments the bid, or you can lift your paddle and sing out a figure.

If you sing out, you pay what you sung, not the last figure asked for (incremented) by the auctioneer.

The way eBay works is an odd curiosity in the world of all auctions, and they can pull that off by virtue of having a rather large computer specifically programmed to keep track of a very large number of auctions, bidders, increments and whatever else it is they have to do.

Well "live" auctions, at least like houses like Christie's, also have the notion of proxy bidding. I can submit bids (in writing, by fax) ahead of time with a maximum bid, and I pay only what is necessary to win the lot - similar to ebay - unless of course I am outbid.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Update:

Effective immediately, we're going to institute a "Soft" ending time for the auctions.

For example, an auction ends at 6 PM or 5 minutes following the last bid. If someone bids at 5:59 PM then the auction is extended to 6:04 PM unless someone else bids to push it back again. Whenever five minutes pass (based on timestamps of the posts) without a bid the auction is closed.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Update:

Effective immediately, we're going to institute a "Soft" ending time for the auctions.

For example, an auction ends at 6 PM or 5 minutes following the last bid. If someone bids at 5:59 PM then the auction is extended to 6:04 PM unless someone else bids to push it back again. Whenever five minutes pass (based on timestamps of the posts) without a bid the auction is closed.

That's great news, and provides a simple and straightforward solution to the issue I had raised earlier in this thread. Well done -- and very much appreciated! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Wesne]

Good idea; this makes it much more like a real live auction. I wish eBay did this. Another online auction site I have used (gunbroker) has a "15 minute rule" under which any bid in the last 15 minutes automatically extends the auction for another 15 minutes. This will go on indefinitely until the bids stop coming in. I think it's a great system.

 

[johnnyphi]

Should be an interesting day...

Today is the big day... Good luck to all of you!

 

[feltfan]

I'm still not clear on this auction. Can we get the full rules,
spelled out clearly?

One question: When I look at the Lounge the date/time says,
"All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:12 PM."... for example.
But the auctions say something like,
"End Date: 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4) according to Lounge Server, Sunday, May 25"

If the time is GMT -7 but the end time is GMT-4, should I
assume that the end time is 3 hours before the listed time?

Overall this seems more confusing than I have the time to
sort out. Since high bids will still come in at the end, we need
to know when the end is. I have no idea what a "soft ending" is
but it sure sounds like it benefits the seller and never the buyer.

I suggest that every listing state that the buyer will be charged
$15 shipping and $5 handling.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I have no idea what a "soft ending" is
but it sure sounds like it benefits the seller and never the buyer.

Actually, it will benefit the seller and the buyer who is willing to spend the most for the hat. It's a live auction, and the five minutes added after a bid is the equivalent of an auctioneer calling out "Going... going... Gone! (Insert gavel sound here.)

It's a good solution to several concerns. The downside is that it adds some additional workload to the bartenders tasked with monitoring the auctions.

Speaking of the auctions, I was surprised by the relatively low prices and the fact the 7 1/4 Stetson didn't get a single bid. I didn't bother bidding because I thought that there was no way the prices would stay down... and because I don't want my wife to kill me. Perhaps others had similar thoughts and/or concerns.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Nathan Flowers]

I'm still not clear on this auction. Can we get the full rules,
spelled out clearly?

One question: When I look at the Lounge the date/time says,
"All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:12 PM."... for example.
But the auctions say something like,
"End Date: 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4) according to Lounge Server, Sunday, May 25"

If the time is GMT -7 but the end time is GMT-4, should I
assume that the end time is 3 hours before the listed time?

Overall this seems more confusing than I have the time to
sort out. Since high bids will still come in at the end, we need
to know when the end is. I have no idea what a "soft ending" is
but it sure sounds like it benefits the seller and never the buyer.

I suggest that every listing state that the buyer will be charged
$15 shipping and $5 handling.

The ending times were at 6pm Eastern US time, according to the Lounge Clock, which is at the bottom of every page. You're on the west coast, so the ending time is 3pm your time, which is GMT -7. It's exactly like eBay, where all the listings are listed for PDT time, not my Eastern time.

The soft ending is explained in the very first post of this thread.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Speaking of the auctions, I was surprised by the relatively low prices and the fact the 7 1/4 Stetson didn't get a single bid. I didn't bother bidding because I thought that there was no way the prices would stay down... and because I don't want my wife to kill me. Perhaps others had similar thoughts and/or concerns.

Regards,
Tom

We're going to open the auctions that did not get any bids till 10pm Eastern Daylight Time, according to the Lounge Clock, which is at the bottom of every Lounge page. If you're looking at the Lounge and it's set for Pacific Daylight Time, then just add 3 hours to it. So 7pm Pacific Daylight, 8pm Mountain Daylight; 9pm Central Daylight; 10pm Eastern Daylight, they'll be closed again. Soft endings are still in effect for bidders.

 

[GWD]

When do you plan on posting the next set of hats?

 

[johnnyphi]

Good question...

I'm not sure what to make of the auction. We didn't have much interest in the first set of hats. I'm going to talk it over with Scotrace and Zohar this evening to figure out our next steps.

When do you plan on posting the next set of hats?

 

[Feraud]

I'm not sure what to make of the auction. We didn't have much interest in the first set of hats. I'm going to talk it over with Scotrace and Zohar this evening to figure out our next steps.

Did all of the hats from this first group sell?

 

[GWD]

I'm not sure what to make of the auction. We didn't have much interest in the first set of hats. I'm going to talk it over with Scotrace and Zohar this evening to figure out our next steps.

Hmmm, I don't know what to tell you, I'm still interested in the hats you haven't put up for auction. Maybe lower your starting bid? Don't be discouraged. I'd just move forward and try re-posting all the unsold hats after you've gone through the rest.

 

[frijoli]

JohnnyPhi auctions for noobs?

We can't bid. Do I need to post a bunch of drivel like this, to get my count up?

I'm also confused about no one bidding on the first set of hats. I thought all the auctions were still open.

This auction system/process is really confusing.

Clay

 

[MK]

.

We can't bid. Do I need to post a bunch of drivel like this, to get my count up?

Clay

You got it buster. I am only letting members that are "Fully Fledged" to have a shot at these luscious lids. If you want to bid you better get on the stick.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I think I know why the first auction may not have done well. I have noticed a considerable drop in forum posting (to my untrained eye) on weekends. Since the best time to bid is on the last day of the auction, Sunday was not a great time to end the auction, especially on a holiday weekend. Might I suggest the end dates all be weekdays? And preferably not Friday nights because that's sort of the weekend at that point.

Just a layman's perspective.

 

[johnnyphi]

That might be it...

You make good points. I also think the first set of auctions lasted too long. Seven days is ideal, if you're trying to attract bidders to an auction on eBay, but it was much too long for the situation on the Lounge.

I'm thinking 3 day auctions should be sufficient, but I'm open to suggestions.

I think I know why the first auction may not have done well. I have noticed a considerable drop in forum posting (to my untrained eye) on weekends. Since the best time to bid is on the last day of the auction, Sunday was not a great time to end the auction, especially on a holiday weekend. Might I suggest the end dates all be weekdays? And preferably not Friday nights because that's sort of the weekend at that point.

Just a layman's perspective.

 

[johnnyphi]

The Rules...

We will consolidate the rules and post them in a new thread for everyone.

Probably should have a separate thread for discussion of the rules to avoid confusion.

We can't bid. Do I need to post a bunch of drivel like this, to get my count up?

I'm also confused about no one bidding on the first set of hats. I thought all the auctions were still open.

This auction system/process is really confusing.

Clay

 

[johnnyphi]

Starting bids...

Thanks for staying interested. I get really nervous setting the starting bids lower much lower than I did because these hats are worth much more than the starting bids I set for this auction. The 7 1/4 Stetson is an amazing hat, and I did set it at $100, rather than $75 for the others. This hat would go for much more than $100 on eBay or someplace else. I'm happy with the final bids for the 3 hats that sold, but I really was shocked that the Stetson didn't sell. To be honest, it's better for me that it didn't sell at a lower price, but it just has me wondering about the level of interest on the Lounge.

The first auction was just a test run, and we can try again, but the starting bids are my only hedge against low interest in the auctions.

Hmmm, I don't know what to tell you, I'm still interested in the hats you haven't put up for auction. Maybe lower your starting bid? Don't be discouraged. I'd just move forward and try re-posting all the unsold hats after you've gone through the rest.