Auction houses that can see absentee bids, and the huge conflict of interest

[Bruce]

Rich, that is true now, but when the day comes that you sell lots of items like that Bueller, you will need to address this. It CAN wait until that time, but you don't want people trusting you (or your employees) if you can change the set-up as I did so that you can't see the high bids. It may cost a few thousand in programmer salary, but when you get where you are selling millions a year, it will be well worth it for the increased trust.

Bruce

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Bruce.. I'd be surprised if anyone we know says they don't trust me.. Not just because it's clear from the final prices on many items, but because they know my philosophy as an altruist.

We may address the issue down the road when the site gets an upgrade to new software (which may be very soon), but at the same time.. even that will never assuage some people.

You still get accused of shill bidding by some people and I don't believe it's true at all.

There will always be naysayers..

[50s]

Hi Bruce, please note my comments below are not in anyway calling into question your integrity, and I applaud you for being as transparent as you can to satisfy peoples concern against any possible opportunity for wrong doing... These are just my thoughts regarding any dealer who may be in a similar position to that yours appears to be ie requesting admin access be removed so one cannot view max bid information.

Personally I am not convinced/satisfied with any seller advising they don't have access to view a bidders max bid because I did xyz. Maybe I am just a cynical old git...

I have been a software programmer for around 15 years and now manage large software development teams. There are all sorts of ways to view this kind of information on ones in house system than just closing the main door for access to this information (such as an admin log in). For example accessing log files, reports, direct database access.

Removing admin access to this information on a 3rd parties software system (eg Auction software), is good though still not convincing enough for me. I wonder what integration is still in place between the auction system and the dealers in house system. eg if there is integration, which there likely is, what is this shared information? Should there still be no integration / no opportunity for viewing this information by the dealer, do other staff or other persons have this access instead? Does the dealer have close ties with the 3rd party software vendor to provide this information in other forms, such as included within standard reports? Is the dealer friendly/associated with, the developer to provide ad hoc information on request?... I'm just playing devils advocate to the possibilities for circumvention. I believe there are likely hundreds of ways around this.

I might even consider it a negative a dealer advising potential buyers that something basic was put in place to prevent fraud, and stand behind it when there are many unknowns, like does the dealer think I am naive?

Just my thoughts Bruce. I dont know whether the above relates to your own circumstance as I know next to nothing about your situation. Like I said, I am just the cynical kind, should any dealer claim any of the above!

Cheers

[Bruce]

Rich

The best proof is in the "pudding". All the time people tell me they got items on eMoviePoster.com for WAY under their high bids, and all the time people tell me they got items for EXACTLY their high bid at certain other auctions. Enough to where it is a statistical impossibility that it is random chance that caused it, and anyone without an axe to grind knows who is honest and who is not. Someday, the truth will come out. Until then, I sleep great at night and I don't know how some people sleep at all, unless they were born minus that little thing called a conscience.

50s

I knew full well that writing the above would open that line of questioning. Hey, for all you or anyone knows, I could be completely lying about ever making any changes! No matter what I say to answer your questions above, you would surely then have more questions, and I doubt I could ever satisfy you completely. And even if I could, there are other people who have a certain mindset who will surely will never be satisfied. I know the truth of what occurred (just as those who cheat people know the truth of what they do, whether they publicly admit it) and in the long run that is what matters most to me.

The best proof that what I say is true is what I said above to Rich. You have to read all the details, and you can talk to those who participate, look at the many lawsuits (or in my case the lack of any lawsuits) and make your best decision.

Bruce

[Cj]

Hey Bruce,

My question to you is - do you or any of your employees bid on the items emovieposter.com auctions?

I think it's great that you took the extra step to remove the ability to view max bids.

Cj

[Bruce]

No. I take over some of the 1% of purchases that are never paid for (and the cheap ones that are canceled because shipping is too high, and also the items that never get a bid) but otherwise everyone at eMoviePoster can't bid.

But at this point I have owned almost everything movie poster wise at one time or another over the past 30 years (my primary interests these days are rare pressbooks, travel posters and war posters, which I mostly buy on eBay), so I don't mind not bidding. Sometimes someone approaches me with a group of pressbooks I buy privately.

Many of you may not know it, but I take all the passes, the cheap cancelled items, and some of the cheap no-pays, and staple them to our walls! We have some 35,000 square feet, and high ceilings, so there are lots of crappy posters everyone (also repros that people send as as consignments, and then when we offer to return them they say we can keep them).

But I am reaching at age (57) where I know I can't keep the stuff forever, and my kids have no interest, so I may soon begin selling the items I have left (but it is more quantity than quality, as I sold most of the best items I had long ago).

Bruce

[kovacs01]

On the subject of auction houses bidding on their own item:

IMO, any auction house bidding on their own item, whether legal or not, is unethical and a conflict of interest and should not be done.  Who in the world wants to bid against the auction house selling the item?  And if the house wants an item, why not just pay the consignor up front for it?  Just my $.02.

[Bruce]

Just as bad are auctions that have auctions filled with items they own opposite items consigned by others. They obviously have a massive vested interest in seeing their own items sell for more than the consigned items, PLUS they can see the hidden high bids placed on items they themselves own, so they have a far greater interest in running up those bidders to their max. because they get ALL the extra money, not just higher commissions.

That is why I stopped buying posters from consignors long ago. I tell them to either consign to me, or sell them to someone else. If I were to try to buy something from a collector to auction for myself, I would have to try to get the lowest possible price, so I could make more, which means we have opposite interests. But when they consign to me instead, I want the item to sell for more, because I get a commission, so we have exactly coinciding interests, which I much prefer.

Bruce

[holiday]

Did anyone else catch the part in the article where Grey Smith says Heritage is obligated to its consignors to make sure their items reach FMV by bidding them up through a third party:

"Keep in mind that we have a responsibility to the consignors to get them fair
value for their goods and to the buyers that the auction be conducted in a fair
in reputable manner. If our affiliated companies and buyers refrained from
bidding in our own sales that contained items we routinely buy from other
auction companies at below wholesale value, such inaction could even be
construed by some as being unfair to our consignors, i.e. How could we, a
significant market participant, penalize our own consignors by not bidding the
same price we would gladly pay another dealer or auctioneer to stock that same
item?"


 So, Heritage has access to bidders' max bids, they get their "affiliated companies and buyers" to bid said items to "FMV" in the best interest of the consignor(s), and they circumvent direct shill bidding by getting a third party to do it for them.  Sweet  

That is complete and utter bullshit.  They are a bunch of thieves if that's the kind of stuff they pull.  That means, that they will do whatever they can to jack up the price for their consignors, and, perforce, for the benefit of their own percentage take on the buyer and seller's premiums.  Unbelievable.