I'm still processing what it will mean and I can't fault Bruce for the change if it makes sense for him business-wise and personally. Having said that, as both a buyer and consignor it's not all good. As a buyer (and I imagine it will be the same for many international buyers) its unlikely I will be able to keeping purchasing niche items for my collection at an affordable price. First of all his defacto reducing the auctions by half means they will auction higher quality items with more eyeballs competing for them because there is less opportunity to do so. Take folded one sheets which are auctioned every 6-8 weeks; it will mean a folded one sheet auction schedule closer to the 3-4 month mark. So obviously only the best titles will make it in, everything else will go to bulk. So my other option will be to "find" folded one sheets I actually want, amidst bi-monthly "bulk" lots full of stuff I don't want. The shipping will also be killer for me if I was to get one of those bulk lots, not to mention he will be "mixing" different types of bulk items from consignors, which from a shipping perspective is just brutal. Right now I suspect there are little to no international buyers who can afford bulk lots and those auctions are non-starters. Also, what will this mean for pay and hold? Will it still be 8 weeks or, since there are half as many auctions, will I be able to pay and hold for 16 weeks instead?
Also as a consignor i find especially items that EMP has seldom or never sold (no history) its hard to determine whether a poster will make less or more than $20. Its not that easy, as we all know, hence the thread on OMG WTF LOL. Some posters sell surprisingly high (good for consignor!) while others you were expecting good money, and they go for shit. Ultimately i think everytime a poster is deemed not to be worth approx $20 by EMP it will devalue that poster whether or not it ever gets an opportunity to be put on the block. It will make zero sense for a consignor to take that risk because those bulk lots will go for way too cheap and i suspect consignments will go down over time (at least in numbers and diversity; e.g. international posters). EMP will become high-end like Heritage, and those unique, one of a kind, trashy posters we all love to buy and smell, even many many of he pretty good ones, will all move to the ebay crapshoot. For the 20$ + posters, because there are so few auctions it may create a backlog (for example, one sheets) and consignors will get frustrated there really good posters are taking 2-3 years to sell.
just some immediate thoughts. So for folks who collect specific and expensive titles etc I can see this not having a major effect, but for the hobby in general its not good. Bulk lots will go to US based ebay dealers, with the good posters to the deepest pockets.
I guess i probably should be spending my money more responsibly anyways.... but twas sure fun while it lasted!