Thank you Louie D. and idioteque for understanding my position.
You know, I used to try to "please all the people all the time". Then one day I realized there is no pleasing some people.
Let me give you an example: One fellow bought an expensive poster, and then afterwards, gave me a long excuse about how he couldn't pay for it, but that he surely would pay just as soon as he got back on his feet. As an experiment, I held on to the poster and paid the consignor for it, trusting that person and taking him at his word.
Over a year went by, and then the person asked about the poster. I told him I still had it, and as soon as he paid, he would be unblocked and able to bid again.
That was well over a month ago, and I have heard no more. So much for that experiment!
I now do my best to please as many people as possible (as long as I do nothing wrong) and if that means a few people will be unhappy because I can't give them exactly what they want (for example, I have had people who want me to look through many pressbooks to see if a certain minor actor in those movies is pictured) then I have to live with that, because if I agreed to these kinds of requests, I would surely then get even more from those same people, so the people would still not be happy anyway..
Another example is people who buy items for two weeks (in the U.S.) or four weeks (outside the U.S.) and then I accumulate all the items in a single package and send them. There are some people who get a quote to ship those items, and then they say "I bought one more item" so re-pack it with that and then I'll pay" and then when they get their new quote they say "I just bought one more, so add that in, too" and this can go on and on for weeks.
Or the people who constantly do no pay until I finally have to threaten to block them, and only then do they pay, and then the cycle starts again.
Most of my customers are great people, but the 1% of the ones who cause 99% of the problems are not.
Brian, I don't how many of your purchases you have received so far, but when you do, you will see that none of them were "optimistically graded" and all were packed great, and that you either paid the cost of shipping or less on all of them. That may well not be the case with those you purchased anywhere else.
When the items for our mini/major go online next Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, you will have one week (for each set of auctions) to decide if any of them are ones you want to bid on, and then two more weeks after they close in which to pay for them (and if there is something that is a special case, and it would take you more time to pay, contact me personally, and I will see what I can offer, which I do so solely on a case by case basis, first reviewing your past buying record).
I hope you find some items you like, and that you are successful in bidding on some or all!
Bruce
Bruce-
I understand your position and I do appreciate all the time you spend on the forum. You've been in this hobby longer than anyone and its great that you take the time to share that knowledge.
I see this request as being not much different from my earlier request that you publish an auction schedule with what will be coming down the pike. Now, from the sound of it it didn't seem like you had customers beating down your door requesting an auction calendar, but if I and a few other people collectively spoke up and helped to make a positive improvement on your website I think that is all the better. I honestly think previews would be a win-win(-win) for the buyers, for you (and for your consignors). You may think differently and I respect that. However, I'm not sure I agree with your reasoning so I want to be sure I'm being clear...
I know you want to do what is best for your consignors, and maybe to accomplish that you shouldn't preview *all* of your mini/major items... especially if they include items that commonly come up in weekly auctions as well. That said, I don't see how setting up a preview page a few weeks ahead of time with rare posters like the In a Lonely Place French 1-panel and the Grand Illusion Italian you sold a while back would hurt. You clearly won't be selling items like that outside your mini/majors so it would actually be *better* for your consignors to have those items previewed and promoted early. And it would be better for buyers as we would get time to plan for those out-of-the-blue purchases. Hell, I didn't even know that Grand Illusion poster existed before your auction! Unfortunately I was already tapped out on some other big purchases that month. You've done limited previews before, so even if we don't get anything more formal than that it would still be great if you could continue to highlight a few of the rare pieces you'll be selling in your m/m.
And by the way, like Brian I didn't quite understand how equating our request for previews to broken promises from dead-beat buyers was really relevant to this discussion. Yes, I understand you can't please everyone, but that is a different issue entirely and it doesn't feel great when you are on the other end of that comparison.
Anyway, I feel like I've made my point so I'll leave it here unless people have specific questions/comments for me.
