Author Topic: Our new every four week auctions start in slightly over two months, on July 13th  (Read 6862 times)

Offline BruceH

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MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! Our new every four week auctions start in slightly over two months, on July 13th!

We are switching from bi-weekly auctions (after the last one ends on July 11),to our all-new ONCE EVERY FOUR WEEK AUCTIONS, which we feel certain will prove to be FAR BETTER than the old bi-weekly auctions, just as the bi-weekly auctions have proved to be a giant improvement over the earlier weekly ones! 

Note that even though the auctions start FOUR weeks apart, they run for THREE weeks each! This will give us one week after each set of auctions close to get all the items packed, invoiced and shipped, and then, one week later, the new auctions will begin, and close 3 weeks later, and then the process starts all over again!

WHY AM I MAKING THIS CHANGE? Several reasons!

1) After 31 years of auctioning (and 1,766,115 unique auctions!), I have found that is it great to "slow down the pace" of our auctions. Yes, it helped a LOT when we changed to bi-weekly auctions from weekly auctions sixteen months ago (mostly it has given us a chance to almost completely catch up on all old consignments), but preparing 3,500 or so auctions every two weeks is still stressful, and I feel that now having auctions every four weeks will give us the perfect balance (not too often, not too infrequent).

2) When we changed to bi-weekly auctions from weekly auctions, I quickly saw a GIGANTIC added benefit to having far fewer auctions. I could FINALLY enforce my rule that single sale auction items have a minimum realistic retail value of $20 each (not that we stopped auctioning sub-$20 items, but rather that they are now in bulk lots instead of in single auctions. GREATLY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF SUB-$20 ITEMS HAS MADE OUR REGULAR AUCTIONS FAR MORE INTERESTING TO ALL THE BIDDERS (and it has had the great added side benefit of making the bulk lots FAR more interesting as well (as more and more of them contain interesting $10 to $20 items)! Now, with having even fewer auctions every four weeks, I will finally be able to COMPLETELY enforce my "single sale auction items have a minimum realistic retail value of $20 each" rule, which will make all our auctions so much better than before!

3) I suspect many of you bidders are still getting worn on from having to check 999 or more auctions three times every OTHER WEEK, and I strongly suspect you will not mind having more of a break between auctions (just as so many people have told me they prefer the bi-weekly auctions over the old weekly ones, for that same reason; how did any of us keep checking new auctions every two or three days for decades?).

SO THAT IS HOW I ARRIVED AT THE NEW EVERY FOUR WEEKLY AUCTIONS! Here are the pluses:

1) As stated above, this gives you bidders far more "breathing room" between auctions than you had with our weekly auctions, and also with our bi-weekly auctions. We won't have ANY auctions closing three out of four weeks! Imagine how happy your spouses, children, or significant others will be to learn that they can once again do something with you on three out of four Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays!
    Remember that back in 1990, when the modern era of this hobby began with my very first Christie's auction, most collectors and dealers had only TWO major events a year to look forward to, the annual Christie's auction in December, and the annual Cinevent on Memorial Day. Not only did collectors and dealers manage to deal with this, but they also mostly traveled to both! So having 13 weeks of three auctions each every year (that you don't have to leave home for) is still an awful LOT more than that was!

2) They allow me to catch up on many projects that I have never had time to do, both at work and at home. That is a big plus for me! The number one goal is to get every single old consignment auctioned, so that we are SOLELY auctioning what has just arrived! Those of you who consign will send your consignments THIS month, and they will be auctioned the very NEXT month, and you will be paid the NEXT month after that! So a total of 60 to 90 days from you sending your consignments to you receiving payment for ALL you sent!

3) They allow me to take off a week here and there, without it affecting eMoviePoster.com at all, all year round if I want, because we will have 13 sets of auctions each year, four weeks apart. I have five children, and four now live away from home, and I want the freedom to visit them more, and to take trips all over the world!

Is there ANY downside to this? I don't think there will be any, other than that everyone will need a little time to get used to the new schedule, but I really feel that once everyone adjusts, they will all say, "I wished you had done this years ago"!

Here is the best part of it, one you might not immediately think of. You might say "I don't want to have to wait four weeks between auctions", but actually, you may well find you are waiting shorter times rather than longer times! What wizardry is that? It is because under our bi-weekly schedule, we only auctioned each type of item every two or three months. So if you like say, window cards, you might only see them at auction every three months or so.
    BUT NOW, THERE WILL BE WINDOW CARDS EVERY FOUR WEEKS! That is because each of the "every four week" auctions will contain ALL of each size that we were consigned the previous month! Now of course this means there might be 50 windows cards this time, and 200 next time, and then 100 the time after that, but you will see EVERY type and size of item every four weeks!

And here is the biggest change, which I alluded to above. With far fewer auctions, we will no longer have the time to auction low value items individually. So starting in July, ABSOLUTELY all items we are consigned that realistically sell for under $20 each will be placed in bulk lots (or returned to consignors). And each bulk lot itself also has to realistically sell for $20 each.
    So if someone consigns ten $2 items to us, we will make a single bulk lot out of them, even if they are all different kinds of items. And if they send twenty $5 items, we would at most make them into five bulk lots, but more likely just one or two.  But of course we will also offer to return the items to that person. BUT ABSOLUTELY ALL ITEMS THAT ARE SENT TO US THAT REALISTICALLY SELL FOR $20 OR MORE WILL CONTINUE TO BE AUCTIONED INDIVIDUALLY!

So please remember that we absolutely WON'T be stopping auctioning low priced items! It is just that we will be auctioning them ONLY in bulk lots, and NOT in single item auctions. And since I am hoping to do 999 bulk lots every other month (instead of our current 500-600), we can also actually auction more sub-$20 items a year than we did when we had bi-weekly or weekly auctions, except they will be in bulk lots.

And one final change. We will have FIVE Major Auctions in 2020, as opposed to the SEVEN we had last year (that was fun, and led to our first $6 million dollar year, but unbelievably hectic!). AND YOU WILL NOTICE FROM THE ABOVE SCHEDULE THAT THE MAJOR AUCTIONS ARE NOW HELD ON ONE DAY, RATHER THAN SPREAD OVER THREE AUCTIONS. This means that more than ever, we will reserve the major auctions for truly rare and desirable items (which will both make them even stronger than before, and also make our non-major auctions that much stronger as well)!

I will expand on all of the above over the coming weeks. I know this news seems like a big change (and in some ways it is, and some ways it isn't) but it won't start for over two months. Just as I was certain the switch to bi-weekly auctions was a big plus for eMoviePoster.com, I am just as certain the switch to every four week auctions is just as big a plus! Take some time and think about it, and if you have thoughts you want to share, please email me, because, as you know, I have always run this business by listening to the feedback I get from our bidders, our buyers, our consignors, and my employees!
We (eMoviePoster.com) hold 2,500 to 4,000 auctions every four weeks.
We have auctioned more movie paper for more money (in real sales) than any auction in the world.
We have the longest continuously running auctions of any auction, with over 1,914,280 to date from over 3,192 consignors.
See all of our current auctions in one gallery here: http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html


Online eatbrie

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So agreed!!!  How about once a year auction and let it run all year?  That should give people enough time to check it out, if this is the incentive.

T
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- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline BruceH

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So agreed!!!  How about once a year auction and let it run all year?  That should give people enough time to check it out, if this is the incentive.

T

I guarantee you that if it were once a year, you would manage to miss it, because you "forgot" or were out jogging!   :D ;D ;)
We (eMoviePoster.com) hold 2,500 to 4,000 auctions every four weeks.
We have auctioned more movie paper for more money (in real sales) than any auction in the world.
We have the longest continuously running auctions of any auction, with over 1,914,280 to date from over 3,192 consignors.
See all of our current auctions in one gallery here: http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html

Online eatbrie

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Hahaha touche!  Although I hurt myself skiing a few weeks ago so no more jogging for a while and plenty of time to check your auctions.  When are they again?

T
My Personal Collection


- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline BruceH

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Hahaha touche!  Although I hurt myself skiing a few weeks ago so no more jogging for a while and plenty of time to check your auctions.  When are they again?

T

They close in just a few hours TODAY, so no excuses tomorrow about missing them! And I am certain there are posters there for you!
We (eMoviePoster.com) hold 2,500 to 4,000 auctions every four weeks.
We have auctioned more movie paper for more money (in real sales) than any auction in the world.
We have the longest continuously running auctions of any auction, with over 1,914,280 to date from over 3,192 consignors.
See all of our current auctions in one gallery here: http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html

Online eatbrie

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Checked.  Yeah, a few, but today was a terrible day at the markets...

T
My Personal Collection


- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)


Offline ddilts399

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So far, of all the collectors and dealers I have talked to, the only people that like this announcement is Bruce  ;D

Online eatbrie

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I think that's his way of letting us know that he is closing shop soon and to move on to another poster source.  It's been gradual but I can see the writing on the wall.

T
My Personal Collection


- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline ealingmovieposters

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Currently I am based in the US (California).

I’ve sold thousands of dollars worth of posters with emovieposter over the last year and I am also an active buyer (as collector and trader). I have no issue with the new schedules and fewer auctions. The no ‘buyers premium’ together with the lesser valued posters being sold (especially bulk items) is my main attraction, in addition to the ‘pay and hold’ to reduce shipping costs. I don’t see any other auction house, or sales site, that caters for the collector/trader of low priced movie posters the way that emovieposter does and long may that continue.
Regards

Ian

Offline Starling

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I'm also a big fan of the once a month, especially if it ups the quality of the paper being auctioned.

Offline Crazy Vick

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 I'm not a fan for obvious reasons but it makes sense for Bruce, at $7M a year or whatever he might as well continue the strategy of "exclusivising" himself to the point where EMP becomes a HA equivalent, much more glory but a lot less work.

AS for bulk lots they are great for US based folks, non-starters for everyone else.  So for me the combination of monthly auctions AND elite posters means at some point I'll stop checking in altogether.  In fact, i don't think I have looked at a HA auction in 2 years!  Well, i guess as long as Bruce doesn't start advertising his auctions daily on APF with giant obnoxious images, we'll still get along fine. ;D



Online eatbrie

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I have never bought bulk items and never will.  Condition is #1 for me, and I like to buy what means something to me, not 100 pieces for 20 I might keep and 80 I will trash.  Since I don't sell, this is a non starter for me.  Plus I will never know the condition of every single piece. 

I'm all for better posters, but I like to buy them on a regular basis.  There isn't much to buy on Ebay these days, HA has become way too expensive and I keep losing on everything I put a bid on, so Emovie has been my go-to auction.  But if it's once a month, where will I turn to quench my thirst?  That's my main issue.  That and I will for sure forget.

T
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- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline BruceH

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I think that's his way of letting us know that he is closing shop soon and to move on to another poster source.  It's been gradual but I can see the writing on the wall.

T

Not at all. I made it clear. The reasons for the change is that I am tired of auctioning cheap items one at a time, and I know that many of my customers feel the same way. Too much work to prepare them, too tedious to even go through them all. How we all (except Thierry!) ever checked thousands of auctions every WEEK for two decades is amazing!

When we did 140,000 auctions a year, maybe 50,000 of them were $40 or higher. When we reduced to 70,000, we knocked out a BIG chunk of the sub $20 items. Now, reducing further to around 45,000 or so auctions, we can knock out even more of them, but there will always be some of them, because in honest no reserve auctions, with no buyers premiums, there will always be some really low results.

The only really big change will be for those consignors who mostly send $5 and $10 items, and want them in single auctions. Those people will likely quit consigning, which will further improve the quality of the auctions.

But there will still be loads of bulk lots for those who DO like to buy posters for a few dollars each or under. But I will be working hard to also eliminate bulk lots that sell for under $20 each. Just as with sub-$20 single sale items, there is too much work, too little return.

I WOULD like to reduce my level of direct involvement in the business, and have my employees increase theirs. I have a dozen people who are incredible at what they do, and they will have (and have had) no problem "stepping up" and taking on new responsibilities.

However, there IS something that threatens the entire mail-order aspect of poster collecting, and that is the endless rise in shipping, taxes, and duties. Remember that back in 2000 you could send a crammed full Large Priority Box (weighing 15 or 20 pounds) anywhere in the U.S. for $3. Under those conditions, buying $5 and $10 posters and having them shipped individually made lots of sense.

Now, with the current skyrocketing prices, I see a potential for a giant reduction in mail order, and a return to poster shows and antique malls as a way for people to buy and sell low priced items.

You certainly can't please everyone. I will continue to adapt to changing times, and those of you who don't like the changes will buy less (or not at all) and those who DO like them will buy more. Simple as that!

And one GIANT plus for this forum is I will now only post 4 times a month! Once to announce the 3 current auctions are live, and once each as each set ends.

And YES, Thierry will continue to miss many of the auctions closing. It is as sure as death and taxes!
We (eMoviePoster.com) hold 2,500 to 4,000 auctions every four weeks.
We have auctioned more movie paper for more money (in real sales) than any auction in the world.
We have the longest continuously running auctions of any auction, with over 1,914,280 to date from over 3,192 consignors.
See all of our current auctions in one gallery here: http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html

Online eatbrie

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I actually read that (in it's entirety!) and that's a very good explanation, Bruce.  I am still convince that it is your way to slowly step out of the business, but if you say it isn't, it's a conversation we can have later on.  Do any of your kids want to take over?  Or would you eventually sell to one of your employees?  Or just let it die on its own?  I know you want more time to spend with the family, which really is a no brainer.  Yes, I will for sure miss some auctions, but as you know, I have 3 young kids and I am very easily distracted these days.  I miss for sure, as I already do, miss the regularity of your auctions.  We shall see.  It is your business and you can do what you please with it.

T
My Personal Collection


- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline okiehawker

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For what I collect, I think the every four weeks will work fine.  I hear you on the increased costs for shipping etc., Bruce. For the amount of effort you all do for each piece/bulk lot, I can imagine your net income will go up with your new expected auction item value and four week strategy.  Hope to see you later this year!  Okie

Offline Simes

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Not at all. I made it clear. The reasons for the change is that I am tired of auctioning cheap items one at a time, and I know that many of my customers feel the same way. Too much work to prepare them, too tedious to even go through them all. How we all (except Thierry!) ever checked thousands of auctions every WEEK for two decades is amazing!

When we did 140,000 auctions a year, maybe 50,000 of them were $40 or higher. When we reduced to 70,000, we knocked out a BIG chunk of the sub $20 items. Now, reducing further to around 45,000 or so auctions, we can knock out even more of them, but there will always be some of them, because in honest no reserve auctions, with no buyers premiums, there will always be some really low results.

The only really big change will be for those consignors who mostly send $5 and $10 items, and want them in single auctions. Those people will likely quit consigning, which will further improve the quality of the auctions.

Fair play to all this.

I concur entirely, the small ($) items must be beyond tiring and the sooner they can get weeded out, as you say, the quality for all will commensurately increase.

Best of luck.

Online eatbrie

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Hey Bruce, here's an idea for your monthly auctions.

Please stop auctioning anything lesser than Good to Very Good.

No more Poor to Fair, Fair, Fair to Good & Good.

There is no reason for a post 1970 poster to be anything but Good to Very Good or better.  Auction not only better titles but also better condition stuff.

Just an idea.

Thanks Bruce.

T
« Last Edit: June 26, 2021, 01:53:43 AM by eatbrie »
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- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline ealingmovieposters

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Quote
Please stop auctioning anything lesser than Good to Very Good.

Can't say I agree with you on this one T. There was a 'fair' six sheet on the last auction that rightly went for over $3,000.00 - a magnificent image of Mae West (1934) - I was extremely interested in this but couldn't afford it.  https://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/3500640.html. There are many poor quality posters of vintage classics that are highly desirable.

My only advice on this is to try and have the 'bulk' items be of a similar grade, which I know Bruce tries to do now but with more bulk items this might be problematic.  What I see is if someone consigns 20 posters worth around $10 each then my preference is to see multiple (more) batches with similar grades rather than fewer batches with mixed grades.
Regards

Ian

Online eatbrie

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Which is why I said post 70s.  In my book, anything post 1970 needs to be very fine to mint.  Anything that is not should not be auctioned.

T
My Personal Collection


- I wish to thank all APF members for being part of the World's Largest Social Gathering of Movie Poster Collectors
- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline ealingmovieposters

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I stand corrected T but even post 70's I disagree, to each his own.

https://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/13658654.html
« Last Edit: June 27, 2021, 12:43:08 PM by ealingmovieposters »
Regards

Ian