on eBAY: Willie Rowsome Bb Set for Sale - ca. 1905

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:40 pm

With this auction, bidders names remain private but the bid amount is public. Reserves are not public in an eBAY auction; the Seller can tell people privately or publicly about the Reserve price (or not at all). The Reserve for the auction is $10,000 - anything below that will not 'close' the auction; I put the Reserve in the auction listing.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:15 pm

Auction ended early with "Buy It Now" price of 12K. Truely a historic set. Congratulation Jim.

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:52 am

Hi,
It was not a 'good' auction. The set is relisted.
Jim

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:47 am

Man, that's pretty harsh. Good luck this time.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:42 am

Its the tassles, man! Restore the tassles to their rightful place and this auction will fly!

djm

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:58 am

Jim, what's the procedure giving negative feedback to a private sale?
Does the auction number and history show up on the bad bidder?

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:33 am

That same bidder closed down many auctions by hitting the Buy-It-Now. While feedback might slow him down, those actions are fraudulent and, hopefully, that account will be shut down.

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:51 am

Explain to me one thing, and this is not really a criticism.

Why do you start the bidding at $5K, but then right below, in the text, say that the reserve is $10K?

Why not just start at $5K? (WHOOOPS! SEE NOTE BELOW) I guess I can understand a secret reserve, but when you publish the reserve . . . what's the point? It can't attract more buyers with the lower opening bid, since if they look, they see that the opening gambit is half the reserve.

Stuart

EDITOR'S NOTE: The third paragraph should read WHY NOT JUST START AT $10K. I realize my comments don't make sense now. SORRY!

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:16 am

Everyone has a different approach to their auctions and their terms. So, I am balancing setting expectations on the Buyer's side with my objective of maxing my auction result and doing so expeditiously (auction listings do have a cost). So, technically, I could roll the dice and start the auction at .01 and hope that all the high rollers are following the auction and prepared to bid. Publishing the Reserve (or sharing it privately in e-mails) is strictly up to the Seller. I think that at these price points it is most fair to share the reserve upfront and hope that more than one bidder wants to outbid each other (a Seller's dream).

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:37 am

No, I understand that. And it's not wrong for you to disclose the reserve, I guess it just defeats the purpose of the reserve. Unless you think that you won't get $10K, and want to see how high the bidding is.

I've bought stuff on eBay from reserve auctions, though. If I don't get to the reserve, or the item never gets to the reserve, then that's fine. But, if someone does a reserve auction and then publishes the reserve price, it completely defeats even the knowledge-acquisition mode of the reserve.

Set the reserve at $10K, start the auction at 1¢, and then if people only bid up to, say, $6500, then you have a better idea of what the market will bear. If you set the reserve at $10K, tell people it's $10K, and start the bidding at $5K, what idiot would bid $6000? Not many, since there's no point. And on eBay, that's the way things go; if you set a high reserve, and don't tell people, they tend not to bid.

Having bought and sold stuff on eBay, including things (pipes, ironically) worth the price range we're talking about, I guess it's just my opinion, based on a lot of experience, that this particular type of auction is the least likely to succeed. Even with an expensive item with a reserve and a low starting bid, you'd be amazed at how quickly people will outbid each other to find out what the reserve price is. The converse, starting with your "reserve" as the opening bid, tends to work extremely well for things with a broader market (like Pat D'A's Fender).

I mean, do you expect people to bid less than $10K, knowing that you've now told them that you won't take less than $10K? And what does it tell you if someone does bid $6K? Not much, since I think I'm not the only one who'd be turned off by this kind of listing.

I want you to get the most for your set as well, actually. I just don't think this is the best way to do it. It's just my opinion, and you didn't ask, so I will shut up now.

Stuart

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:21 am

I bid on auctions well below their reserve because it is easy to track the auction that way. You might be confused in that a reserve is private or hidden as a default on eBAY. Many, many auction houses publish the reserve. It is also common in real estate. It is also common on eBAY for people to share their reserve; there is nothing sacred about it.

As I said, there is a cost to each auction. Trying to set the expectations by publishing the reserve and having the starting bid where it is, hopefully, will end up with a successful auction for both buyer and seller. It's only an auction, terms can be tweaked along the way and/or in a subsequent auction.

Pipes at this amount is the high end of the market. The reserve protects my interest; I am hoping that publishing the reserve will motivate someone to step up to the plate.

My opinion, shared by others, is that this is the right price and that an instrument like this will appreciate over time. I cannot even really convey the rarity of this set. How many sets can you look at in your hands and in ONeill's book(s)?

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:25 am

Oh, no, I'm not arguing that it's not a valuable set.

I guess I just don't understand the workings of auctions. Thanks for explaining them to me . . . obviously I have ZERO experience with REAL auctions or I might have known something about how they actually work. eBay shmeeBay.

Stuart

Oh, if I open a copy of O'Neill's, and put my pipes onto the copy, then I can kind of pretend that I see my pipes in O'Neills. Closest I'll get.

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 2:33 pm

Just out of curiousity, does anyone remember what the original, unrestored parts sold for on ebay?

Dionys

Steve Pribyl · Post by **Steve Pribyl** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:59 pm

The auction ended with no bids.

AlanB · Post by **AlanB** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 1:49 am

Time to donate them to a museum (Morpeth?) so we can all enjoy them....

How much of the set was original Willie? Was it just the chanter remade or were ferrules, drone parts, stock etc., missing and needed replacing?

Alan