Live Auction Hopefully Was a Success For Everyone !!

[normandy]

I think Pickelhaube did this more for the forum members then for himself, many of those items should
have sold for more than they did. For some it was fun and gave them an opportunity to add to their
collections.

It may be things like this that keep this forum and hobby alive Other than Pickel, Grunt, Jay and a few others
not much is happening. Yes we are waiting to hear from Merit but thats it, an auction on a forum like this
may just show that there is still interest and therefor life in the scale.

I feel it was positive and do not see it as a threat to SSHQ / Ground Pounders.

[p51]

Okay, stepping in here again to provide some more thoughts. I can see where the concerns are for many people, you as well Corey. You all bring up some valid points that need to be worked out. This was a great first test run and like anything new the bugs will have to be worked out if this is to continue.

- Favoritism: I can see how just letting Pickle do the live auctions can be a sign of favoritism... though for the low prices he started at he may be the only one wanting to do these. What I think we need to do here is set aside a special event, be it monthly, bi-monthly, twice a year, whatever and do all the live auctions at once. Anyone can put their stuff in this special forum, which lasts 24 hours or maybe even 48 hours. When the 48 hours are up or perhaps an hour before the deadline, the entire forum section is locked. At that point, the last posts are the winning bids. It might be only Pickle doing these auctions, but anyone has the chance to join. And that way, these posts only affect that forum, and don't push down BST threads.

- Member Status: Now, I'm still trying to find some sort of php addon that prohibits people under a certain amount of time from entering forum sections (if anyone wants to help me locate something, I'm ALL ears!)... if I could find some sort of addon that we can install on here, then we'd make it the same as the BST forum, only those who have been here 6 months or more can participate with a minimum amount of posts or something. An incentive for registering and posting. I will say that this live auction has brought some new life to this board (no one can really deny that) and some new excitement. But until we can find some sort of addon, it can only be enforced by the moderators keeping an eye on things and the help of all the user to keep those who shouldn't be in there out.

- Punishment: I realize there are a few members on here that feel we're not being strict enough on this board with punishments. And I realize that, we've always been a very open and easy community over the years. Aside from some real bad cookies that have popped up now and then, we've had it really lucky compared to many boards out there. That being said, the trick to making these live auctions work is following the rules. And so with that we'll have to come up with a very clear cut system of how to deal with problem users. 1st Offense Forum Warning, 2nd Offense PM Final Warning, 3rd Offense temporary Ban, 4th Offense Perma Ban.

If we are allowing auctions, it will only be a matter of time before someone who has a business is allowed to post sales on here. Then there will be more auctions and more sales. There has been a very strict no advertising policy here on business promoting. What happens now if Aviatornut suddenly says he wants to have a sale? What if Jnewboy wants to suddenly start selling his customs? Then how are we going to handle it.

Well, we can simply state that for a business, they have to start the live auction below their advertised price on their website. The difference would be LIVE auctions are special, and start at good deals. Not your 'I could just buy it from a website' prices. If someone comes back and says 'Hey, that's how much you sell them for normally' then that thread gets removed. I would welcome any businesses that would love to give our members great deals for these live auctions, but we don't want them spamming our boards talking about a new shipment of this aircraft in stock. There's email newsletters for that.

Before going forward, this needs to be clarified so that all membership is on the same page.

This is why I said a set of rules need to be established and posted. I think there needs to be a template made that each person selling in the live auction must adhere to, as in a standard way of posting the information, price, shipping, etc clear as day so everything is laid out. This all should be easy to do.

This is also eating up a ton of posting space in our forums. Some new stuff has already been pushed to the bottom because of the multiple auction posts. Now there are new posts about how to pay for things, etc. I think this all needs either a separate section or stated up front in the auction post.

Thus my idea of making a separate forum just for the live auctions. These threads would just disappear and be marked archive (so only I can see them as admin) just in case we need to pull one out for dispute reasons.

[Coreyeagle48]

Britt:

Thank you for your comments.

Again, I don't really have a problem with people wanting to do the auctions, as long as it is structured, clear guidelines are established and it is in a section of the forum separate from everything else. As long as all this happens I have no concern with it.

My concern really wasn't with Pickelhaube himself doing this, but more for the forum in general that this could turn into a major fiasco if not properly managed and we had a disputed transaction.

Glad to see Britt is on top of things.

Corey

[p51]

My concern really wasn't with Pickelhaube himself doing this, but more for the forum in general that this could turn into a major fiasco if not properly managed and we had a disputed transaction.Corey

couldn't agree more. I think I'm going to open a new thread (this one has gotten a bit long) in the Forum Threads section about LIVE AUCTION suggestions and hear out everyone and what they would like to see or what they think would make it work. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the best route is to do a bunch of live auctions all at once, maybe 4 times a month or something. That way people can hold off their items till then, and we can do them all in one big swoop.

[pickelhaube]

Ok Ok .

I think establishing a new post heading is a good idea. But I will probably be the only one using it.
I do not think anybody else would put up something for bid with such low starting prices like I did . I did this so the items will move.
Corey I have noticed on your posts in the BST the prices you placed are for FULL RETAIL.
And you have many of them.
I on the other hand rarely post on the BST forum when I am try to sell off some of my collection pieces.
Of course I go crazy heavy elsewhere when building my customs.That is out there for all to see and the moderators have so far been allowing me to do it.
Believe me it was a pain to set this up and will still be a pain to move them out.

Corey you have no idea how much simpler e-bay would have been to do this .
AND ON E-BAY , I WOULD HAVE MADE A LOT MORE MONEY.
I will say it again I WOULD HAVE MADE A LOT MORE MONEY ON EBAY.

I wanted to move volumes of stuff and was really not concerned about the money. I am no Saint but what I was doing was making XD available to others AT REASONABLE PRICES. In an auction style. I love auctions it is fun and exciting especially if I win the item.

Thank you for throwing a wet blanket on things .

This is my reward for trying to be a nice guy .

I would actually want to do one more auction IF I AM ALLOWED AND THAT IS IT.

I would like to do more auctions but after this ( it kind of seems personal ) it is just not worth it.

Believe it or not the whole idea of this auction was to have fun. You sucked the fun right out of it.

I am sorry for this post and I probably should have PMed you rather than spilling this out over the forum.

It is not a personal attack on you but I just wanted to show how I felt.

Auctions should be fun and for everybody to enjoy. At least those are my feelings.

Rant ended and I apologize if I have offended anyone .

Now I think locking down the final hour for new bidders is a BAD idea . Not so much for sniping but on any auction that is were the action is.

On an e-bay style auction ( 5 days ) nothing really happens until the LAST MINET . I have seen prices double then triple .

So shutting out first bidders in the final hour just goes against the premise of an auction.

Fun is fun and nice are that and all . But come on , what is wrong with making more money on a sell ?

I would assume by spilling feelings out this post will be locked down .

And Britt I do thank you for allowing me to do this.

But my whole idea was for this to be fun and I guess we all do not see things eye to eye.

I would like to do one more auction ( I have enough stuff to do about 4 more ) but I think that is all .

If I am allowed .

There is always e-bay.

Matthew

[cjg476]

Matthew I did have fun and I think others did too. I for one cant thank you enough for giving some of us a chance to get things we wouldn't normally get for a great price. I for one understood what you were trying to do from the start. You even said why keep them when you can get rid of them for people to enjoy. And you did that.

What I don't understand is why your getting so much negative feedback instead of people commending you. I commend you. Its hard as a collector to get pieces you want and you finally make it easy and someone is getting bent out of shape. Seems a bit ridiculous. I for one hope you have more auctions. I was on all day that day watching bidding and waiting and it was fun.

Don't let one person ruin it for the rest of us.

[Coreyeagle48]

Matthew:

I would like to know where you are getting the idea that I have sold things for full retail on this site. I have very seldom made money on anything I have sold. Anyone who is a trade reference of mine can attest to that. In fact, I invite any of my trade references to come forward in this thread and state what they have paid me for items. You will find that on most transactions they have paid less than retail or less than Ebay rates. The only reason I had the Blue Angels F-18 priced high was due to the fact I shelled out $450 for the plane several years ago. I was trying to simply make some of the money back I had put into it. As you well know and can attest to, we buy our collections for the love of the hobby. I think in all my years of collecting I have only bought 4 things for investment purposes. Most things when I have resold them I have only gotten about 50% back out of them. That's the way it goes.

This was not a post against you Matthew or your auctions. You are an important part of this board and have made some excellent customs. I also know you have gone out of your way to help other people here over the years and provide things reasonably to people, myself included. I remember when you hooked me up with a desperately needed F-16 tail when Skyworks refused to help me. So I respect you and your contribution to this board. I also respect your idea for the auctions and am glad to see it worked out well for you. I have no problem with you or the idea of your auctions, provided they are properly managed on the fourm which you seemed to have done to the best of your ability.

My point in my posts was simply to try to attempt to clarify how this is going to work in the future, for everyone concerned. I felt it was important for everyone to discuss this so it was clear for the future. That was all. It was nothing against you or your intentions. You have totally taken it the wrong way. Had tmanthegreat, aferguson, snake, yoxford or anyone else run the auctions I would have asked exactly the same questions and had asked for Britt's input. This was nothing against you so please stop saying I have it out for you and your auctions. I certianly did not. If I did, I would have been a lot more outspoken about it.

I hope you continue your auctions ahd the moderators give you the space on the forum that they can take place. I know there are some other members who would probably love to do this as well, I might as well. This is an interesting experiment that certainly deserves another test run and some more results to see how it goes. I truly wish you the best in doing it and I hope you offer something I can bid on in the future. You just didn't have anything this time around. I am sorry you took my comments personally and hope you continue to make such an important contribution to the scale and this forum.

Corey

[pickelhaube]

Corey,

Thank you for a very nice rebuttal.I apologize for coming down hard on you.

I thought you had a personal thing going on against me and I now realize that your intentions were not so.

I hope I did not get to personal against you and I apologize again if you thought so.

After all all of this is supposed to be fun.

Matthew

[snake]

Glad to see you both work it out. Kind of publicly, but you both have valid points, and perspectives.

I will weigh in, for whatever its worth.

Although I did understand Matthews reason for doing this, and his understanding that he would have sold these for more on Ebay.

But I also know, and respect Corey's views on this as well.

I never liked the public member vs member style. EBay style sniping, but in plain view. Just a recipe for bad feelings.

If the auction thread goes forward, think Britt has a good handle on the "issues".

[pickelhaube]

I need the name and address for the guys who won.

White Zero
BBI Killer Mustang.

I need your name address and what you paid for so they can ship tomorrow.

ASAP please !!!!!!!!!

[pizzaguy]

Pm sent