A new coin seller on Proxibid asked us pertinent questions about best practices, and we promised to share our opinion and to solicit yours in the comment section. Auctioneers look to this site for recommendations on how to sell, ship and improve their services. The more you and we share, the more bidders will be drawn to our sites. We will treat each question as a post running throughout the week. Here is installment one.
QUESTION: I signed up to follow your Proxiblog. Looking it over I did see a few things that we could be doing differently and plan on changing. I wanted to ask you and your audience a few questions. For starters, what day do you feel is better for coin auctions to end?”
PROXIBLOG As Proxibid adds more top numismatic houses (see our favorite sellers in the right sidebar), the more opportunity buyers have to spend their monthly allotments on coins. There are only a few major buyers on Proxibid’s coin sites, and they bid up to wholesale and then do not maximize their bids any further. There are only a few reckless buyers with unlimited resources that will use their credit cards to snap up as many lots as possible, believing any lot description (however spurious) and even purchasing self-slabbed coins. The rest of the coin buyers are on a budget.
What does this add up to? In a live auction, the question for online bidders should not be “What time is best to end?” but “What time is best to start?” Best start time is Saturday morning. Bidders are home. Their weekend chores haven’t started yet. They can attend the live auction and bid for desired lots. Auctioneers waiting for Saturday evening or Sunday morning may learn that their best customers have spent their budgets in the morning.
In a timed auction, the best time for online auctions to end is Sunday evening. Bidders have the entire weekend to maximize their lots. Moreover, as some bidders–especially credit-card whales with little numismatic knowledge–outbid others during the weekend, the timed-lot buyer can then adjust his own bids for desired coins, knowing how much of his budget is left to do that.
Next installment: What do buyers look for in descriptions?
Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.
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As one of the rookie coin sellers on Proxibid. This info is so valuable to me and im sure to many others out there. I’ve been using Monday nights as our sales day but will be looking at using Sunday nights now. I cant wait to see the other tips so I can make our sales the best informed and customer friendly possible. Thank you for taking out the time to help us in helping you and other customers.