Online Auctions???????

[wildhorses]

I do like the 5 minute rule, as that does add to the excitement of an auction, and it also can add for hundreds more dollars in bids at the end of the auction. People really can get caught up in the bidding war...and the "just one more bid" concept! If I place my bid 30 seconds before the end of the auction, my competitor may want to outbid me and has 5 minutes to decide and rebid...if they do rebid, I have 5 minutes left to decide if I want to bid again and do so. If I was the seller in this auction, I would definately want this as it could certainly lead to more money in my pocket for the horse at the end of the auction. I also agree with liking to see the bidding history...don't have to show me the bidder name or number, but would like to see the history of the bids. I also think the Buy it Now option is great...I use it on Ebay all of the time.

I have a couple of questions about this online auction stuff. I would like to know what the cost involved is? Do you pay a flat amount for the auction, no matter how long it runs or how many horses you have on the auction? Or do you pay a percentage fee comission at the end of the sale? Is all of the advertising and promotion included, or is that extra? Would love to hear the details either from Heather or someone that has done it. Maybe something I may look at in the spring if it looks like it is successful compared to private treaty sales. Thanks.

 

[JWC sr.]

Kay,

you hit it exactly on the nail head as far as costs are concerned. The costs associated with a real time auction runs somewhere in the $12 - $25,000 range when you have to get a facility, prep the horses, show the horses, transport the horses, pay for on-line video, the motel rooms for the workers to do all those things,snacks, meals for the staff or attendees etc etc. Then it is only a snap shot in time, as far as viewing of the horse.

With the on-line auctions it is much more cost effective for the participating farm and buyer, slower paced, more personal contact with the owner can be easily had(questions ask and hopefully answered) and the exposure is normally greater.

The negatives are you lose the excitement of a real auction, can't physically put your hands on the horse etc. but for those of you that know me that is probably a good thing as I end up buying on the spur of the moment many times. LOL

As far as costs etc, wildhorse I would suggest you contact the folks that put these on and I am sure they will be glad to explain their system for you. I have participated in a number of them with different companies and each has its own way of doing things. There will be an Arabian sale in a couple of weeks that I heard about last week that will have a couple of mini's in it and it is a consignment sale with a percentage, then there are those companies that do the sale for a specific farm and charge a flat fee with or without a percentage on each horse sold. It differs with each auction company and also the services the selling farm wants such as catalog building, Banner ads at places like this forum, issuing bidder numbers, follow up on bids placed, collection of the money, pictures etc etc. You can get anything you want you just have to be ready to pay for it. Hopefully as time goes on the technology and software required to run one of these deals will get better and better.

Personally I like the concept even if we do not sell even one horse on it as I think the exposure of the horses to folks that may not know us or our horses is a good thing. I know also that the lower per horse expense should encourage lower prices for the potential buyers which is not a bad thing either.

Sure there may be a few things I or someone else would like to see, but those things will shake themselves out over time and hopefully will be better for everyone buyers and sellers alike.

As far as the problem with sniping as someone called it, there is a max. bid option offered where you can enter a maximum bid that you are willing to pay. You start the bidding at say 500 and enter a max bid of 1,000. Until someone bids 600 your bid does not increase, but when the do the computer automatically increases the bid by 50 or 100 dollars as you instructed it to, till no one else bids or you reach your max. bid. Only you and the computer know what that max. bid was that you entered.

Also with the buy it now price I have seen on several sales, that is an off shoot from the ebay auctions, I personally do not like that though and will not have it on our auctions. The removal of a reserve though is something that is done at live sales and also in these computer sales as a seller changes their mind at the last minute.

 

[kaykay]

Hi John

I meant a real time auction like Ebay and the auction here on LB does. On those online auctions you get to see the bidder history and see new bids instantly. There is no bidding by email you just sign up and bid and it immediately shows up.

I think if a company used a similiar software and let people like you (for example) run a horse auction on it you would get more bids.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Charley]

LB Last Chance Auction is now The Little Horse Barn.

You have two ways to do farm sales on our auction.

You can send me a request for a category for your farm auction. It can be in your farm name and you can sell whatever your want, horses, tack, or even a pink Cadillac. We are set up to run auctions as closely to eBay as we can get…without all the fees. We do have the 5 Minute Sniper Protection. There are no listing fees for our basic listings. There are nominal fees for using our optional features: Main Featured & Category Featured Listings, Link to Seller’s Website or for You Tube Sharing. A Final Value Fee is charged on items sold. And we do have the 5 Minute Sniper Protection. And if you have your own Category, you get credit for a free Link to Seller's Website and can put your email information in each listing.

Or you can open an eBarn and set it up with your horses for sale. There are no extra fees for an eBarn but the same optional fees and Final Value fess apply as above. With an eBarn any listings on the auction show up in your eBarn. You have complete control over your eBarn as to colors, graphics, content; you set up your own categories; and your eBarn has its own Web address that you can use to promote to buyers.

 

[Mulligans Run]

We have ran many online "live" auctions and we still do. These auctions "run by you" were created for the farms that don't want to put out thousands of dollars to transport, bathe, clip, show and possibly not sell their horses. I've been there myself. I've sold horses in live auctions and by the time you are done with all of the percentages and fees, it can be close to a loss.

These auctions were also created to promote the individual farms instead of the auction company. You will see very little of my advertising on anything - it's about the farms and helping people to sell what they need to. And small farms with just a few head can participate the same way a large farm with 40 head can...everyone is treated the same.

Someone asked for the pricing so here's the link.... Auction pricing The costs vary according to how much you want to do and how much you want us to do. That way it's affordable to everyone and there are no hidden costs. If you have questions email me and I'll help you. I'm easy to work with

With that said, I am still a huge fan of the online live auctions because of the excitement and the "live" aspect and I will likely sell horses that way again.

I feel the current online auctions allow everyone to participate at a slower pace with a personalized feel. You have time to research the horses and ask questions. I still buy spur of the moment (guilty) but I'm an auction-holic and a horse-aholic...a dangerous combination. LOL

We have taken the time to answer every question that has been presented to us and I always copy the owners or allow them to answer if it's something that's directed to them. I feel it's more personal than an automated auction, but that's my feelings. I prefer to email someone directly for an answer, but again - it's a personal preference. There may come a time where ours is more automated. We are still working out the kinks, which we have stated before. All of the feedback to the auction owners and to us has been exceptional, so they must be liked.

As far as the bidding history, this is something we can likely add. We are always open to suggestions and we are not opposed to change. We have many things we are working on and we'll add this to the list.

I'm not sure I like the buy it now feature. If you are going to have a buy it now why not just drop your price on your sales page to the same price? And why would a "buy it now" feature be any different than selling the horse before the auction is over (which seems to bother some people)? Maybe I'm missing something.

I personally like starting the auction at the lowest price I will take and if someone bids...the item is sold. Again...a personal preference.

I can also add that while some auctions may not have alot of bids on the auction themselves...the traffic to the farm sites has increased and sales have been made off of the site itself, instead of through the auction. In other words..animals sold that weren't in the auction, which is always a plus.

 

[ionafarm]

We have ran many online "live" auctions and we still do. These auctions "run by you" were created for the farms that don't want to put out thousands of dollars to transport, bathe, clip, show and possibly not sell their horses. I've been there myself. I've sold horses in live auctions and by the time you are done with all of the percentages and fees, it can be close to a loss.

These auctions were also created to promote the individual farms instead of the auction company. You will see very little of my advertising on anything - it's about the farms and helping people to sell what they need to. And small farms with just a few head can participate the same way a large farm with 40 head can...everyone is treated the same.

Someone asked for the pricing so here's the link.... Auction pricing The costs vary according to how much you want to do and how much you want us to do. That way it's affordable to everyone and there are no hidden costs. If you have questions email me and I'll help you. I'm easy to work with

With that said, I am still a huge fan of the online live auctions because of the excitement and the "live" aspect and I will likely sell horses that way again.

I feel the current online auctions allow everyone to participate at a slower pace with a personalized feel. You have time to research the horses and ask questions. I still buy spur of the moment (guilty) but I'm an auction-holic and a horse-aholic...a dangerous combination. LOL

We have taken the time to answer every question that has been presented to us and I always copy the owners or allow them to answer if it's something that's directed to them. I feel it's more personal than an automated auction, but that's my feelings. I prefer to email someone directly for an answer, but again - it's a personal preference. There may come a time where ours is more automated. We are still working out the kinks, which we have stated before. All of the feedback to the auction owners and to us has been exceptional, so they must be liked.

As far as the bidding history, this is something we can likely add. We are always open to suggestions and we are not opposed to change. We have many things we are working on and we'll add this to the list.

I'm not sure I like the buy it now feature. If you are going to have a buy it now why not just drop your price on your sales page to the same price? And why would a "buy it now" feature be any different than selling the horse before the auction is over (which seems to bother some people)? Maybe I'm missing something.

I personally like starting the auction at the lowest price I will take and if someone bids...the item is sold. Again...a personal preference.

I can also add that while some auctions may not have alot of bids on the auction themselves...the traffic to the farm sites has increased and sales have been made off of the site itself, instead of through the auction. In other words..animals sold that weren't in the auction, which is always a plus.

 

[Becky]

I'm not sure I like the buy it now feature. If you are going to have a buy it now why not just drop your price on your sales page to the same price? And why would a "buy it now" feature be any different than selling the horse before the auction is over (which seems to bother some people)? Maybe I'm missing something.
I personally like starting the auction at the lowest price I will take and if someone bids...the item is sold. Again...a personal preference.

Agree with you, Heather. I'm seeing a buy it now price which is close to the same as the horse is priced at on a website. I'm also confused on those, too, with a buy it now price and a reserve listed which the reserve is less than the buy it now. I thought if a horse reached the reserve it was sold, so why have a higher buy it now price?

Should I choose to run an online auction, the horses will have a starting price and go from there. No reserves.

 

[Songcatcher]

Agree with you, Heather. I'm seeing a buy it now price which is close to the same as the horse is priced at on a website. I'm also confused on those, too, with a buy it now price and a reserve listed which the reserve is less than the buy it now. I thought if a horse reached the reserve it was sold, so why have a higher buy it now price?

Should I choose to run an online auction, the horses will have a starting price and go from there. No reserves.

In my opinion (and my intention) the reserve price should be the starting bid. I don't see much use in listing a reserve price of say $2,000.oo and someone placing a $50.oo bid. On the ones I have listed on an auction, the horse will sell at the end of the auction if the reserve price is met, but if a person does not want to take the chance of being outbid, they can buy it at the "buy it now" price and it will be removed from bidding.

I think these new online auctions are really gaining a lot of attention and I think that is a GREAT thing. I'm sure as time passes there will be a lot of modification and improvements.

 

[Charlotte]

I think these new online auctions are really gaining a lot of attention and I think that is a GREAT thing. I'm sure as time passes there will be a lot of modification and improvements.

I'm enjoying them too Songcatcher. It's fun to pick out horses I like then follow their progress in the auction. Right now I'm following a half sister to Cowboy

Boy was I shocked to see a Cowboy relative show up on auction!

I think it's also great to see a group of farms go together in an auction like you are doing. there is a lot more for a prospective buyer to look at.

Charlotte

 

[cretahillsgal]

Our auction started today and there are several horses on it with "buy it now" options. Some sellers want to use "buy it now" and some do not. I think this is mainly for those people who want the horse bad enough to not mess around with bidding. And run the risk of being outbid and missing out on said horse. That is not to say that the reserve is the same amount. In my opinion the reserve is the bottom dollar that the seller HAS to have to let that horse go.

That said, once a horse has an actual bid, I think the "buy it now" option should be removed. And that bidder has essentially bought that horse, unless someone else bids more later.

 

[REO]

I have permission to post this!

I'm not advertising, just trying to explain the WHY.

I feel like some might be talking about the way my horses are posted in the auction. So I wanted to post.

I don't like high reserves.

The horses on my site are priced at the bottom already. No game playing.

But just like some online auctions that start a gold watch at .99 cents, I decided to start my horses at even less on the auction. But have a BUY IT NOW price that is either the same as or just below my website prices. People can either buy at the buy it now price, no fuss, no muss. Or they can try to buy cheaper at the lower starting price. The lower starting price is the starting bid price. If only that is bid, the horse goes as there is no reserve to reach.

But if someone uses the buy it now, they don't have to wait for the auction to end. It's not like I put the buy it now prices at $10,000 or something LOL!

I don't know why the way I did it is hard to understand. I thought it was better to try to give a further good deal rather than starting the prices to match the website prices and post a way higher price for Buy It Now. My Buy it now isn't there to gouge anyone, just give a choice! I hope that helps!

Thanks ML for letting me explain!