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Author
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Topic: What's wrong with Astro-auction.com ?
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 10-27-2005 11:12 AM
   
Astro-auction.com is an auction website dedicated to Spaceflight memorabilia...
Consider this:
1. Users who want to sell are well-known collectors, most cS-forummembers!
2. Items are checked and presented with a photo.
3. Posting an item is FREE of charge!
4. eBay-like feedback system...
5. Honest prices in my opinion.How come that most items don't sell, each item is viewed dozens times but NO buyers when I consider 8 out of 10 items ? Items put on Astro-auction either sell immediately or won't sell at all ... so what's wrong with the website ?
Curious to read Your opinion ;-) |
mdmyer
Member Posts: 900
From: Humboldt KS USA
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted 10-27-2005 12:37 PM
My opinion is that many items are listed with too high of an opening bid. It is the same as a reserve. As you mentioned, many of the buyers are experenced and they know the value of the items. I think they know when items have too high of an opening bid so they don't bid on them. With E-bay the cost of the auction is based in part on the opening bid and that can lead to a low opening bid. Astro-auction is free so people can set a high opening bid without having to pay a higher cost. I have been rated about 142 times on E-bay. Most of them are from sellers because I don't sell that much. I have made 2 purchases on astro-auction. Mike Myer
Humboldt KS |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 10-27-2005 02:30 PM
I agree with Mike above regarding the high opening bids on Astro-Auction. Plus, AA seems to focus more on artwork and photos, while my prime interest is in space covers. I've had over 500 transactions on eBay, almost all space-cover related, and none on AA. |
Richard
New Member Posts: 5
From: Morrisonville, New York USA
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted 10-27-2005 04:51 PM
I agree, people seem to overvalue their collection and set a price that is usually too high for the market value. Why buy a flown item for 10K when you could get the same for 2K at an Aurora auction. Many people know this and therefore they don't bid.Furthermore, most of the interesting items come from Novaspace. In these cases it seems that the reserve is just as high as buying directly from Novaspace itself. This takes out a lot of the excitement which ebay offers. Also, it makes the site just a little boring. So much so, that I've really stopped even looking at the site, unfortunately. On ebay, you never know what is going to pop up, and sometimes the sellers have no clue to the value of their item. True, there are forgeries on ebay (and there has been debate about AA in the past), but this is part of the thrill - having to decide what is the real deal and what is junk.
On AA, noone even will bother to discuss an item for fear of getting Novaspace pissed off. In fact, in the past I was about to buy a very expensive book off AA. Before I bought it, I asked an opinion here on cS. The reaction I got was incredible and I was amazed at the emails I recieved. Needless to say, the seller definitely lost the sale from me. When one is scared to even discuss an item, it really takes all the fun out of the purchase. Therefore, on ebay you can actually get that great deal and find the "diamond in the rough." Ebay seems to be much more fun and interesting. However, I hope this will change in the future because AA is really a great idea.
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Scott
Member Posts: 3307
From: Houston, TX
Registered: May 2001
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posted 10-27-2005 07:21 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Richard:
In fact, in the past I was about to buy a very expensive book off AA. Before I bought it, I asked an opinion here on cS. The reaction I got was incredible and I was amazed at the emails I recieved. Needless to say, the seller definitely lost the sale from me. When one is scared to even discuss an item, it really takes all the fun out of the purchase.
Richard,
Was that the item where the seller didn't even supply a picture of the signatures, but rather only showed an image of the front of the book, because anything they thought was authentic was of course authentic? LOL.
Your post was very appropriate and completely understandable.
Scott
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ALAIN
Member Posts: 355
From: GENT, Belgium
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-28-2005 12:08 AM
Yes indeed too high opening bids takes the fun out of the auction. I like to bid and wait & see what the end-price will be, that's part of the success ( addiction ) of eBay ! |
spaced out
Member Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 10-28-2005 02:32 AM
The site is excellent and offers a valuable service for free but because it is not heavily used at present (for whatever reason) no seller can afford to risk listing an item with a low opening bid and no reserve.That said, when you see an interesting item sell on eBay for just a little bit more than you were willing to pay for it (but still at a good price), all too often it pops up on AstroAuction 10 days later listed at double the eBay selling price. [This message has been edited by spaced out (edited October 28, 2005).] |
spaceflori
Member Posts: 1499
From: Germany
Registered: May 2000
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posted 10-29-2005 12:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by spaced out:
That said, when you see an interesting item sell on eBay for just a little bit more than you were willing to pay for it (but still at a good price), all too often it pops up on AstroAuction 10 days later listed at double the eBay selling price.
As a seller on both sites I rather made the opposite experience, there are great deals on Astroauction as well and I had listed several items on Astroauction or my website for weeks before I put them on ebay with a $1 start bid and they realized more than on Astroauction or my website ! The good thing about Astroauction is the 10 minute rule and you almost never have any problems with the bidders and sellers there as opposed to ebay.
Wish there would be some more traffic, but I guess it's the same fate as all the other free auction sites share, they can't get out of ebay's shadow even though their system is better. A perfect example why some economy theories just don't work here. Florian
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Flown artifacts, autographs and more !
www.spaceflori.com |
mikelarson
Member Posts: 293
From: Port Washington, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 10-29-2005 08:11 AM
I'm a fan of Astro-auction because it's a great place to get high-quality, mostly authentic autograph items. And with no fees, WOW!!As for why most items don't sell, it's because most sellers on Astro use the site as more of a marketplace (high starting price with a buy it now price only a few bucks more) vs. a traditional auction site. The other huge issue is that most people just don't know about it, so it doesn't get the traffic Ebay gets. We could all make Astro better and improve the traffic by putting subtle references in any Ebay listings that we have. Mike Larson | |
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