posted 09-07-2021 02:41 PM               

My timed auction is on Sept. 18th and I need to upload it tonight at the latest. I've never done a timed auction before, and while setting it up at Invaluable, I have met some logistical roadblocks.

I must run a timed auction this time for two reasons — first is that I have way too many lots to run live, and second, our internet provider is having a four to six hour maintenance outage on the weekend of my auction, and that would be a disaster.

My auction will be 900 lots. Invaluable has hard-wired in (with no change options) a time of one minute between lots and an added five minutes if a bid is received within the last minute of closing (I would have preferred two or three minutes, but no option to change). With 900 lots, that means a 15 hour auction at one minute between each lot (I wanted it at 40 seconds which would make this a 10 hour auction — much more manageable).

However, it is what it is, so I have two options, and I would like to have your opinions please.

First, I could break the auction into two days — 450 lots on Saturday and 450 lots on Sunday. And second, I could just go ahead and list all 900 lots for Saturday and let it run for 15 hours. Absentee bidding of course would be available throughout.

posted 09-07-2021 05:37 PM               

To answer Robert's questions, yes, each following lot goes off one minute after the preceding lot, unless there is a bid with less than one minute remaining, then five more minutes are added to that lot.

The biggest problem with a 15 hour auction is time zones - most my many European customers will not be around probably after 10 hours - some will, but many won't. Yes they can absentee bid at any time and Invaluable will bid up incrementally and they can calculate when their lot will come up, but they can also do that in a two-day auction. If I could have set the time between lots at 40 seconds instead of one minute, it would have been fine as a 10 hour auction.

posted 09-08-2021 10:21 AM               

The uploading of the Lunar Legacies 36 auction to Invaluable and Auction Zip has been completed, and it is ready for viewing and pre-bidding.

Due to the number of lots in this auction and the inflexibility of Invaluable with their timed auctions, it has been determined that the best way to do this for all customers will be to split the auction in half and have two separate sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

• Sesson One
  Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, starting at 8 a.m. PDT (1500 GMT)
  Lots 1 through 452
  (Miscellaneous, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo)

  Invaluable | Auction Zip

• Session Two
  Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, starting at 8 a.m. PDT (1500 GMT)
  Lots 453 through 895
  (Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, Shuttle (lots!), Russian)

  Invaluable | Auction Zip

Lot descriptions should all be completed by the end of this week, but the photos and bidding numbers are correct and you may pre-bid now if you so choose once you are registered.

Because it is a timed auction, mail-in bids cannot be accepted, unfortunately.

posted 09-08-2021 11:59 AM               

Astronaut Group 16 made only 3" stickers of the design. They produced no patches. Three members of the group confirmed that with me.

I produced 4" patches in October 2019 and sent them to various astronauts in the group, including John Herrington. Mr. Herrington subsequently without my knowledge had another batch produced by A-B Emblem, the company I used. The patch with the sticker in the lot is from his batch. You can purchase them on Etsy from him for $15 each under NativeSpaceman.

posted 09-18-2021 05:00 PM               

Even though it's possible to bid early, I generally bid close to the end of each listing, to ensure I keep to a budget based on final prices. I usually make a list of the 10-15 items I want, and then decide which to go for based on the running total.

In past auctions, I found myself checking in constantly to monitor the progress. But with a timed auction, I'm able to know exactly what time I need to check back each time. I was able to bid on everything I wanted, without feeling glued to the computer for 8 hours straight.