Art voice auction feedback
 Location: Bethel, CT
Website: [Link]
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I attended the voice auction and once it got past about the half way point bidding really seemed to peter out, even though there were more people in attendance later on. There was one point where there was a long string of items sold to bid sheets right near the end.* This was probably due to the last two pieces going for $1750 and $2500. The losing bidders on those pieces could easily have spent more on stuff that appeared earlier in the auction and driven price higher once they didn't have to hold $1000+ in reserve for some pieces. Now, its hard to tell exactly which pieces are going to get into that range. I think the $2500 piece went from a final bid sheet bid of around $400 up to that $2500. However, the $1750 piece entered at $1700 and only had a $50 advance. I did notice popular artists had their work split up so it not all the art by an artist occurred in one chunk. So it clearly wasn't organized by order of bays or item number. It really wasn't obvious how things were organized. For future voice auctions, it would seem to make sense that the pieces that have the highest bids on them from the bid sheets should go FIRST in the auction. (or at least be given higher priority to go) If they're already up into the $500 range, its pretty obvious that somebody is going to lose it and suddenly have $500 to spend on later pieces. Strict numeric order doesn't have to be maintained, but the sorters at the auction could easily do three stacks. Everything starting above X (let's say $200) goes in the highest priority pile to go first. Most will stay in the average category that makes the bulk of the auction. Everything below a certain value goes in the 'low priority' pile to go at the end of the auction. That seems like it should up all the final bids over all and make it easier for people that lost a big piece to make bids on stuff they couldn't afford earlier. (* We were actually attending auction to defend a piece that end up selling to the bid sheet near the end. We were surprised we didn't have to bid again to defend it, but it was during the big lull in bidding) |
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Location: Melbourne area, Florida
I think it's a bit hard to order things in a free-form auction like that. A good chunk of the time I believe people are only interested in what they are defending. Putting the more expensive pieces earlier in the auction does seem to make sense, but it's always good to have one of the last three pieces be something that has huge contention over it to be entertaining.
Also, I had issue of not being able to attend the art auction due to the GO(OK)H's panel that morning. It went long as well, so I didn't even get to sneak in near the end. Unfortunately, scheduling is so very hard to handle at this point. I'd just do a blanket statement of saying "Move it", but then you're either shoving it to early in the morning, conflicting with other things, or putting it at a horrible hour like 5.
If you want to really see pathetic, you should have been at the charity auction.
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permalinkBlog: [Link]
What did you not like about the charity auction?
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permalinkLocation: Melbourne area, Florida
I did not sit through the entire thing, but I was slightly disappointed in the bidding. I know it happens at other cons, I've sat through charity auctions at two FWAs and one PPMP. It just seemed like the willingness to bid was lower than what I've seen. I might be imagining things though...so take my offhand comment with a large grain of salt.
I unfortunately have no suggestion on improvements. I could say "Well, just move it later to Sunday" and then people will not be able to bid because they spent all their money. Perhaps it'd be better to place it a little later next year. Of course, the massive deluge of programming makes it so hard to fit things perfectly. My problem was the GOH Q&A occuring at the same time...so I only could sit in for an hour.
I am glad though at the news of people making donations as they passed by in the dealer's den. I guess that makes up for what I personally saw at the charity auction. The special show also helped quite a bit, I'd like to see that happen again next year. Depending on the personality of the GOH(s), perhaps adding them as a 3rd if only for shout outs from the audience or leading questions/comments. Or perhaps a special presentation/q&a thing as part of the charity show...just spinning out some ideas.
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permalinkNot speaking for Petercat or Anthrocon:
I've seen similar things tried before. They don't always work out the way you think they would/should.
People who are bidding over $1000 for a single item are often not interested in other pieces. This single piece 'speaks' to them in some way they cannot always describe. If they lose that piece, they may leave the auction at that point because they are uninterested in anything else.
The work of one artist is almost always split up. Having a long succession of pieces by any single artist causes a kind of numbness on the bidders. This causes the bidding to drop and the audience's attention wavers. It ends up being unfair to the artist.
The only option that works as a general rule is to put items with the most bids in earlier in the auction. Even then, high-priced items are often put up as a sort of 'break' to allow those bidding on lesser-priced items to take a breather. Also remember that the people working the auction cannot know for certain which piece will get verbal bids. Pieces that get a lot of bids on the sheet may get none at the auction and vice versa.
These are just my observations, based on the cons I've attended since 1977...
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permalinkBlog: [Link]
All of the pieces have the same number of bids by the time they get to auction.
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
Website: [Link]
We deliberately mix up the order just to keep things interesting. We know not all pieces are going to get a lot of action, so we intersperse with those we think might. We start with some "wowzers" to get things going, and try to end with the big one. There's not a lot of time to pre-plan things, so the choice of order is done substantially on the fly, at the whim of the auctioneers or the staff member picking pieces.
It's hard to say why there was a lull in bidding. Sales in general were somewhat less than last year, and as someone mentioned the Charity Auction was way down. That may be an effect of the weak economy and high gas prices: people saved their money to travel and stay at the con and by Sunday afternoon, didn't have much left to spend.
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PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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permalinkWebsite: [Link]
From watching the voice auction and walking through at end of the show, sales seemed to mirror the overall economy. It mirrored the real estate market closely, which has the largest range of prices, so easiest to spot trend. The middle has dropped out of the market. The very high end items continued to sell as well as before. Very inexpensive things continued to sell. Things in the middle suffered as buyer for those shifted to the lower priced items.
It's hard to tell if that is in fact true without having numbers to crunch. If the art show would be willing to release a data sample with no artist IDs attached, I'd love to have a go at crunching the numbers. (sometime after all checks are released, of course)
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permalinkLocation: Roseville, CA, USA
I think that it is nigh impossible for the artists, the artshow staff, or for the bidders themselves to be able to say, after inspecting the offerings and before placing any bids, just what will go for how much. Even after items have gone to the voice auction, trying to pick the "prizes" is damned difficult. I suspect that the bidders themselves did not know how high some items would go, not without a keen insight into who else is bidding, and why.
Are the prices a good way for judging the value of Anthro Art? I think ONLY if a wide body of work for a particular artist, or a particular subject and style, can be tracked for a few years; and that would be heavy number crunching - and still be only a rough tool for making future predictions.
I am able to present the following numbers to crunch - they represent one buyer's purchases, and include motivational pressure, where that motivation can be known. It is only through some privilege that I could be privy to this information for this one buyer:
RED DEATH - Artist, Arphalia - Adult show - Photo print - $10 (min bid)
The buyer has a few of her original sketches, and is reminded of the work of Eric Blumrich.
JUNGLE STICK - Eric Schwartz - General show - Colored Pencil - $10 ($1)
This is a running gag, traced back to EWS entering a "Stick Vixen" at AC2000
LITTLE WHITE DRESS - Diana Harlan-Stein - General Show - Colored Pencil - $20 ($10)
The Buyer collects vixen art, and DHS has a particular talent for them.
MAGIC MIRROR - Diana Harlan-Stein - General Show - Colored Pencil - $40 (min bid)
Another DHS vixen, this one a larger format, fantasy theme, use of negative space
JACKAL HEADED GOD - Terrie Smith - General Show - Water Colour marker, ink - $100 ($75)
This was the back-cover art for ANUBIS-DARK DESIRES #4, done in Mucha style.
DILIGENCE - Heather Bruton - General Show - Gouach, Acrylic,... - $100 (min bid)
The "Art Pirates" "Seven Virtues". The Buyer had HB's "Sin", SLOTH, from last year.
Owning the two together seemed appropriate, and it was cute, and no one else had bid by the close of the art show.
DR. CYCLOPS - Roz Gibson - Adult Show - PRINT 1 of 2 - $150 ($10)
Yes, it was a PRINT. Only two, plus the original, exist. It is a very nice example of Roz Gibson's skill - and perhaps a window into her macabre side. Limited edition prints are sometimes the only examples that the artist will sell, as in the case of a commission.
HUMILITY - Michele Light - General Show - Coptic marker; framed - $200 ($100)
ML's contribution to the "virtues"; Last year, she did PRIDE, and again, the buyer owns that one, too, so he went for the pair. It is cute and tender and "happy".
DID YOU NOTICE IT'S SPRING? - TaniDaReal - Marker, Pencils - $215 ($40)
The buyer had not expected it to be contested to such a high price, but he sent it to voice auction - and won it when no one bid there. There was a cuter, more whimsical piece by this artist, but it already had one bid; the buyer was first bid on this particular piece, and didn't think it would be contested; in the end, the other piece ended the show with only 2 or 3 bids, and at a much lower price, but this particular buyer is not inclined to just "bid on something" because it is cheaper; it somehow seems mean and cruel to jump into something that others have already made bids on long before, perhaps savoring the idea of possession, and then "rob" them of it at the last minute. Not every bidder follows this credo, however!
BACK OFF - Heather Bruton - General Show - Gouach, Acrylic... - $350 ($30)
Black, femme cat, with bat-like wings, tormented demon; Last year, HB did a male version of this, a stock-character of her own - and absent-mindedly painted him with feathered wings, by mistake. She titled it SMOULDER, and it was VERY APTLY named. SMOULDER, by the way, had a minimum bid of only $35; the buyer put in the first - and only - bid at $100, which went uncontested. This buyer will try to offer a fair price for what he sees, regardless of the Minimum Bid asked by the artist. Considering what went into it, SMOULDER was still a bargain - a fair price for each piece might be closer to $275-$300.
ARCTIC TREASURES - GoldenWolf - General Show - Color Pencil, Framed - $700 (min bid)
There were two versions of this - a limited edition print, matted, and the framed original. There were only two Goldenwolf originals in this show; while the most fantastic prices have been paid for GoldenWolf original Acrylics, this buyer finds a certain life and vitality in her colored pencil pieces, and owns several. WINGS OF LOVE was offered at FC a couple years ago, and fetched $1,000 - but the seller had originally paid $3,500. This last year, however, another owner offered a different large-format pencil piece at the FC artshow - and was able to sell it at a profit. So there IS a resale record for GoldenWolf Art, though it is mixed - it CAN appreciate in value, depending on the time and market in which it is offered.
CHARITY - Dark Natasha - General Show - Acrylic, ink, pencil... - $2,500 ($25)
Last year, Natasha's contribution to the "Art Pirates" theme was GREED (JUST ONE MORE), featuring an uber-cute, big-eyed fruit bat, overburdened with a pile of figs barely contained within his wings, and all he can see is the one fig that he didn't already have. It sold for $1,000, and went to this buyer. As with the other "Virtue"
Illustrations, it seemed appropriate to have the matched pair. There was also a Limited edition jumbo print (1 of 5) at Dark Natasha's panel. Frankly, this buyer didn't expect the bidding to go as high as it did; the charity image wasn't as cute as the greed one had been, but was a natural follow-up to it. One can understand why, if someone owned one, they would go to extraordinary lengths to obtain the other.
I hope this helps - make of it what you can. Please note that 4 items went for minimum bid, and slight risers on a couple more; only 2 items of interest went to voice auction, and both were above what the buyer had anticipated paying. Additionally, this same buyer had pursued the Dark Natasha reclining snow leopard original, which went to the Adult Voice Auction,...and dropped out at $1,500.
An Auction is an exercise in reducing the demand to meet the supply. Once you have less than 3 buyers in that market, determining a reasonable, "fair" price becomes impossible, but it will usually be somewhere just above the threshold where the 3rd buyer drops out - if you actually start with a demand of 3 or more buyers in the first place. And once you have only two buyers, the actual price is determined - not by the winner - but by the Loser.
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permalinkRegarding the $1750 piece, I was bidder #7 on the bid sheet (I think). I did not bother defending the piece at the voice auction because the 8th bid had already exceeded the price I could afford to pay. Actually, my own bid had exceeded the price I could afford to pay! I was planning to eat nothing but cereal for a while after I got home.
When you start talking about pieces that go for over $1500, I'm not sure how much more action you're going to get on them in the voice auction. You need to have several well-heeled bidders who really want the piece. Interested bidders simply might not be in the audience or might well be tapped out. (Like me! I'm a grad student.
)
I almost always attend the voice auction, but attending Floyd Norman's panel was more important to me, even though it meant losing numerous pieces that went to auction. Sorry!
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permalinkLocation: NJ
*sinister smile* >:3
Ohhhhh? Does that mean you can now afford some pics from United Paws Animations? ;3
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permalink*tries to hide*
Well...I do like cereal, I guess...
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permalinkLocation: NJ
Cereal is pretty expensive these days...
If you live off ramen noodles, grass, and insects, you can afford even MORE art!
:B
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permalinkLocation: Roseville, CA, USA
I have one complaint about the voice auction, and it is pretty much the same complaint as I had last year.
It was RUSHED. It had the feel of an auction for TOBACCO LEAVES. There was great pressure to get the thing over, done with, and out of the way; disposed of, as though it were an unpleasant or distasteful hindrance, rather than the culmination of one of the prime attractions of the convention.
The Dorsai have a reputation for running auctions. They are very good at getting the thing MOVING; but BOTH of the Dorsai Auctioneers, both the one assisting Glen in the Adult Auction - I think Mr. Stein, DI "Skippy", and the one assisting Dr. Conway the next day - had the habit of talking rapidly, speaking loudly, and talking over bids from the audience, thus missing them.
A conscious effort was made by Glen and Peter to try to end the Art Show bidding process, while allowing opposing bidders to protect their bids or challenge opposing bids on multiple pieces. I think, for the size of the art show this year, that it was done with great vigor and dispatch, thus saving us from the appearance of an impatient Kage, declaring the Art Show CLOSED, and actually costing many artists additional bids or income, as happened so disasterously LAST year. But even with that added vigor, it still took about 40 minutes, and when everyone had finally cleared out, only about 15 minutes to get from the Art Show to the space where the voice auction was held.
The voice auction started nearly on-time; it took off running, and didn't slow down, and there was no real effort to try to "sell" a piece by highlighting any of its virtues, or tease any sort of bids from audience members sitting on their hands. This used to be a major source of fun at the auction, as anyone and every one were fair targets, in a free-spirited sort of way. Instead, we got treated to an auctioneer who clearly didn't wish to be doing this chore, as it was keeping him from other, more pressing matters, and besides, the room was scheduled to host the "KAGE AND 2tRG Charity Stand-up Comedy Revue" very shortly, and that might require a bit of pre-planning, relaxation, or some other preparation to pull off.
I know that interested bidders either were not there because they took a break for something to eat after the artshow close, or were in the Floyd Norman event across the hall. While this may have helped me, I feel that it cost the artists potential income to be rushed through like congress tacking on an earmark to a 743-page bill, granting themselves a pay-raise. It was almost unseemly to be rushed like that.
Perhaps - Next Year? - we can schedule the voice auction for 2 hours after artshow close? And/or close the artshow at 11? Yes, it will take a long time to actually close, but that 2-hour buffer still allows an hour to grab something to eat, or go to ones' room to "freshen up" (provided the elevator line is moving, of course). Even though the Arshow opens at 10, an hour to bid on the last day is reasonable. Everyone who is "just looking" has had Friday and Saturday to do that.
And please - can we go back to Dr. Conway AND Glen Wooten doing the general auction? Yeah, it's not as "efficient" that way, but it HAS earned better returns for the artists in the past, and is certainly more fun.
And I MISSED the chance to spend money at the Charity Auction. I still do not know when it took place, or where (I suspect one of the Allegheny ballrooms?). But I have never seen the Kage/2 charity show, and don't particularly care to. I enjoy Dr. Conway's stories. I am not filled with the same warmth for 2's brand of "humour"; I am very much put off by it.
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
Website: [Link]
Thanks for your comments -- we do need to recalibrate the way auctions are handled. That's mostly my fault, since Sunday is always a challenge. We're stretched thin doing 3 things at once (auction, sales and artist check-out). After last year's problems I focused on making sure sales started on time, since if that runs late it delays teardown which costs us money to keep the union crews waiting, and I didn't have time to stop by and see how the auction was going.
From what I've heard the auctioneers may have rushed things because of a perception that there were more pieces than they could comfortably handle in the allotted time. In order to start the auction on time, we send up an initial batch of a dozen or so, mostly pieces that already have enough bids by Sunday morning, since we can start collecting them before noon. That gives us an extra half-hour or so to send up the next batch, and so forth. But when the auctioneers saw the later batches coming in, they may have gotten concerned.
The staffer who organized the auction last year was ill, so the task fell to someone who'd helped with the auction before, but not organized it all on his own. I haven't had a chance yet to debrief him, but I'll find out how things strayed from the plan and figure out what's needed to make it work. With two experienced staffers on hand, one can handle the administrative details (recording high bids, etc.) while the other can keep an eye on the pacing and the number of pieces yet to go.
Experience has shown that a nice pacing to the auction averages 2-3 minutes per piece. Some more, some less. That will allow time for 40 pieces in 2 hours. My notes are still packed away, but I vaguely recall someone mentioned there were about 35 pieces auctioned.
I'll speak with Kage and KP about the scheduling of other events Sunday afternoon. We are always going to have other programming to contend with; after all, only about one in six people at the con signed up for bidder numbers, so there needs to be other things for people to do, and there's a lot of great programming that has to be scheduled somewhere.
I'm not too keen on closing the bidding before noon. For one thing, a lot of people are checking out of their hotels and that would give them less time for that. Also, the crew needs those two hours to get everything ready for closeout -- we have to wrangle and train people for the closeout wall, how to pull pieces for auction, marking the bid sheets for sales, etc. I'll ask KP about scheduling the auction for 1:30. I don't think we can start as late as 2 pm because that would impact later events, and when the auction's over I need the staffers who work the auction to augment the sales crew.
--
PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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permalinkLocation: Roseville, CA, USA
Thank you, PeterCat, for your reply and explanation. You have verified just how busy and complex your Sunday operations are. I have had a suspicion of this since ArcticFox noticed me standing in line behind 238 other people waiting to pick up their art or close out their panels, and spotting my VOLUNTEER ribbon, drafted me to come help. I have become used to handling money for people, but frankly the novelty of working the cash register AND the credit card charge machine, instead of just a cash box, had me rather terrified that I would make a mistake and cost either an artist, the Art Show, or a buyer some money owed them, somehow; I'm still not sure if my actions weren't more of a hindrance than a help to your staff, certainly I slowed it down somewhat.
But now a question comes to me - Why do you close out the Adult Show to bidding on SATURDAY, and then leave two additional open hours for the General show on SUNDAY? Between Saturday's artshow close and the adult auction, there were a number of hours for folks to recover, eat, buy stuff, and catch other programming. I realise that the Adult show is, at most, half of the whole artshow, and usually more like a quarter to a third. But I am not so sure that having 2 extra hours to bid on general stuff, and a night to dwell over it, is really an advantage here.
What do you think of the possibility of Ending the bidding process for BOTH parts of the artshow on Saturday? Sure, it would take longer, starting with the adult section first, but this has been done at other (admittedly smaller) artshows. The Voice Auctions can still be held as separate events, Saturday at 11:00pm for the naughty stuff, but NOON on Sunday for the rest! And you could devote ALL of Sunday, from 10:00am on, to sales and pick-up, with only the artists' check-out and the stuff from the voice auction taking up your time after 1:00 or so.
I think that the flexibility which closing the whole show at the end of the day on Saturday gives you, opens up more opportunities in how Sunday goes for you. I think the result would be far less hectic.
The other problem is the idea of "Time Allotted" for a voice auction. In the past, I have seen these things drag on for 5 or more hours, and I know it is no fun for the auctioneers at that point, or for bidders waiting for stuff which winds up coming at the end. I realise that adding additional lines to a bidsheet was meant to restrict the number of pieces going to voice auction to a reasonably easy number to handle; I know that this has sometimes backfired, resulting in NO pieces for a voice auction on occasion, or has no effect, as bidders counterbid in wussy amounts, jockying for the next-to-last bid line, assuring a piece is either theirs, or at least can still be saved at the later voice auction, and ultimately the same number of pieces go to voice, but it slows down the closing-out process at the end of written bids, as bidders stand on each other to fill up those lines at the last minute.
IF you wish to limit the auction to something more managable by the auctioneers, then you need a more PRACTICAL time allotment. ONE HOUR is just NOT ENOUGH - 2 hours would be much more reasonable. Being pressured to move 35 items in an hour, just so that the room is free for a limited-audience stand-up comedy gig, even if it IS for the convention's worthy charity, says something about priorities, and the place that our artists occupy in those priorities. What if there had been 55 pieces - or more - which required voice auction? No one could foresee that NOT happening, but it would have reduced the auction to at best a travesty.
Your artshow is HUGE. You and your all-volunteer staff do a remarkable job, which just gets harder each year as the artshow grows, yet you meet the challenge every time. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in your show, even if only as just one of the bidders. A Kudos to you and your staffers, sir!
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
Website: [Link]
Thanks for your help, Vulpes Rex, and no worries about making mistakes -- better to take it slow and do it right than to do it quickly and wrong. Even slow help is an improvement on no help! I re-check all the paperwork in the process of tallying the sales payments, so even if someone does transpose some digits or whatever, it's caught and corrected. Buyers have been quite cooperative in the past when I've written them to explain they were undercharged by a few dollars, and asking for the balance.
As to why we don't close everything on Saturday, that goes back to ancient history, i.e. Albany AnthroCon 1997. The Art Show closed Saturday night while the Masquerade was in progress, or maybe at the same time it was to start. In any event, there was no last-minute feeding frenzy of bidding as I'd seen at SF con art shows I'd attended. When I later volunteered to help with the Art Show logistics, I largely adopted the rules and practices of those east coast SF art shows -- Philcon, Arisia, Balticon, etc. and they had the Sunday morning feeding frenzy, which in a way is an event in itself.
At this point, I don't think closing the entire show on Saturday is practical. The mature gallery functions almost as a mini art show in itself. Closing both on the same night would take well over an hour, and those waiting to defend bids in the general section would be cooling their heels for a half-hour or more while the mature section gets closed. And pretty much everyone wants to grab a bite to eat and head over to the Masquerade. (Or hide in the restroom until the tornado warning passes, whichever occurs first.)
Plus, I have flashbacks to 1997 when Parkinson's Law came into play: "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." That year we had all night to sort things out to get ready for sales, and it took all night to sort things out and get ready for sales. Our schedule forces us to get organized quickly, and we figure out how to do so. Some "nice to have, but not essential" details get pre-empted -- such as a posted list of items going to auction. That's really a manpower issue -- all it would take is three or four extra people (with neat handwriting) to make the list as the auction pieces are pulled.
The voice auction was scheduled for two hours all along, 1-3 pm; I'm not sure what led you to believe there was only an hour allotted. Frankly, much longer than 90 minutes, and everyone's enthusiasm starts waning, auctioneers and buyers alike. Experience has shown that the number of written bids to auction regulates the number of pieces going to auction, relative to the total number of pieces entered. As the show grows, there'll eventually be 9 or 10 written bids required to send a piece to voice auction. When artists reserve their space, I ask them to estimate the number of pieces they'll enter, so I have a handle on how big the show's going to be and can adjust in advance.
This year we got back to doing something we haven't managed to do for several years: starting the auction (nearly) on time by sending artwork over in batches. But, since there was no exact count ahead of time of the number of pieces being auctioned, I'm told it threw off the auctioneers' pacing -- they saw more pieces arriving for auction, and grew concerned about being able to finish on time.
Ideally I'd have a staffer dedicated to keeping track of the number of pieces and the time remaining, and letting the auctioneers know whether they had to step up the pace, but one of my assistants fell ill and the person organizing the auction hadn't done it all on his own before. I myself was concentrating on making sure sales would start on time, with the help of an assistant director who should be able to handle it on his own next year, so I'll be able to devote more attention to making the auction go more smoothly.
--
PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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permalinkLocation: Philadelphia area, PA
And don't think the staff don't appreciate your willingness to be conscripted. Volunteers are full of win.
Of course, one easy way to help make the art show run smoother is for more folks to volunteer at it more often, especially at check-in and closing. We love our volunteers, but we *adore* our repeat volunteers. You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it...
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permalinkWebsite: [Link]
To cut down on the flood of checkout later (and thus free staff for the voice auction), would it be possible to allow early payment for the mature auction Sunday morning?
Schedule the "early pickup" for 10-11am and post a big sign saying you can still pay for mature items during regular checkout. Station ONE cashier over by the mature show and run through a few people in that period.
You end it at 11AM to give a little runover time for people already waiting to pay, but still have the staff available again to close general.
It'd relieve some of the later pressure during pickup, especially on the credit card machine which seemed to be a major bottleneck during checkout. Tell volunteers that are coming in to help with pickup that if they want to run cashier, the rehearsal will be done with that early mature pickup.
To keep it from being too crazy, you could limit it a couple different way:
1. Cash & check only- Pro: then you don't have to get the cash register and credit card machine running early CON: may make credit card machine bottleneck even worse later. Miss chance to debug system
2. Single item check out only- PRO: its only one item, so easier for training purposes. Also serves as an "express lane" that will make later checkout faster by removing these single items from the line. 10 people with one item each is generally going to take longer than the one guy with ten. CON: May not relieve that much congestion if people end up back in line for general show pickup later.
3. Only if you have bought X number of pieces- PRO: Gets a lot out of the auction in big chunks. CON: People buying lots of pieces may well be back in line again later anyway with a similar stack of general show pieces.
Combining #1 and #2 seems like it would do the most to relieve later congestion and be the least hassle to set up.
You could also make it 2 or 3 items only if the receipts show there's not a lot of single mature items being sold, but lots of 2 or 3 item sales.
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
Website: [Link]
That's an interesting idea! I did offer to process sales at the mature auction Saturday night, for those who had no other purchases, but no one did. Someone else suggested we have a cashier in the mature section for mature-only purchases, so it's a matter of having enough people to make it happen. The same mini-crew (squad?) can be assigned to handle early sales pickup. Even if only a dozen or so people take advantage of it, it means fewer to take care of later.
--
PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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permalinkWebsite: [Link]
I've seen the paperwork for some shows also list a "Buy it Now" price on paperwork thats way, waaaaaay higher than the opening bid and separate from the Price after Close. I've seen it listed a few different ways, but the most logical seems to be if you put in a bid that matches the BIN, it's done and you can pick it up now.
If that was added, that could offer folks the chance to buy and pay for stuff Friday and Saturday by paying the premium price. They mark the BIN price on the sheet and then flag a staff member to let them take the piece to the checkout round the corner (for the Alley) and pay for it right then and there.
it would take some pieces out of the voice auction rotation and cut down on some of the lines on Sunday checkout. It could spur bidding since there'd be the sense that people can't just wait 'til Sunday to get serious about bidding. Seeing someone walk out Friday afternoon with a piece that had been bought for the BIN price could drive people to a bidding (and buying) frenzy to get stuff before its gone. or it could stiffle bidding because there's the potential the piece could be sniped. I can't remember offhand which shows used this method, but a little poking and staff should be able to find out which shows use it and see how it works for them.
Of course, the Buy It Now option should be optional, just like Price After Close. But it might be another way to cut down on the closing madness. it'd also let folks that have to leave early pay the premium price in order to ensure they win the piece. it's the convenience charge.
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
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I've seen "Buy It Now" (aka "Quick Sale") at other cons, and it's probably a wash as to whether it ends up making more money for an artist, or significantly reduces the number of people having to pick up and pay for artwork on Sunday. If someone likes a piece well enough to want to pay the premium for Quick Sale, who's to say there wouldn't have been a second bidder who wanted it equally badly, and it would have gone to voice auction for a lot more? Someone who really badly wants a piece can just enter a jump bid for a lot more than minimum, which amounts to the same thing.
Also, we'd want to keep the QS pieces on display when possible, to avoid having big empty spaces on the panels. Part of the purpose of the Art Show is to showcase the artists' work! And, apart from a few people who wouldn't be around on Sunday for sales pickup, most other bidders would have non-QS pieces to pick up and pay for anyway.
It does complicate operations, as we'd have to be set up to transact sales at any time. Art show funds are deposited into a separate bank account from Artist Alley, so we can't just use their registers. Price After Closing is easier, since it's in effect only on Sunday when we're doing sales anyway.
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PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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Maybe I need to RTFM, but how does that work? How does one indicate a post-closing interest before the artist comes and picks up their work?
Ron
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
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Usually the price after closing is higher than minimum bid, so the thing to do is to just bid on it. After closing it's very much a last chance/impulse buying thing -- maybe someone lost out on another piece and wants to spend the money on something else. Yes, if the artist checks out early in the afternoon it doesn't make much sense (except for mature pieces), but a fair number of artists are also dealers and don't check out until after the Dealers Room closes.
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PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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Eek. No. I've been to a con where they tried a "buy it now!" feature. It killed the bidding. Not a single piece went up for voice auction.
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permalinkAside from all the other reasons already mentioned, there's another from the buyer's point of view. Why should I pay $50 dollars now for a piece I might get for $5 if I write a bid? One answer is that I might be leaving early. The more likely answer is that I, personally, would pay more than $50 for it if it went to voice auction. I'm getting a bargain.
...but the artist could be losing money.
I personally remember one con that did this. One artist placed in a piece for a low minimum bid, and a much higher Quick Sale price. Luckily for him, it got a written bid first because it eventually sold for $600 at voice auction.
The voice auction is a great compromise, in some respects. The buyer gets the piece for the lowest price nobody else is willing to beat and the artist gets the most money they can from that audience.
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But wouldn't that make more help available for checkout scene there is not the hassle of a voice auction?
*grins*
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permalinkLocation: 12 scenic miles from Hell
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I suspect that 'Buy It Now' feature needed to be tuned. It's a standard at many SF and Fantasy shows, and prevents the auctions from becoming 500 to 1000 pieces. Tuning it involves training the artists to put the price significantly higher than the minimum (I recommend a rule requiring 2x to 3x difference) and reminding them that 'buy it now' enables them to capture the purchasers money before he spend it all on the pieces preceeding theirs in the auction. I've seen a number of auctions where most of the available cash goes out in the first half so there are real steals in the second, and vice-versa, where all the deep pockets buyers wait for a couple of pieces near the end and will go home with unspent $$$.
Most of the shows with 'Buy It Now' also make it optional for the artist. If he doesn't want a buy it now price, he writes "N/A" in that slot and takes his chances with the silent and voice auctions.
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permalinkI attended the voice auction and was actualy a bit confused by your offer so I didnt take try to advantage.Was it an offer to pay for things won in the voice auction only?or all of my adult pieces won? I would have paid for all of my pieces won if it was possible that night. I also was wondering if its possible to have a small supply of larger forms to fill out for us bidders who win many pieces. I have had to fill out several sheets many times when I check out.It makes it harder for me,the person tallying the total,and the person checking me out when theres 2 or 3 sheets stapled together.
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permalinkLocation: Syracuse, NY
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It was for items won at the mature voice auction only, since there would be no way to get the bid sheets for your other pieces at that time, as Hall C had been secured for the night.
I'll experiment with how practical a "long form" sales slip would be. Theoretically, using multiple slips shouldn't be that difficult. Divide and conquer: staple the bid sheets for a each sales slip to that slip, then add all the slip subtotals and figure the tax and grand total. But there wasn't a lot of time to train the clerks, so we'll have to improve on that for next time.
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PeterCat
Anthrocon Art Show Director
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permalinkWell the longer form isnt a neccesity.But it would be much easier for us who buy many pieces.And when all those things get stapled together it does pile up and make some mild confusion.
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