TOPIC: Re: Why did people do token trading?

<br />Speaking of the auction, I think its pretty clear that a Live Auction didn't provide the access that we were expecting.  I wanted to go but couldn't because I was on shift.  Many of the largest token collectors are also volunteers and so by definition you are going to have a conflict.<br /><br />Next year, I think silent open auctions are definitely the way to go.  <br />

<br /><br />I'd rather not have a silent auction.  Why should I shell out 10k when 5k would do?  The thought of the folly astounds and appauls me.<br />That is, unless I totally misunderstand the term "silent" in this reference.  I see you listed "open" as well, so perhaps you mean non-attendies can send a note saying "my max bid on Item 1 is 5k, and my max bid on item 2, if there's any money left-over, is 1k, or 6k if I didn't win item #1?"  Sounds like too much work for someone to track all that.<br /><br />I agree that it would be great if the auction could be open to all volunteers, regardless of their shifts, and to all non-volunteers.  Perhaps such an auction should be held just before or after the Riddle Reveal?<br /><br />JKW<br />

I agree John...if auctions are going to continue almost every year...we don't need to throw our gold away anymore.<br /><br />Open auction from start to finish would be cool...hard to manage, but cool.

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<br />Speaking of the auction, I think its pretty clear that a Live Auction didn't provide the access that we were expecting.  I wanted to go but couldn't because I was on shift.  Many of the largest token collectors are also volunteers and so by definition you are going to have a conflict.<br /><br />Next year, I think silent open auctions are definitely the way to go.  <br />

<br /><br />I'd rather not have a silent auction.  Why should I shell out 10k when 5k would do?  The thought of the folly astounds and appauls me.<br />That is, unless I totally misunderstand the term "silent" in this reference.  I see you listed "open" as well, so perhaps you mean non-attendies can send a note saying "my max bid on Item 1 is 5k, and my max bid on item 2, if there's any money left-over, is 1k, or 6k if I didn't win item #1?"  Sounds like too much work for someone to track all that.<br /><br />I agree that it would be great if the auction could be open to all volunteers, regardless of their shifts, and to all non-volunteers.  Perhaps such an auction should be held just before or after the Riddle Reveal?<br /><br />JKW<br /><br />

<br /><br />I've seen a silent auction before where the highest bidder would pay the second highest price.  In the event of a tie, the one who submitted his or her bid first would win out.  This way you can bid "up to" 10k, and might only have to pay less depending on what other people bid.<br /><br />Either way, silent auctions tend to promote "serious" bidding and may not be nearly as much fun, as they also take out the social intimidation part of live bidding.<br /><br />I don't know which way is better for TD.  Just giving my 2 copper.

We did a modified silent auction in 2006.  It seemed to work fairly well.  Bid were submitted during the day.  At a specified time, all top bids were announce.  At that point, a live auction started with a timer.  If no one bid for a specifed amount of time the auction ended otherwise the timer reset. 

<br />they also take out the social intimidation part of live bidding.<br />

<br /><br />Smak should just get a cardboard cutout of himself made holding up two giant clear plastic hefty bags full of tokens. He can set it up in front of the silent auction stand as portable intimindation.

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<br />they also take out the social intimidation part of live bidding.<br />

<br /><br />Smak should just get a cardboard cutout of himself made holding up two giant clear plastic hefty bags full of tokens. He can set it up in front of the silent auction stand as portable intimindation.<br />

<br /><br />Why do I see this turning into a new wave of TD...  Cardboard Tavern!  So you can be here, even when you're not here!

Cardboard tavern = I'm going to need a lot more fire retardant spray!

Back to the original topic - I do token trading primarily to get rid of tokens I don't want/need and to get tokens that I do want/need (I'd think the primary trading motivation for most people).  And, like others, also to try to help others get what they need. 

<br />We did a modified silent auction in 2006.  It seemed to work fairly well.   <br />

<br /><br />Unfortunately, the silent auction in 2006 was a failure.  Nobody knew what anyone was bidding.  No one knew who was bidding or on what.  The result?  We had people winning with 40gp??  And others bidding 15,000gp unnecessarily?  <br /><br />We need a silent OPEN auction where the high bid is known, people can choose to bid higher than the high bid, and the period where someone can bid (silently) is open for an extended period of time.   :|<br /><br />

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<br />We did a modified silent auction in 2006.  It seemed to work fairly well.   <br />

<br /><br />Unfortunately, the silent auction in 2006 was a failure.  Nobody knew what anyone was bidding.  No one knew who was bidding or on what.  The result?  We had people winning with 40gp??  And others bidding 15,000gp unnecessarily?  <br /><br />We need a silent OPEN auction where the high bid is known, people can choose to bid higher than the high bid, and the period where someone can bid (silently) is open for an extended period of time.   :|<br /><br /><br />

<br /><br />Won't things still be the same though, where everyone will want to wait until the last minute to make their bid, so that they don't give people the ability to bid higher than them at the last minute, and you have a bunch of people putting in the top amount they will bid at the final moment without knowing what the other bidders are bidding? 

<br />Unfortunately, the silent auction in 2006 was a failure.  Nobody knew what anyone was bidding.  No one knew who was bidding or on what.  The result?  We had people winning with 40gp??  And others bidding 15,000gp unnecessarily?  <br /><br />We need a silent OPEN auction where the high bid is known, people can choose to bid higher than the high bid, and the period where someone can bid (silently) is open for an extended period of time.   :|<br /><br /><br />

<br />Um, Douglas, that is exactly what we did in 06', you do know that right?<br />From 9am - 6pm there were open Bid sheets for each item, and we had a board up with the current high bid for each item and updated it accordingly. From 6pm-7pm it went silent, where people could put in their last bid where others wouldn't see it.<br />From 9am - 6pm, you knew who you were bidding against. And you could only be the high bidder on one item per day. So if you got out bid you could shift to bidding on a different item if you felt it had moved out of your price range.<br /><br />The 40 GP you speak of was a bit of miscommunication.<br />Les had expressed interest in it. And so lots of traders thought someone else was bidding on it for her so no one bid. Some young player(in their teens I think) bid all the gold he had from his bag on the token in question. And since no one bid against him he won.<br /><br />Also some items had several people interested in it and so the bids got ran up quite high on them.<br />Much like ebay, some auction items get watched closely and have lots of bidding action, and others seem to go under the radar.<br />That doesn't make Ebay a failure. And I think that must have been a very COOL experience for the young new player who snagged himself an artisan token.

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<br />Unfortunately, the silent auction in 2006 was a failure.  Nobody knew what anyone was bidding.  No one knew who was bidding or on what.  The result?  We had people winning with 40gp??  And others bidding 15,000gp unnecessarily?  <br />We need a silent OPEN auction where the high bid is known, people can choose to bid higher than the high bid, and the period where someone can bid (silently) is open for an extended period of time.   :|<br />

<br />Um, Douglas, that is exactly what we did in 06', you do know that right?<br />

<br /><br />Actually, this isn't what we did in '06.<br /><br />The first part was silent open true but that was not the auction.  That was like a wierd starting point poll or something.  Honestly, I am not sure why we even bothered when it helped you in no way to bid during this silent open portion (unless you thought you could scare away everyone).<br /><br />It was the 6PM to 7PM silent CLOSED portion that was the real auction, when people started to make their real bids.<br /><br />And looking at eBay, one of the reasons it is successful is because it is a silent open auction.  It would be a very different experience if it were silent closed.<br /><br />As for timing, there is a simple solution.  Every bid adds one minute to the auctiion.  This gives people waiting in line a chance to beat the latest bid.  You could even go into a Live Open auction at the end of the time if there are two people going back and forth on the paper.  But I think this would be the exception and could be resolved rather quickly.  Alternatively, you can have the sale price to the highest bidder equal to the second highest bid and there are no limits to bid increments.