About auctions - Part I

Okay I watched this phenomenon the whole day yesterday and several times before ....

People are breeding a breedable - they know we are doing auctions - at auction day they come and look around ... and even if they already see something on the panels they do not put up something ... but keep on coming and looking.

Some do ask me if a lot of ppl will come ... some ask what they should ask for their breedable and when I answer them ... they finally tell me "mh well I am not sure, think I better do not try".

Others come, have a look around and say "mh only sellers in here" ... and they are gone.

Watching this since the day I did my first auction - and I do auctions for almost 2 years now - let me come to this point now where I think it may be helpful to talk about auctions ...



OF COURSE we all want to sell our breedables at auctions for the best price. Nobody comes to auctions cause they are bored. And everybody is disappointed when their breedable is not sold.

BUT - AUCTIONS ARE MUCH MORE THAN THIS - and auctions are an IMPORTANT part of the whole breedable thing!!!

So ... let´s first talk about the financial aspect. The point is - you want to sell your breedable. Renting a spot somewhere and putting your stuff up is the easiest way to do it.
But selling your stuff at auctions means the chance to get more money for it. Why? Cause auction CAN do a nice thing: causing a BID WAR :=))))
With bid wars you get higher prices for your stuff. But - when do bid wars take place? How to cause bid wars?

First of all - nobody can guarantee a bid war. It happens - or it does not happen. But you can do a few things that make it easier to cause a bid war:
♦ Do not put more than 2 breedables on one panel. The more breedables you put out the less you will sell them. Cause ppl might be interested in ONE or even two of the breedables you put out - but they are not willing to pay for 4 or more if they only can use one or two. Putting out 2 - specially as a breeding pair - makes more sense and ppl are more willing to buy two even if they only can use one.
♦ Do not set the starting bid too high. The lower the starting bid the bigger the chance to cause bid wars. Once ppl have the idea of a bargain in mind they WANT it - and that means they will bid. Even if it goes higher and higher. Not always - but very often ;=) BUT - be aware of the fact that you might NOT cause any bid war at all too - and that means - you might have to give your breedable away for the low starting bid.
♦ Put as much informations on your NC as you can. Means - if there are good breeds and/or traits in the background too - name them. It makes it easier for the auctioneer to explain how special and good your breedable is.

Talking of pricing breedables at auctions in general. Not an easy thing. It is difficult to tell others what they should ask for their breedable - but here are some points to think about when pricing breedables at auctions.
♦ First of all it depends on what YOU want for your breedable. Means - do you want to get a certain price as minimum or do you want to gamble? Cause no matter WHAT price you are starting with - you always have to keep in mind that you might have to give it away for exactly THAT amount.
♦ The price of a breedable does not only depend on the traits it has but also on the background - at least for those who do pass their traits and stuff. That means the better the background is the higher you can set the price.
♦ Keep an eye on the market. You should know about the prices - it makes no sense when you think something special is worth 10k - but all over the markets you can see the same for 5k or even less. Trying to sell yours at an auction for 10k then will NOT work. If you WANT to sell it for that price you need to sell it in a market spot - and be patient. But at an auction it will not work.

... okay - so far so good ... that was about prices for breedables at an auction. But as I told you before - auctions are much more than just selling stuff ... stay tuned for more informations about breedable auctions :=)))