There sure has been a lot of discussion here of prices realized
in Bruce's recent auctions. As seems to happen repeatedly,
'knowledgeable' mailing list members question the sanity, the
intelligence, or the thoroughness of
people who choose to bid and win items through Bruce at prices
that are higher than one might find simultaneously through ebay or
online dealers. Of course this tends to apply to more readily
available, and therefore newer, posters.
And so, we get semi-sarcastic emails like this one from JR, and
other helpful 'suggestions'. By the way, JR, who is your email
addressed to? Don't you think everyone on the mailing list would
know this already? Or are you just showing off? (Sorry for
being a bit snarky.)
But I digress. The point is, there are very understandable
reasons why people stick with Bruce, even though they may be paying
more than they might find an identical piece for elsewhere.
First, there's the reliability factor. This has been
discussed ad nauseum. Bruce's operation is generally highly
reliable at each stage of the sale, and people appreciate this; they
look to him to provide a specific level of service. This used to
be called 'brand loyalty'; anyone remember this concept? It once
made sense with things like cars and refrigerators, before these
companies started being bought and sold wholesale. It still
works with posters, though.
Second, there's the convenience factor. Bruce has a great
gallery, beautifully organized, big pictures available, on a fast
server. He will suggest that it's difficult to look through all
his poster offerings, but in fact it's unbelievably easy, even when
it's a thousand or more pieces. (As long as you have a broadband
connection!) And I have to say that SOME dealers websites are
not all that technically proficient. In fact the word
'primitive' comes to mind.
Third, in auctions like these, it is VERY hard to know exactly
where a price will land until the auction is actually over.
Often, a price will hover at a rather low level (lower than a typical
dealer, anyway) until the final seconds. And often, I think, two
bidders will place unusually high last second bids (or auto-snipes)
with the thought that they will probably get it for less. I am
sure that they are often shocked themselves at what they wind up
paying!
Finally, I think it's a mistake to assume that members of the
Bruce Buyers Brigade don't know or suspect that they might find their
choices elsewhere for less. If they waited. Or spent TIME
searching websites. Or sending emails. Or making phone
calls. Or whatever. Perhaps many people have other things
to do? Things that Bruce's 'one-stop shopping' allows them to
do?
Oh, in case you think I'm one of these people I'm describing,
well, I'm not. I used to be, though! These days, I always
check out Bruce's auctions, but I also buy much material from favorite
as well as random ebay sellers, auction houses, dealers, and private
sales. I've bought from many of you. Pretty much everyone
all the time! What's the Harrod's _expression_? Omnia,
Omnibus, Ubique. Something like that. On the other hand, perhaps
that means that I have no life.
Although Bruce will say it's impossible, I still think there are
people out there, maybe even on this mailing list, with the resources
and intelligence to replicate his successful formula. It's not
copyrighted! But you haven't, so far. Why is that?
Randy Petersen
---------------------------------------
At 3:49 PM -0600 12/22/04, MoPo Bid wrote:
OK, with the absurd prices paid last night for quite a large number of recent-vintage posters, some only a few years old, I have to ask this:
Don't you people know about internet search engines?
Listen, it's the latest thing. Really. You just go to yahoo or google or ask jeeves or a dozen other places and in the search window you type in the title of the film in quotation marks, like this:
"Saturday Night Fever"
... but wait! Before you hit the search button, add one or two words to help find that poster. Like this:
"Saturday Night Fever" poster buy for sale
... NOW hit the SEARCH button. You will be amazed at all the listings that are found. Yes, some will be out of date. Some will actually be come-ons for some product having nothing to do with the film or the poster (don't ask me how this happens...), but a lot of them will actually be links to real-live movie poster dealers with real live web sites who have the poster you are looking to buy for sale and -- get this -- there will be a retail price posted on it. And here's the amazing part -- you can actually BUY the poster you want from these places. What's more, many of these websites are run by honest, highly-reliable, reputable dealers who have been around for years... decades, even!
Honestly. It's true. The medical facts of the matter are this: You actually do not have to keep upping your bid at one of these "major event" auctions and pay 3 or 4 times what other people will sell you the same poster for. You can just stop bidding and go buy it for less from one of these established retail dealers! I know, hard to believe, huh?
I mean, bidding on auctions is great when the price stays in the bargain range... maybe even low retail. But once it crosses over the high-retail mark and keeps climbing, what is the point of buying it at auction -- unless it truly is a hard-to-find item that isn't generally available on retail web sites?
This Believe-It-Or-Not factoid brought to you as a public service by www.MoviePosterBid.com
As if you think it's strange that an auction site would be publicly advocating responsible, honest and informed bidding and buying, then you miss the whole point behind MoviePosterBid.
-- JR
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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