Auctions at meetings

[Ltrepeter2000]

Just to provide the thread for continued discussion of auction ideas.

[krisw]

To quote from the other thread:

Rob said:

I also like the auction but think that there need to be some limitations. Possibly preregistration of items so that 1) someone doesnt miss the entire meeting typing the list into a computer 2) Cuts down on the last minute items 3) Makes it visible quickly if we are going to have an overabundance of a certain plant so that there are limits to how many of each are actually in the auction. I think that this would keep the auction alot more organized and give everyone an idea of what to expect.

Kris said:

You also have some good ideas for the auction that we could investigate. We could also ask for some soft limitations such as not bring multiple bags of items, unless all of them contain massive amounts of plants, and then, limit to 2 bags of any given plant type per seller. Or, something like a 5 bag per seller limit. Of course, that could penalize the advanced hobbyist from sharing the wealth of being able to grow multiple plants well, and wanting to share them throughout the club. For now, the auctions are large, but manageable. I think Aaron/Jeff did a great job balancing speed with explanation at the last auction, as it seemed to move faster than the meeting before, despite having more items. I think we ought to stick with the dual auctioneer system in the future.

Ghazanfar said:

I REALLY like this idea - regardless of the current topic at hand.
It the next step from posting up what we're bringing to the meeting.
It can go right into Kris's auction database and it'll show folks what's
going to be at the auction. Link the items to images and basic information
about the item and you'll eliminate some of the questions that come up
during the auction and help speed it along.

Great idea Rob!

Kris said:

The only problem I see with this is that the submissions would have to be done by say 11:00am on meeting day, so that I'm sure to have time to download the lists to my laptop. For me, I usually don't know what I'm bringing until about that time on the meeting morning. That said, if I can find time to build the pages/system required for this, I'd be willing to try it out to see how it worked.

Rob said:

Thanks Ghaz....its something that kind of came up at CCA about their auctions and peoples questions and after dwelling on how large our last two auctions were I just felt that their needed to be some guidelines. Dont get me wrong, I think its fantastic that there are this many people contributing but there are certain plants that create a logjam.

I am not really in favor of limiting the number of plants an individual can bring for exactly the same reason that Kris spoke to. I think that the more the senior members bring and spread the better off the club tanks are. Even if newer members kill off the plants it creates discussion on here and promotes learning.

I just think that if we limit the number of bags that can be brought of a certain plant and eveyone knows coming in what to expect to be there it makes it easier for newer members to get an idea of what to expect and research what they can or cannot currently grow with their setups.

It will also make it easier on the host when deciding where would be a good place to place the auction items when they come in to the home so that they do not interfere with people participating in the meeting topic.

The auctions at the meetings are one of the things that I think makes this club a great place to learn and grow in this hobby because without them there are many plants that would not have been available to me with the selection in many of the LFS being barren(Scales excluded) I am not really in favor of the combined auctions as I think that will drive up the prices and make alot of items unaffordable for many of the newer members that are hesitant to try the plants in the first place. The low prices, for the most part, create a chance to try new things. I have always been impressed with how many of the plants that the senior members share that they easily could have gotten much more for on Aquabid or other sites.

Jeff L said:

I brought up a suggestion to the PVAS BOD that you might want to consider. It was based off of last months GWAPA meeting.

ALL items FS must be posted by X time prior to the start of the meeting. Follow the rest of what Rob/Ghaz said.

No items can be sold if they werent listed, it makes it easier on Kris and anyone else who takes up that spot for any reason.

Download the list and merge the files, poof done with who is bringing what etc..

Kris said:

If we allowed auction pre-registration, I don't think we would make it hard and fast. If it just knocked down the number of items needed to be entered at the meeting, it would accomplish something. Perhaps we could offer some sort of an incentive to register early, but we'd have to think through that. Perhaps it would be better to split off this discussion to it's own thread?

Aaron said:

I like the idea of pre-registration.

However, I'm not sure making it mandatory is a good idea. As Kris already said, I'd much rather someone bring a cool plant last minute than leave it at home because they didn't list it in time.

Instead, I would propose we strongly encourage pre-regristration. Perhaps we could even offer an incentive such as 20% to the club instead of 25%?

[Ltrepeter2000]

Thanks Kris

That helps to continue things

[neilanh]

I love the auctions, and would hate for them to be split from the time of the monthly meeting or done in regional areas, which I think was somewhat discussed in the other thread.

I fully agree that the pre-registration of items is a great idea. It gives the auction planner a head-start on getting prepared for the auction so he/she doesn't have to miss the meeting. It would also allow you guys, in advance, to sort the stuff - for example knowing before hand that there's 5 bags of L. Repens. Then, come auction time, all 5 bags could be auctioned one after another. This way the plant only has to be described once and then we move on, rather than the same plant coming up every 5 minutes and someone wanting to know information about it. This would, in the very least, minimize the amount of stuff to be processed during the meeting if pre-registration wasn't mandatory and increase the pace of the auction as things seem to be that they're going to continue to get larger.

What about online silent auctions in the days prior to a meeting for the higher end stuff? Chances are guests or new members probably won't be interested in the more rare items, or items that require high+ lighting that they're not yet setup in. Additionally, this would help keep the nicer stuff within our club. For instance, On Thursday before the meeting I would login on the website and enter the items, with photos of my stuff, that I plan on auctioning. On Friday, a web-based silent auction could occur (kinda like a GWAPA-ebay thing). I don't know where to draw the line as to plant X falls on which side of the fence, but just another idea.

I don't know, just thinking out loud here.

[JMLenke]

With Nelians mention of descriptions in mind.

If we have another auction like we had last month. We really need to skip stating each plants req. light, Co, Substrate, water level, etc needs.

That takes up a tremendous amount of time and even though I DONT know each plants needs, I can note X plant name for later and look it up if needed.

Stem = middle to higher light usually
rhizome = lower to middle light
moss = it needs to be in the water but not much else


Dont do online auctions or silent please. If I want to sell X I dont want it to be part of this auction but not at the monthly auction vice versa..

[Ltrepeter2000]

Well the flip side of that is that if the majority of the items were listed before the auction on here than people could do their research before coming to the meeting or we could have a plant profile section or book to send them to....although I think that we discussed that in the past and the vote was to send them to some of the previously prepared websites that already have plant profiles.

I think that selling the items one after another could create a problem as to fairness in price. The more of the items that are there, the lower the price the last will probably garner due to less competition. I dont know how to balance the amount of plants in a bag but I think that if we limit the number of any one type of plant that is auctioned than we save time and keep the prices about equal. I think that one of the "benefits" as Aaron was suggesting could be seen by preposting is an order of auction so that if we have five bags of one plant, than the first person that put the plant on the forum would be who's plant is auctioned first and so forth down the line.

Silent auctions I think would need to be done at the request of the seller and would require a lot of work to make them work successfully on here as there would have to be a way to submit the bid without a conflict of interest which could be difficult if there is one person monitoring the silent bids for the BOD. Great idea, but maybe a bit too far for here.


Keep the ideas coming so the BOD has alot to work with when sorting out the specifics.

[krisw]

Great ideas! Just remember, all these online options don't just appear on the website. There's actually programming involved, and unless some other programmers step-up, I'd likely be the guy doing it.

That said, keep the ideas coming!

[Judi]

I love the auctions too, and would hate to see them not being part of the regular meetings. Pre-registration is a great idea for streamlining things. I would prefer it not be mandatory, at least not until we've had a chance to see how pre-registering works on a voluntary basis.

As far as setting limits on how much to bring, I don't know if that's a good idea or not. It would keep us from having too much of something, but on the other hand, sometimes it's hard to predict what is going to be the hot plant everyone wants that month. And as stated above, I don't like the idea of penalizing the more advanced members who obviously have more trimmings to bring to auctions.

Not sure I like the idea of online/silent auctions, but maybe I need to give that more thought.

[DelawareJim]

Pre-registering/pre-listing is a great idea! We seem to have started down that road and it is helpful; especially to a long distance person like me.

If I see 6 people are bringing shrimp to the meeting, I know not to waste my time getting up at 6:00 catching the little buggars, dragging them all the way down to Virginny only to get $5 for a bag of 15. I also know if I gotta bring lots 'o cash because Michael is bringing some cool fish or Aaron is selling trimmings from the only variety of some wierd plant in the country.

Cheers.
Jim

[maddog10]

I actually need to know some of the information that Aaron was providing at the auction's (only been to the one at Dave's house). Basic light and pH requirements should be enough, as well as typical position (fore, mid or background). That information can be provided pretty easy, it is when people don't pay attention and you have to repeat it that it becomes bothersome. Once i learn more about the plants, I will change my vote to skipping this information

I like the idea of posting what we are bringing on the forum. It provides time for in-depth research and gives an idea of what to expect (quantity and variety) at the auction. It should also allow Kris (I assume it is always you Kris) to possibly pre-load the info (item and seller) on the laptop. Could it be set-up that all you would have to do is check a box to confirm it is in the auction. There will always be stragglers and non-conformists that will bring additional items, but these should be few enough to easily be added. Could also start to collect and list (if you still intend to put them in the notebook) the auction items earlier so as to get a head start.