7 Day Auctions

[just bob]

Why not host 7 day knife auctions as an extension to the AAPK stores? Sellers could list a knife with several conditions including the right to reject the final bid if need be. Auctions could also end when there are no bids within a 15 minute period to eliminate sniping. All auctions could be scheduled to end on Sunday at 6 pm or some other specific time. I'm sure others would have ideas about how to make this auction format work.

[americanedgetech]

I have had the same thought Bob.
I wanted to wait until I pay for a membership to sell but my thought was the same. Asking about auctioning knives.

I would suggest listing the knife for the ROCK BOTTOM price in the beginning (to negate the sniping aspect), and allowing fairly small incrementation in bidding. Perhaps $0.50 on knives under 30 bucks, $1,00 on knives 30.00- $100.00, and so on.

It would be easy to follow the bidding in the post as long as chit chat were kept out of it. Questions on the knife condition/only?
I can see it being a great deal of fun, and it would allow greater exposure for the seller. as well as a better chance for a buyer to snag that great knife they want.

You could actually post a 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, 4 day, ect...

Can't wait to see where this goes!

[rea1eye]

Although I probably will not have any knives to sell, I think it would be fun.

It would give great exposure to the seller.

It could help some people move knives they really don't want anymore ( so of course
they could go out and buy other knives!

Bob

[americanedgetech]

It could help some people move knives they really don't want anymore ( so of course
they could go out and buy other knives!

Bob

Hmmmm, Math eh?
Lets see... New hole in knife collection + More cash in pocket = Buy other knives!

Yes sir Mr. Bob. You are 100% correct!

[orvet]

We had something like that a few years ago but we didn't get a lot of bidding nor a lot of people putting knives on there.

Bryan finally shut it down because it was a waste of time and resources.

[americanedgetech]

That seems strange to me.
Maybe it's just me but I would have thought the idea would be very popular.

I was just looking thru your "store" and I kept thinking about this auction idea. Once again "maybe it's just me". I feel much better about buying anything if I feel I got the best price I could OR if it was won in an auction. Especially if I have to go right to the limit of what I was willing to pay.
That sort of affirms that the knife had/has the value I thought it did.

Could it be possible to see what kind of interest the idea has today, and perhaps re-visit the idea?

I mean I do understand you all know YOUR business better than anyone, and armchair quarterbacks can be a major bore...
Just liking the idea is all.

[orvet]

Bryan thought it was a good idea, but there was not enough participation to warrant the amount of time he had to spend on it too keep it running.

Since then AAPK had grown a great deal but along with that growth comes more work and more administrative duties and responsibilities. You may have noticed we have a very small staff, just four people, for such a large forum. To put it in perspective, B/F has 14 staff members listed plus there are other moderators not listed among the 14, so I'm not sure how many people comprise their full staff but it is a lot more than we have.

There indeed may be a market for an auction venue here but I sure don't know where we would find the staff to run it.

[kootenay joe]

Dale, why are people needed to run an online auction ?
Once the software is set up would it not just be a person lists a knife for auction, people bid for it by posting their bid in that thread. Highest bidder at auction end sends seller the $$ via PP and seller mails out the knife ?
What would an AAPK staff person have to do ?
kj

[jerryd6818]

Having an idea is the easy part. Piece of cake. Administrating it and keeping it running is a real time consuming, pain in the posterior, booger. It all looks so simple until YOU have to do it.

[just bob]

I wondered if it wouldn't cause a lot of additional work for the web site. I'm sure it would be a huge hassle. Let me ask this. There is an existing category for knife forum auctions. This is used mainly during the holidays or for fund raising. Is it acceptable for members to use that forum and conduct their own auctions with their own terms? I see some recent knives listed in knife advertisement forum where members are encouraging bids on them. Wouldn't it be better to start using that format and donating AAPK at least 3% of the proceeds as you would in an AAPK store? That shouldn't be a big deal to set into place?

[orvet]

MY OPINION

The description for the Knife Forum Auctions appears to have changed, that may have happened during the last server change. It was originally specified primarily for charitable events.
To open this up and make it a free-for-all knife auction forum IMHO would be an absolute nightmare from an administrative point of view.

#1 – Suppose you win an auction here and the person never sends you the knife, who do you turn to? If you sent him a money order there’s no appeal to PayPal. This would essentially be a transaction between two members that is posted on AAPK. We would have no authority to intervene. It could potentially be a ripoff free-for-all. I’m not saying it would be, but it has that potential. We have had problems in the past with sales between members that AAPK had nothing to do with. The only thing AAPK had to do with the sale was the two members met on AAPK and use the PM system to work out the trade or sale. I don’t see an easy way to overcome policing the auctions.

#2 – It also is in direct competition with the stores which actually fund AAPK. Storeowners may not want an auction here competing with their stores. As a store owner I’m not crazy about the idea myself and I can’t imagine any other storeowner that would be happy about it either.

#3 – Administering an auction site is probably very labor-intensive, (eBay employed over 27,000 people as of 2011). Someone has to check and be sure the buyer got the product and the seller got the payment. If you don’t have a system in place to check these things all you can do is become a fireman putting out fires after you’re told about them. Then you’re dealing with he said she said, etc. Not a position I would like to be in as an administrator.
Counting Bryan there are four active administrators on AAPK that I am aware of, (and I believe I’m aware of them all), I think we are all near capacity at this point. I don’t know where we could get two or three new moderators or administrators just to watch an auction forum. Keep in mind these are volunteer positions and any decision you make is bound to please some people and annoy or anger other people. Moderators and administrators frequently catch flak for the decisions they have to make and they do it for free. There aren’t a whole lot of people standing in line who have the right temperament for this type of job, and want to work for free.

#4 – Bryan owns AAPK. Any decisions about regulated or unregulated auctions are his alone to make. He is also the programmer, the webmaster and the technical genius behind AAPK. If he can figure out how to set up an auction forum on AAPK that does not give AAPK a huge legal exposure, and supposing he has the desire to do so, we could possibly see something like that, (I do imagine the probability is rather low).

However, remember all the nasty comments people of make about eBay sellers and eBay buyers, but particularly remember all the nasty comments from people upset with eBay? Things like “I reported a counterfeit knife and eBay did nothing!” Can you imagine how divisive that aspect alone would be among the members of AAPK?
And who gets to play God, who makes the final decision on whether a knife is legitimate or counterfeit?
I may be able to make a decision like that on a Schrade with a reasonable percentage of accuracy but who’s going to volunteer to watch all of the Case knives that come up for auction on AAPK? Read the Counterfeit Forum and see how often there is disagreement between people who are really knowledgeable in a particular brand.

That is in the entire can of worms that I would just as soon avoid opening on AAPK and that can is open as soon as you start an auction site.

This entire post is my opinion only. I have not discussed this with other members of the Administrative Team. I do not know of other members of the Administrative Team feel this way or not, and I certainly don’t know how Bryan feels about it, but these are a few of the issues that would be raised should we decide to open AAPK up for auctions. I believe it would forever change the nature of AAPK and negatively impact camaraderie we enjoy on AAPK now, but that’s MY OPINION.

[americanedgetech]

I get your explanation. 100%
Every word you said rings true, and there is no reason to discuss it after that.

What "I" was thinking is just listing a knife for sale. Stating the "Rock Bottom" price, and accepting offers above that price for a set amount of time.
There would be NO need for software, or Admin involvement.
Same as any other private sale the parties make their own arrangements for payment, and shipping.

AAPK as a site has NO responsibility or involvement.
Just like any other private sale the seller must be a paid member but beyond that it's just a private sale.

Ok. I just saw the flaw... To run a store you must meet certain criteria. What would stop a fool from running an illegitimate store under this format. Perhaps a limit on numbers but whom would do the counting?
Hmmmmm... I hate it when a plan collapses.

Ok... How about this. If you are approved to run a store here, would this discussed format be viable?
No software, no Admin liability.
The seller is solely responsible for following his listing, and bidders are on their own to read the thread for the highest bid.

Yeah. It sounds complicated after a minute.

[philco]

For all the reasons Dale stated above, I would be opposed to auctions for anything other than a charitable cause or for the direct benefit of AAPK's operation. Even these have the potential for problems as we have seen previously.

[americanedgetech]

It does make sense.

Jumping off the second story with an Umbrella to slow your fall also sounded good, at the time.
It took 5 or 6 tries to figure out the umbrella was not the problem.

Back to the drawing board Just Bob. It was fun while it lasted...