sportingold

[goonerboy]

in looking at the results it seems like about a third of the lots were unsold. It has been similar figure in the last couple of their auctions. . Is a third unsold typical of auctions in general ?

Seems quite high but maybe too many auctions and thus not enough decent stuff plus sellers maybe being a bit greedy with the reserve prices

[Wullie]

goonerboy wrote:

in looking at the results it seems like about a third of the lots were unsold. It has been similar figure in the last couple of their auctions. . Is a third unsold typical of auctions in general ? Seems quite high but maybe too many auctions and thus not enough decent stuff plus sellers maybe being a bit greedy with the reserve prices

I would have thought the auctioneer would recommend the reserve price in cases where people selling have no understanding of prices ,i.e. stuff left in wills etc. In a case like this I can't see a relative being happy not selling and having programmes returned. Better to have no reserve and let the market decided. What people were willing to pay 6 or 7 years ago has to be irrelevant . Do auctioneers build up expectations only to disappoint ? A third unsold is a hell of a lot. Or maybe you are correct. Maybe not greedy sellers , just trying to get a return of what they paid.
Do sellers pay fees for unsold items ? I don't know.

[RoddyN]

For the auctioneer auctions are about total sales numbers not percentage of items sold and I think you will find that in the Sportingold auction there were several £1000 + items eg the Eddie Newton medal at £6,000. It seemed to tale off a tad at the end but overall I think he had a reasonable day at the office.