We should cut Brian a little slack on his first effort at an internet auction... and the fact he's selling items for a friend and feels pressure to get good prices. A lot of Dick's better pieces had already moved on... even I got one... so Brian was/is handling what is left... and those pieces simply don't generate the interest that the best pieces do.
I'd guess Brian will not have another auction like this, when it's not so much an auction but rather a full price sale that looked like an auction to attract more potential buyers. He can't afford to get a reputation for operating this way, and I doubt he intended it that way, just a first-time effort with over-kill on the reserves. Even his web site is very new and has taken up a lot of his time... a totally new venture for him with a learning curve.
From a marketing standpoint, it at least lets potential buyers know what inventory he has for sale, and perhaps there will be behind-the-scenes after-auction sales [more reasonably priced] as large auction houses often do on items that failed to meet reserve. But I'm sure this effort has been a good learning experience for Brian on what he should and should not do in future auctions, if he wants to build a clientele following for his auctions and his web site. There is simply too much work involved in photographing, writing descriptions, setting prices/reserves, posting, etc. in a good internet auction, to have it flop like this one did. I don't think we'll see another sale like this in the future.
Shelby Gallien
