There's a lot of interest here in the Gencon and Origins auctions.  There's also a good chance Troll & Toad will read this forum!  Not that 2008 was a bad year, and I missed 2007, but there's always room for improvement.  Here are my suggestions:


1.  Limit the number of items in the Charity Auction and give it a hard end time.  Anything left over can go into the cases for a silent auction ending at some pre-determined time (midnight perhaps).  I, personally, can only get a kitchen pass if at least 50% of my trip is paid by my selling old stuff at auction.  While I enjoy the Charity Auction, it does nothing for me beyond having an opportunity to buy some unusual items (often unique).  That being said, there was a lot of junk in the 2008 Charity Auction.  Use some discretion in what you accept from vendors.


2.  Give sellers of rare or high value items some form of guarantee that items will not be offered up at "bad" times.  In 2008 I picked up a sealed copy of Hero Quest for $80 during a slow period and an opened but un-punched set went later for $140 during a busy period.  I felt really bad for the seller of the one I won.  Similarly, I lost out with several of my items because it was so late when they came up that most of the room had cleared out from fatigue.


3.  The celebrity auctioneers were fun but, some didn't know enough about what they were selling.  If a guy is an early TSR industry celebrity, let him sell early TSR stuff but keep him off the Avalon Hill or especially the more obscure game manufacturers products.  Even Frank frequently corrected or mentioned "I would have lingered on that one, you don't see those very often" after the auctioneer declared "SOLD" too quickly because he figured it was just another worthless small print run item.


4.  Again with the celebrity auctioneers: make sure they are aware of how to run the auction.  Numerous proxy bids placed by yours truly were NEVER MENTIONED when the item came up early in the auction.  I complained and it got fixed (SORT OF).  After they knew there was  a proxy bid in play the (celebrity) auctioneer stated to one bidder "If you're wavering now just quit, you're not even close to the proxy bid" which not only resulted in a halt to bidding but resulted in the proxy buyer (not me this time thankfully) being asked to pay the MAXIMUM proxy bid amount even though bidding stopped much lower.  If I put a proxy on an item for $40 and the live bidding stops at $20, then I pay the next higher increment which would probably be $21 or $22.  I should not get stuck with the maximum $40 proxy unless it is actually BID up that high and the next higher bidder stops at the next lower bid increment or $39.  SHORT ANSWER:  If a PROXY is in play then the auctioneer SHOULD NOT KNOW WHAT THAT PROXY LIMIT IS but someone on staff should hold up their hand serving as a proxy bidder for that person, dropping their hand when the proxy is exceeded but otherwise everything functions just as if the person placing the proxy were in the room with their card up.


5.  Arrange the auction item storage tables so we, potential proxy bidders, can see what's in there so we can place proxy bids!  Turning the tables slant-ways to our roped off limit would be best because we may spot a long forgotten item that may otherwise never come to mind otherwise.   Try and have at least one knowledgeable person walk the isles every now and then to move any potentially high interest items (rare) to a spot where we can see them and wet our appetite.  Yes, I know the cases are for ultra-uber items but there's plenty of non-case stuff that is worthy of NOT being lost in mass storage.  I'm just asking for some better window shopping opportunities.  When deciding how much time to spend sitting in the auction room instead of playing games with my friends, having a better view of the total selection is a huge factor.

I would like it if there was an easier way to have proxy bidding, rather than trying to contact someone there to do it for me. But, whatever. Don't take my money.

Ref: Gecon is for sale thread.

Maybe the Auction Charity should go to "Gencon" this year?!?!?!


SERIOUSLY!  Consider recent events and the expected economy in 2009!


It may not be tax deductible and Gencon would have to report it as income but hey, if you're only giving if you can get a tax break then your heart is in the wrong place!

Thanks for the suggestions. Please pass them along to The Partnership (Jon Houston and/or Bruce Carson).

A few comments...

T&T Bidding (other thread): The company that runs the Auction business is a partnership between Jon Huston (who also owns T&T) and Bruce Carson (IT specialist).
Troll & Toad Does Not Run The Auction. The Partnership is a separate entity (that's its actual name), has its own books, makes its own profits/losses, and thus should not be muddled with T&T Corporation. And it's not a false/paper distinction; Bruce is not an employee of T&T or Huston; he's a computer jock in Massachusetts (T&T is in Kentucky). When T&T bids, they pay The Partnership. As a result, your logic about unfairness or an edge to T&T is a bit off. They do have an edge in having reps bidding throughout the auction hours, when most folks take breaks at least, but as far as the financials go, they're precisely the same as other bidders.

Wags wrote:Limit the number of items in the Charity Auction and give it a hard end time. (etc.)

All your suggestions would/could decrease the take for the charity. Since the auction makes zero money on the charity, we're quite interested in reining it in. My suggestion has been this: Split 'em. Move the junk/cheap/new product donations to a fixed-rate table in the Store (a clearly marked "Charity" section), and only put the uniques etc. onstage. That should solve the problem nicely.

Give sellers of rare or high value items some form of guarantee that items will not be offered up at "bad" times.

That example shouldn't have happened, and we try to shuffle the goodies out of the pack. Unfortunately a lot of the auction staff (all volunteers btw) are less expert than we auctioneers and sometimes things slip by.

The celebrity auctioneers were fun but, some didn't know enough about what they were selling.

True, not all auctioneers are created equal. But they're all volunteers, nobody gets any pay for doing this. So "We go to war with the army we have, not the one we want" (Rumschmuck)... That's life; deal with it. The quest for an error-free auction is a fool's errand.

Numerous proxy bids placed by yours truly were NEVER MENTIONED when the item came up early in the auction.

The Proxy Bid system (one of my many auction creations, along with the store, the evening collectibles marathons, and others) never got fleshed out (Why? Because I had no time to fine-tune it; I got retired into a Guest Celeb instead of Lead Auctioneer). It's supposed to work much better than it does. We need a Proxy Desk. Proxy availability should be featured in the program book. Items should be visible, encouraging proxies. Writers should handle the proxies when they exist, and should act as/on behalf of separate bidders unknown to the auctioneer. etc. etc....

Arrange the auction item storage tables so we, potential proxy bidders, can see what's in there so we can place proxy bids!

We take in over 12,000 items in 3 days, route 'em up to the stage at the appropriate times, route 'em off when sold or unsold, and lose a dozen or less in the process (1 in a thousand). Those mandatory logistics take precedence over convenience and display frills. That isn't going to change.

Some have suggested posting the inventory online and accept non-attendee bids. That would be nice but is currently against GenCon policy (the auction is an Event for attendees only). It would also take a lot of work and incur costs; if it were implemented, fees would go up. You want that?

Finally, not to be snickety, but -- you can bid for the right to run the Auction as a business, take it over, and run it your way. ;> (I and others tried last year but The Partnership got it. They do Origins too.) If you back off from that extreme, I suggest you phrase your suggestions nicely, so they will be heard... unless a lot of this is just bitching, in which case it'll be ignored and you know it.

Frank Mentzer

Wags wrote:
 Limit the number of items in the Charity Auction and give it a hard end time. (etc.)

All your suggestions would/could decrease the take for the charity. Since the auction makes zero money on the charity, we're quite interested in reining it in. My suggestion has been this: Split 'em. Move the junk/cheap/new product donations to a fixed-rate table in the Store (a clearly marked "Charity" section), and only put the uniques etc. onstage. That should solve the problem nicely.

Yes, exactly.  I will say when I talked to John Huston the next day while getting my check for items sold, he was very apologetic about the auction running so late and said it would not happen again.  

Heck, not everyone can make it to the Charity auction anyway.....having some sort of a Charity area or store might actually result in MORE money to the chosen charity.  People that are only attending Thursday or Friday, for example, would have a chance to buy items to contribute.

Mike B.

Limiting the number of items in the charity auction is not the way to go obviously because it would limit the amount of money donated to charity, as has already been stated.  And I have no idea if an idea like this has already been discussed or tried but why not try splitting the charity auction into two or even three sessions?  One hour each night.  Whichever days they use will still go long but not nearly as long as this past year.  And I know from reading the forum threads over on gencon.com that some people were planning on selling some items that had no gaming relevance at all.  Tell all the people wanting to sell their collection of James Bond VHS tapes, Xena Warrior Princess comics, and Jackson 5 albums to take 'em to Ebay or their local used bookstore.  

on the other hand both T&T and the sellers are losing by having rares go to auction at 2 AM Sunday morning with a couple dozen people in the room.

Maybe....but if that was the case I might have snagged that PotVQ for a bit less than $1300?  The people that want the rares will stay until its time to bid on them regardless of the time.  I just wish Blackmoor had actually fallen asleep when that Dragonlord came up.  

Okay, so I don't take well to being talked down to..

  Back to the suggestions: they are just that, suggestions.  Maybe the powers that be will consider them, maybe not; but in any case I enjoy the auction ~ plan on selling and bidding lots in 2009 ~ and would appreciate not being chastised if I dare to make a comment or have an honest opinion.


 For my last $.02 before I go back to lurking: I support Troll & Toad and their tech partner.  They've done a great job.  I don't mean to say otherwise so don't take my making "suggestions" as being "down" on the auction.  However, with 12000 items in the auction over three days and the dollar value there-of in the hundreds of thousands, it's not an enterprise to be taken too lightly.  It's a serious business that charges 15% commission of how-ever many hundreds of thousands and that equals LOTS OF CASH.  I think the owners/operators can take a little constructive criticism and may even appreciate an honest review of their services; especially when it's coupled with some praise and good will.  I can't imagine anyone in their position having thin skin.


Thanks!