Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
My latest auction I held involved the new Purple Bat Potion collectible sold for the 2018 Halloween event. I was one of the many buyers of the first batch. I decided to put it up for auction, with a starting bid of 200 TBT, open from November 2nd to November 4th. The auction was a success. A small success, but better than nothing.
This was the first auction on TBT since my party popper auction in 2015 that I got more than two bidders (if not, more than one bidder). It’s also my first auction over that period of time I got over five bids added. Normally, I wouldn’t ask for any less than 1,000 TBT over a collectible auction, but we’re currently in a time when the community is less active and when there is less TBT in circulation, so I had to get used to it.
In case if you missed it, the party popper auction in 2015 was a disaster. As a contributor to the many woes of TBT’s community in the first half of 2015, it became a bidding war. Someone, who was losing the auction, asked me to put up a snipe guard, where if one makes a last minute bid, the auction gets extended by an hour. It resulted in some altercation, and the top bidder asked if she can withdraw from the auction because of people being rude. She not only did it, but she dominated my auction by picking a bidder with a significantly lower bid, and the other users approve. I should’ve cancelled the auction back then. I should’ve even told them not to dominate the auction. In fact, some of the stuff they did or suggested violates The Bell Tree Rules and Guidelines under the Auctions section. A snipe guard extends the time, which is forbidden by default. Withdrawing from the auction is also poor sportsmanship as that should warrant a negative rating. The top bidder that withdrawn eventually returned and I got what I wanted. But due to how bad it went, I learned new solutions as I had to apply them to future auctions.
But when I started implementing these rules (no snipe guards, no bidding wars, no withdrawals), my future auctions have been failures. Most of them, nobody wanted to bid. And when I am getting a bidder, I only get one. I have to admit that most of my auctioning practices (unreasonably high starting bid, required to earn more than one collectible) were bad, but I don’t know if it’s me they’re trying to avoid, the marketplace that’s getting less active, or if it’s the collectibles that I’m trying to sell are unpopular.
If it were because of me, I still admit that my deals aren’t too smart. I once tried to sell a Star Wand for 15,000 TBT, and was stubborn about it. I wouldn’t even accept collectible alternatives in part. I was given the offer of 10,000 TBT and an apple, but I rejected it because of my headstrong objective to get 15,000 TBT. So I eventually gave into the lower offer, but it was withdrawn. So I eventually had to sell it for 8,000 TBT with no apple thrown in. I learned my lesson about absurdly high prices, but I was still stubborn about not wanting to sell stuff under 5,000 TBT or even under 2,000 TBT even though I realize the TBT in circulation is dropping. So yeah, I’m bad at making deals. Now if they were boycotting me out of jealousy or because I’m a Trump supporter or some other kind of Republican, I would find that to be unfair or wrongful. I can change if they were avoiding me because of greed, but I cannot change if they were avoiding me because of political views and past activity.
If it’s because of the slowing activity, I wouldn’t be surprised. ACNL is over 5 years old now, the spin-offs, as well as the mobile game and the amiibo update, did very little impact, and the original fans of Animal Crossing have gotten busier. It’s also worth mentioning that some of the more coveted collectibles in 2014 and 2015 were higher in supply, and the staff got stricter over for-pay currencies over time. Maybe when the new AC game comes out, it should speed up the marketplace.
If it were because the collectible is of low demand, I tend to hate the trendy demands on TBT, where if a collectible is unpopular, nobody will buy it, even if you price it low. It’s normal for low demand items to not sell as well, but TBT is a more extreme version of it.
What did all my failed auctions have in common? I told users there is no snipe guard and they cannot withdraw from the auction. I can understand that unpopular collectibles and high starting bids will not draw in many bidders, but I get furious when nobody makes a bid at all. I’m still bitter over how unpopular the Rad Feather was. The purpose of the “no snipe guard” is not to encourage high prices (one user even told me that when there’s no snipe guard, they tend to wait till the last minute to keep the bids as low as possible), but to tell others that I cannot add additional time no matter how it goes. The purpose of telling bidders not to withdraw is not to trap the bidders, but to tell them that they must keep their promises. I’ve been doing this since the party popper auction. I’ve also had longer auctions (like week-long auctions or less) to make sure a bidder will come.
But now I finally got to run an auction with more than one bidder and more than one bid. What I decided to do is to keep the prices low, and sell newer collectibles or rarer collectibles, so I can get more bids and bidders. I’ll eventually run an auction where I’ll rack up a high bid and get a lot of bidders. But for now, I’ll take small steps.
This was the first auction on TBT since my party popper auction in 2015 that I got more than two bidders (if not, more than one bidder). It’s also my first auction over that period of time I got over five bids added. Normally, I wouldn’t ask for any less than 1,000 TBT over a collectible auction, but we’re currently in a time when the community is less active and when there is less TBT in circulation, so I had to get used to it.
In case if you missed it, the party popper auction in 2015 was a disaster. As a contributor to the many woes of TBT’s community in the first half of 2015, it became a bidding war. Someone, who was losing the auction, asked me to put up a snipe guard, where if one makes a last minute bid, the auction gets extended by an hour. It resulted in some altercation, and the top bidder asked if she can withdraw from the auction because of people being rude. She not only did it, but she dominated my auction by picking a bidder with a significantly lower bid, and the other users approve. I should’ve cancelled the auction back then. I should’ve even told them not to dominate the auction. In fact, some of the stuff they did or suggested violates The Bell Tree Rules and Guidelines under the Auctions section. A snipe guard extends the time, which is forbidden by default. Withdrawing from the auction is also poor sportsmanship as that should warrant a negative rating. The top bidder that withdrawn eventually returned and I got what I wanted. But due to how bad it went, I learned new solutions as I had to apply them to future auctions.
But when I started implementing these rules (no snipe guards, no bidding wars, no withdrawals), my future auctions have been failures. Most of them, nobody wanted to bid. And when I am getting a bidder, I only get one. I have to admit that most of my auctioning practices (unreasonably high starting bid, required to earn more than one collectible) were bad, but I don’t know if it’s me they’re trying to avoid, the marketplace that’s getting less active, or if it’s the collectibles that I’m trying to sell are unpopular.
If it were because of me, I still admit that my deals aren’t too smart. I once tried to sell a Star Wand for 15,000 TBT, and was stubborn about it. I wouldn’t even accept collectible alternatives in part. I was given the offer of 10,000 TBT and an apple, but I rejected it because of my headstrong objective to get 15,000 TBT. So I eventually gave into the lower offer, but it was withdrawn. So I eventually had to sell it for 8,000 TBT with no apple thrown in. I learned my lesson about absurdly high prices, but I was still stubborn about not wanting to sell stuff under 5,000 TBT or even under 2,000 TBT even though I realize the TBT in circulation is dropping. So yeah, I’m bad at making deals. Now if they were boycotting me out of jealousy or because I’m a Trump supporter or some other kind of Republican, I would find that to be unfair or wrongful. I can change if they were avoiding me because of greed, but I cannot change if they were avoiding me because of political views and past activity.
If it’s because of the slowing activity, I wouldn’t be surprised. ACNL is over 5 years old now, the spin-offs, as well as the mobile game and the amiibo update, did very little impact, and the original fans of Animal Crossing have gotten busier. It’s also worth mentioning that some of the more coveted collectibles in 2014 and 2015 were higher in supply, and the staff got stricter over for-pay currencies over time. Maybe when the new AC game comes out, it should speed up the marketplace.
If it were because the collectible is of low demand, I tend to hate the trendy demands on TBT, where if a collectible is unpopular, nobody will buy it, even if you price it low. It’s normal for low demand items to not sell as well, but TBT is a more extreme version of it.
What did all my failed auctions have in common? I told users there is no snipe guard and they cannot withdraw from the auction. I can understand that unpopular collectibles and high starting bids will not draw in many bidders, but I get furious when nobody makes a bid at all. I’m still bitter over how unpopular the Rad Feather was. The purpose of the “no snipe guard” is not to encourage high prices (one user even told me that when there’s no snipe guard, they tend to wait till the last minute to keep the bids as low as possible), but to tell others that I cannot add additional time no matter how it goes. The purpose of telling bidders not to withdraw is not to trap the bidders, but to tell them that they must keep their promises. I’ve been doing this since the party popper auction. I’ve also had longer auctions (like week-long auctions or less) to make sure a bidder will come.
But now I finally got to run an auction with more than one bidder and more than one bid. What I decided to do is to keep the prices low, and sell newer collectibles or rarer collectibles, so I can get more bids and bidders. I’ll eventually run an auction where I’ll rack up a high bid and get a lot of bidders. But for now, I’ll take small steps.
