Auction Action for "Low Rollers"

[DixonGrfx]

It seems to me that there will always be some grumbling after any auction after every show because there are a limited number of prizes to auction and not enough for everyone to win something. There isn't really anything you can do about that.  The raffle helps allot because it drains the pool of bucks to spend at the auction.  Any other way to spend Reaper Bucks would help even the odds during the auction, possibly help those in the less than 1500 buck range.  

[Tristram]

47 minutes ago, Heisler said:

Oh and from a low rollers standpoint, there really isn't a good way to do this. I just don't have the time available and how in the world do I divide stuff up between two auctions and even remotely be fair about it?

 

Understood, and I appreciate the amount of work you're already dealing with!

 

It would only work if the donators specified the destination auction for each item or group of items. So, if, for example, Badger donated 6 airbrushes, perhaps they would designate 4 for the Main Auction (including their best brushes, and additional paint) and 2 for the Low Rollers (more basic brushes, perhaps with no paint). Or 5 and 1. Or something along those lines.

 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Tristram

[Tristram]

14 minutes ago, DixonGrfx said:

It seems to me that there will always be some grumbling after any auction after every show because there are a limited number of prizes to auction and not enough for everyone to win something. There isn't really anything you can do about that.  The raffle helps allot because it drains the pool of bucks to spend at the auction.  Any other way to spend Reaper Bucks would help even the odds during the auction, possibly help those in the less than 1500 buck range.  

 

You're right. Any complex get-together like this Con will always invite complaint and "grumbling," as you said. I think that's just human nature.

 

In no way do I intend my commentary as any of that. I have greatly enjoyed my last several years here, and appreciate the effort that Reaper puts into making this a great convention. I even enjoy the Auction when I snag nothing!  Heisler does an amazing job, particularly under the circumstances in that vast hall.

 

My recommendations are just from the perspective of getting more individual Auction attendees involved without having to resort to pooling or having Reaperbucks donated to one's "cause." Maybe it can't be done, but I figured it was worth discussing, at the least.

 

-Darren

[Heisler]

23 minutes ago, Tristram said:

 

Understood, and I appreciate the amount of work you're already dealing with!

 

It would only work if the donators specified the destination auction for item. So, if, for example, Badger donated 6 airbrushes, perhaps they would designate 4 for the Main Auction (including their best brushes, and additional paint) and 2 for the Low Rollers (more basic brushes, perhaps with no paint).

 

-Darren

 

And if I were to run this auction. It still doesn't stop the issue of pooling. It just insures that anyone in the auction only came in with 1000 RBs or less. So yes, absolutely, we could have vendors and Reaper decide what goes in the low roller auction, but people will still be unhappy because there will be stuff available in one auction that isn't available in the other. And there is still the issue of when such an auction would take place. Personally, I can't do it Friday night (which would be fun), because I'm involved in judging the painting competition. Saturday night is for the awards ceremony and Sunday already has the regular auction going to shut down the show. Which means I have to do two auctions on Sunday and we would probably lose an afternoon class to do it. Its just way to much at this point, unless I bring in another auctioneer and people are willing to sacrifice class time.

 

Oh and I remember someone mentioning about me missing bids in the audience. I try very hard to not miss anything and I think in the whole auction I really only missed one last second bid. I am much harsher at a regular auction than I am at ReaperCon. I do appreciate the help from the audience and people shouting and waving hands, I don't like to miss anyone. However, standing on the stage all I see is a sea of bodies stretching back deep into the hall and extending outside of my peripheral vision. It really can be quite difficult to see hands and arms going up against a backdrop of bodies especially when people insist on sitting way outside of my normal vision range even when they know I have trouble seeing them. This year it was to my left, there were two tables bidding consistently on that side of the room who were not only outside my vision but actually behind the TV monitors on that side.

 

So thank you everyone for trying to make sure that no bids were missed.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Heisler

[skippen]

15 hours ago, Doug Sundseth said:

Pooling is what we did. Between my wife and I, we started with about $2100R and eventually got the Minitaire full set* for $5400R. Then we donated what was left to another person at our table, which resulted in her getting cool stuff for herself and her kids.

 

* Which is going to become a resource for CMPA. It's extensive enough that a new painter should be fine just using it, so we'll have club paints.

 

Glad to see my bucks helped even when I wasn't there.

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

21 minutes ago, Heisler said:

 

And if I were to run this auction. It still doesn't stop the issue of pooling. It just insures that anyone in the auction only came in with 1000 RBs or less. So yes, absolutely, we could have vendors and Reaper decide what goes in the low roller auction, but people will still be unhappy because there will be stuff available in one auction that isn't available in the other. And there is still the issue of when such an auction would take place. Personally, I can't do it Friday night (which would be fun), because I'm involved in judging the painting competition. Saturday night is for the awards ceremony and Sunday already has the regular auction going to shut down the show. Which means I have to do two auctions on Sunday and we would probably lose an afternoon class to do it. Its just way to much at this point, unless I bring in another auctioneer and people are willing to sacrifice class time.

 

Oh and I remember someone mentioning about me missing bids in the audience. I try very hard to not miss anything and I think in the whole auction I really only missed one last second bid. I am much harsher at a regular auction than I am at ReaperCon. I do appreciate the help from the audience and people shouting and waving hands, I don't like to miss anyone. However, standing on the stage all I see is a sea of bodies stretching back deep into the hall and extending outside of my peripheral vision. It really can be quite difficult to see hands and arms going up against a backdrop of bodies especially when people insist on sitting way outside of my normal vision range even when they know I have trouble seeing them. This year it was to my left, there were two tables bidding consistently on that side of the room who were not only outside my vision but actually behind the TV monitors on that side.

 

So thank you everyone for trying to make sure that no bids were missed.

Yep, great job running it this year.  I still don't understand why people don't stand up when they bid.  Much easier to see that way.  I know I did at first when I pulled the trigger finally.  Then again I was in the center and was fairly easy to see. 

[Grayfax]

2 hours ago, Dilvish the Deliverer said:

Yep, great job running it this year.  I still don't understand why people don't stand up when they bid.  Much easier to see that way.  I know I did at first when I pulled the trigger finally.  Then again I was in the center and was fairly easy to see. 

I was confused about that as well.  I also thought Ludo's hat trick was nice as well.  Not only was it fairly visible, but he "capped" his bid in an easy to distinguish manner.

[Mr Melons]

44 minutes ago, Grayfax said:

I was confused about that as well.  I also thought Ludo's hat trick was nice as well.  Not only was it fairly visible, but he "capped" his bid in an easy to distinguish manner.

And also blocked the person behind his bid....lol

[Grayfax]

7 minutes ago, Mr Melons said:

And also blocked the person behind his bid....lol

Ahh... there is that...

[Mnemonic]

6 hours ago, Mr Melons said:

Won't happen sadly. They've stated that RB will never equal money. 

 

However that [trading in Reaperbucks for store credit] would be a great way to entice folks to return the poker chips. The paper money can be excluded.

 

 

[Heisler]

1 minute ago, Mnemonic said:

 

However that [trading in Reaperbucks for store credit] would be a great way to entice folks to return the poker chips. The paper money can be excluded.

 

 

 

You are right about that, still I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

[Tristram]

2 minutes ago, Mnemonic said:

However that [trading in Reaperbucks for store credit] would be a great way to entice folks to return the poker chips. The paper money can be excluded.

 

Or, trade in old Reaperbucks for more raffle entries.

 

-Darren

[Mr Melons]

The funny thing is....I didn't see anyone with old reaperbucks though. 

[Grayfax]

1 hour ago, Mnemonic said:

 

However that [trading in Reaperbucks for store credit] would be a great way to entice folks to return the poker chips. The paper money can be excluded.

 

 

We were cashing in any kind of ReaperBucks we could get!  We were running out of all of it.  [Speaking as a volunteer at the registration desk]

Being completely out would have been way worse than people just being concerned about getting the right amount.

[Pegazus]

29 minutes ago, Mr Melons said:

The funny thing is....I didn't see anyone with old reaperbucks though. 

 

We had some with 2016 written on them. They were either handed to us at registration or ponied up into the pot. Noticed that while I was paying up.