[jacobystealshome]

A long time ago, before dutch auctions were actually banned on ebay (they still are: anything that calls itself a dutch nowadays is actually just a "multi-item fixed price listing"), it was a real wild west. 95% of dutch auctions were outright scams. 4% were just awful deals.

Myself, and a couple other dutch sellers, tried to give dutch auctions a good reputation. Over the years, these dutch sellers - aka "grab bag", "hot pack" "lot seller", etc - have cleaned up quite a bit. now, only about 20% are pure scams, but the majority remain a bad deal

8 years ago, i used to have something called "the dutch auction report". i would use a buying account, and buy from other sellers, then breakdown exactly what i got, how much i spent, the different promises, etc from each one, then give it a rating. i also detailed on my seller about me page all the scams an tricks i found that other sellers were doing.

i sold this report on ebay for 1 cent. it sold well over a thousand times in less than 6 months

Now that im semi-retiring, im taking this up again. right here on the boards.

in fairness, i will breakdown one of my own orders that i have in the past month, and we will use that as a measuring stick against all other sellers.

i bought from 2 of the more prolific "dutch" sellers on ebay, and to be truthful: one was so bad, it's almost a scam (certainly a ripoff). the other was bad, but was made far worse by an outrageous shipping charge

oh yes, kiddos: names will be named, cards will be scanned, deals will be analyzed, and if my fellow dutch sellers are reading this: be afraid. be very very afraid

the first two sellers ill be doing this weekend: both have over 5000 feedback score, and have been running their auctions for over 5 years. both have a rating of 99.5 or higher, though in all honesty: i have no idea how

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also: i have bought from two other sellers already, and when those come in, ill analyze those as well.

if you have a seller you want me to look at, send me a pm

[djohn]

I have always wondered about all the different grab-bag / dutch auctions and what one might really get. This should become an interesting post.

[piyn]

Looking forward to the report.

[jacobystealshome]

okay, the benchmark: me. so as not to spam, im not giving my ebay name out (it isnt the same as my beckett name)

auction type: multi-item fixed price auction (you buy any number of lots you want at a fixed price)
cost: 1 dollar per lot
shipping: 2 dollars for the first lot, 20 cents for each lot after that. 15 dollar max.


What my auction description promises:

1. No Dupes, No matter how many lots you order
2. every card will be worth one dollar or more.
3. you will receive at least an average of 4 dollars a card
4. every lot will have at least 1 insert/parallel/game used jersey/bat/auto/RC/SP/#'ed
5. You will get 7 dollars of bv for every dollar you spend
6. You will get a printout from beckett's website with the prices of every card you get. No guesswork, no BS.

other:
10% of each sale goes to dana farber and the jimmy fund
i have a repeat customer program, in which you can buy off ebay, you get lower shipping, and 8x's your bid instead of 7x's your bid

bonuses: fairly numerous bonuses and special. some offer free cards, some offer no base cards, some offer a higher floor for my minimums (every card worth 2 dollars instead of 1, 6 dollar average instead of 4)

sample size: 10 lots. this is a fairly typical order size for first time buyers

cost: 10 dollars, plus 3.80 for shipping and handling
packaging: cards are placed in team bags, and the price sheets is wrapped around the team bags. shipping in bubble mailer, using paypal shipping. smaller orders usually have cards placed inside of sleeves as well.

the cards:

this 10 lot order had 14 cards in it, with a bv of 70.50. that is an average of over 5 dollars.
1 card books for less than 3 dollars, 3 cards book for 8 dollars or more (one 15)

pictures:




i wont get into strengths and weaknesses for my own auction (im biased). i will say i have never been happy with my shipping charge, but my off-ebay customers enjoy much lower s/h

so, that is the standard by which i judge other grab bag/dutch/hot pack auctions

[jacobystealshome]

okay, first seller:

deogee.
1 negative from his dutch style auction in the past year, over 7000 feedback score, 99.7% rating. has been selling this style of auction for several years. at least 5 that i can remember

auction type: multi-item fixed price auction (you buy any number of lots you want at a fixed price)
cost: 2 dollar per lot
shipping: free

what the auction promises:
Each lot will be 20 cards. The lots will consist of a possible[editor: my emphasis] combination of Vintage, Stars, Future HOF'ers, HOF'ers, Rookies, Serial #ed, Bat, Jersey, Autographed, Refractors or various Insert cards. Cards are in EX to NRMT/MINT condition

bonuses:
Buy 10 lots and get 2 more for free.
Buy 20 lots and get 4 more for free.

sample size: 1 lot* (more about this below)

cost: 2 dollars,free shipping and handling
packaging: cards are placed between 2 toploaders, which are taped over, and placed inside a bubblemailer

the cards:

this 1 lot order had 20 cards in it, with a bv of 8.05. that is an average of over 40 cents per card.
2 cards booked for more than 1 dollar (a base card worth 1.25, and a 1971 card wprth 2, but in pretty bad shape).

13 cards were worth 50 cents or less, including a 5 cent card.

1 numbered card (to 45k) worth less than 15 cents, which was also damaged (1 indentation on the surface of the card, 2 really bad corners). another card had damage to the elft side of the card. 1 25 cent hall of famer, best player was brees (which is a subset card of topps main set, and worth 50 cents)


pictures:



rating: (out of 10)
1

though his auction description is accurate (POSSIBLY - like he says in his auction), the cards are really bottom of the barrel. this is the kind of thing that gives dutch sellers a bad name.



* a note about the 1 lot purchase. this is, a little, unfair to the seller. it costs him around 1.79 to ship, so he is only making 17 cents on a 1 lot order. as a seller, i sympathize. when i get a 1 lot or 2 lot order, i always throw a free lot on top of it, to help offset shipping costs. this seller, with free shipping, cant do that. as a buyer, i dont care: i just want my money's worth

that being said, this seller is the reason i restarted this report. i had a customer of mine that bought from this seller (they bought multiple lots). what they told me is basically the same as what i have shown you here: low quality cards, some in not outstanding condition, nothing of note. his high card was a 3 dollar base card. knowing the quality of his multiple lot purchase, i really didnt want to waste my own money

from here on out, i will be buying a more representative numbers of lots. with this seller, i felt comfortable not doing that

[Phillies_Joe]

Hey, thanks Jacoby......this will help shed some light on a part of our hobby alot of us know nothing about (or worse fear). I would ask that you please include from time to time, folks you know who are honest / give good deals in your reviews. Purchase lots just like you would from anyone else and then post your review. It's your thread / project, so do what you want, but that would be just as, if not more, helpful to an uneducated buyer like myself.

Open offer for after the new year (not before so don't PM me til then)....if you need a secret buyer, let me know. Could do 1 - 2 month for you. I assume folks will know or eventually know who you are which may sque the lots you receive..

[jacobystealshome]

Hey, thanks Jacoby......this will help shed some light on a part of our hobby alot of us know nothing about (or worse fear). I would ask that you please include from time to time, folks you know who are honest / give good deals in your reviews. Purchase lots just like you would from anyone else and then post your review. It's your thread / project, so do what you want, but that would be just as, if not more, helpful to an uneducated buyer like myself.

Open offer for after the new year (not before so don't PM me til then)....if you need a secret buyer, let me know. Could do 1 - 2 month for you. I assume folks will know or eventually know who you are which may sque the lots you receive..

oh, im buying from the big boys first, good or bad. there are at least a dozen dutch sellers who are actually my former customers that struck out on their own

as for buying: i have 14 ebay accounts, 3 for selling, others for buying (a couple that arent in my name, and a couple that are in family members names). i gots my secret identities...no one will be juicing their lots for me :p

[petillo64]

Looking forward to seeing more of these. I always enjoy reading the feedback of these guys. Unfortunately 99% of feedback is "auction as described" or "cards arrived", with the occasional "nothing great" left in.

Re: the deogee review. Offering to sell a lot of 20 cards with for $2 with free S+H screams BUYER BEWARE to me. I get that they are banking on multiple lot purchases to offset shipping, but the fact that they would open themselves up to regularly lose money on a sale would make me hesitant to buy from them... Hopefully they step their game-up when someone purchases more lots...

BTW, I like the selection of cards in your auction lot! Are all of yours multisport? Or would you do baseball only lots?

[jacobystealshome]

Looking forward to seeing more of these. I always enjoy reading the feedback of these guys. Unfortunately 99% of feedback is "auction as described" or "cards arrived", with the occasional "nothing great" left in.

Re: the deogee review. Offering to sell a lot of 20 cards with for $2 with free S+H screams BUYER BEWARE to me. I get that they are banking on multiple lot purchases to offset shipping, but the fact that they would open themselves up to regularly lose money on a sale would make me hesitant to buy from them... Hopefully they step their game-up when someone purchases more lots...

BTW, I like the selection of cards in your auction lot! Are all of yours multisport? Or would you do baseball only lots?

my default is multi-sport, but i do single sport requests. because im going into (semi)-retirement, how many lots i will do single sport will depend on inventory. im going to try to maintain at least 10 grand in bv at all times, just so i can keep up so i can still make money for my charity, but im definitely making ebay my 3rd job (or 4th, really). that means i wont be keeping as much inventory on hand at any one time. however, saying that, if i have a customer who wants to buy a number of lots, i they can always place their order, and then i can "go shopping for them" (i have a local wholesaler for quick turnarounds, if i need more, i have several wholesalers across the country i can tap into)

[uvaspina]

Mind if I ask why you're going into semi-retirement? Is it just a matter of other interests/commitments, or are you just worn out from card selling? (Or is it an issue with FeeBay?) None of my business, of course, but I'm curious just the same.