Where is the best place for an auction?

It seems that it is a "Sellers Market" on eBay for DCC, MoFi, and other premium or scarce vinyl and CD labels. I cannot believe the prices that some buyers will pay...and unfortunately, some of this stuff is sonic crap!

The MoFi Gold CD of Elton John's "MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER" is a VERY PRICEY audio TURD!!! Horrendous mastering! (Kinda weird, since the catalog of the other E.J. MoFI Gold discs sounds pretty good).

"LIVE IN THE AIR AGE" CD by Be-Bop Deluxe on the "One Way Records" label fetches over $30- a copy. If you are familiar with the "One Way Records" label, than you know that it hs some of the UGLIEST, WRETCHED sound imaginable...closer to a bootleg master, than anything professionally mastered! The irony being that this CD is also available on the UK EMI label (although much less frequently listed) for the same price, with a quantum leap in sonic improvement.

F.Y.I., avoid ANYTHING on the "ONE WAY RECORDS" CD label!!!

You got It. As long as everyone is fully aware of what you are doing, it is a very fair solution. And Ebay actually provides you with a provision for doing so.

The terminology I actually use on Ebay is as follows,

" I reserve the right to end the auction early at any time, for any reason, as additional alternate forms of advertising are also being utilized."

This makes any potential bidders aware of the fact that the auction may end, even though they may potentially be high bidder. I buy and sell old musclecars on Ebay. I provision EVERY ad using the above verbage. I had even contacted Ebay regarding doing so and staying within their guidelines.

The following is the actual email between Ebay and myself:

Message: Hi Folks. I wonder if you can answer a question for me. I had
>listed a car for sale on Ebay motors. In my "terms of sale" I had
>reserved the right to end the auction early because I was also
>advertising the vehicle utilizing local advertising (newspaper). The car
>did in fact sell using the newspaper so, I cancelled all bids, and ended
>the auction early. My reason for ending the auction early was "the item
>is no longer for sale". According to the Ebay listing rules, It was O.K.
>for me to do so. Is that correct? I am just trying to confirm that I am
>operating within the Ebay guidlines. Can you help me out with this. Your
>input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Ed.

Their response:

Hello Ed,
>
>Thanks for writing to us. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you
>with your questions.
>
>You can end a listing early for this reason. Another thing sellers will do is to print out and display the following
>in their vehicle:
>
>http://pages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/help/basics/print_color.html
>
>This attractive sign shows that the vehicle is for auction on eBay. You
>can also display the starting bid or current bid on the vehicle to
>attract passers by to come to look at the vehicle.
>
>
>It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
>
>Regards,
>
>Kelly B. J.
>eBay Motors Customer Support

That's straight from the horses mouth. ED.

Thank Ed...So I put the unit on E-bay and say (subjest to a sale)....then I list it here also on AG?

Rwd, List the component on Ebay and on Audiogon. On Audiogon, reference the item number (auction number) on Ebay using a "tagged url" so that interested individuals can see the component, description, and/or pictures. You can actually write the description for either site, and cut and paste the description onto either/or site.

On Ebay, clearly state that you are using other forms of advertisement in addition to Ebay, and that you reserve the right to end the auction early at any time, for any reason.

It is totally legal under Ebay guidlines. If you decide not to sell, or to not complete the auction on Ebay, you would simply cancel any existing bids, end the auction early, and your reason would be "the item is no longer for sale".
That terminology is actually in the Ebay drop dowm menu.

Hope this helps, Ed.

I think Bigjoe has hit it right on the numbers.

it all depends on how fast you need to sell the gear,
i have done over 100 deals at this point most of which were done on ebay.

ill give you an example,i listed a mint mcintosh mr7082 tuner on ebay & audiogon at the same time,within the first day the tuner was sold from ebay & out of over 500 hits to the ad on AG i recieved 1 email asking for more pics of the tuner.

i have found that if i have a peice that is really in demand & is mint then audiogon is the place beacuse the people are better informed & take closing a deal way more serious than ebayers.

on the other hand if i have a peice thats a dime a dozen or just in great shape then i use ebay,it seems that ebay has more buyers that are just starting out in hifi or are trying to rekindle their love for hifi & want a peice right now & are more apt to jump on a peice than on audiogon.

even though alot of people who are on audiogon are also on ebay the two are entirely different sites where buyers agendas are alltogether different.

in a nut shell if you need to get rid of a peice fast or just want it out of your hair then ebay is the ticket but if your peice has somthing about it that makes it really sought after than ag is the place.

1 important thing to remember is the fees for selling on ebay are not the same as audiogon,you can sell a peice for 2,000$ on audiogon for 3$ but the same sale on ebay will cost you 150$.

I reccomend you first decide on your price and reserve price for auction. First run it on the Gon for your asking price plus a samll cushion and see if it sells. If not, put it on a auction site like Audioogn or E bay with reserve. Either way you must set a realistic price...ARC is on here all the time. How bad do you want to sell it? IMO, any others?