You think you have a collection? HA!

buton6

All I can say that even if I had that much money I wouldn't have the time to pick out that kind of equipment, guy has to love the gear.

furball

The owner should have commissioned either Christie's or Sotheby's for this kind of auction. This collection could have easily sold for multiples of the $3 million asking price. eBay is for bargain hunters. The owner made a major blunder by going with ebay.

BaggedLancer

Should be interesting to see if ebay goes after him for a sellers fee because of all the publicity he got. Ultimately those 6 others buyers probably all saw the ad because of the publicity from such a large auction on ebay.

treitz3

Ahhh, I see this time he's added some more info. and is pre-approving those interested. Thanks for the update. This should be interesting.

I wonder if it will be the most watched auction in the history of Flea-Prey again....?

Yashu

It appears that they are going to make right with this. The last guy bungled this auction up so bad, I was almost glad it failed. This looks much better. There are concrete numbers, better presentation, and it appears that the FAQ is more complete, with also some indication that, yes, this is a new auctioneer.

It was almost laughable how bad the last guy handled it. It goes to show that you can't always get your personal friend to do something as much as you want him to... you have to go to a pro.

I still wonder why it is on Ebay, and not a B&M auction house, with the web used for publicity, but then perhaps in the same way, the crash and burn of the last auction only magnified the publicity for this "collection".

I still don't really think having a big collection of wearable physical media is the way to go... unless someone begins to digitize this in some high resolution format, it could easily be lost to time. Most people don't consider various versions of the same songs to be something interesting, but every detail should be logged and recorded digitally, including the rare Rolling Stones and Elvis LPs. They need to be read using a laser as to limit the wear on the disc. LPs aren't as bad, but those old 78s, some of them didn't make it through more than a few plays before sounding dull, the needle was like a blade that sliced through grooves back then, I am sure we have better ways of extracting this music.

If I could slap the previous seller upside the head I would... and to this seller, I wish you luck with the ebay experience.

Yashu

It appears that they are going to make right with this. The last guy bungled this auction up so bad, I was almost glad it failed. This looks much better. There are concrete numbers, better presentation, and it appears that the FAQ is more complete, with also some indication that, yes, this is a new auctioneer.

It was almost laughable how bad the last guy handled it. It goes to show that you can't always get your personal friend to do something as much as you want him to... you have to go to a pro.

I still wonder why it is on Ebay, and not a B&M auction house, with the web used for publicity, but then perhaps in the same way, the crash and burn of the last auction only magnified the publicity for this "collection".

I still don't really think having a big collection of wearable physical media is the way to go... unless someone begins to digitize this in some high resolution format, it could easily be lost to time. Most people don't consider various versions of the same songs to be something interesting, but every detail should be logged and recorded digitally, including the rare Rolling Stones and Elvis LPs. They need to be read using a laser as to limit the wear on the disc. LPs aren't as bad, but those old 78s, some of them didn't make it through more than a few plays before sounding dull, the needle was like a blade that sliced through grooves back then, I am sure we have better ways of extracting this music.

If I could slap the previous seller upside the head I would... and to this seller, I wish you luck with the ebay experience.

Q. Why do eBay members need to Pre-Qualify?
A. To ensure a safe and fair auction. Pre-approved bidders will be given confidential access to the seller’s database, with listings and comprehensive information on the entire 45 RPM portion of the collection.

See, why the previous MORON didn't think of this I will never know. Nobody is going to drop that kind of cash down on anything without some hard numbers and insight into just what is being purchased. There is more than ownership of something valuable, there is liability to be considered... the old guy acted like you would just be handing over the money and then what, la di da... nothing was really touched on in that respect.

I hate to stereotype (sorry for the pun) wealthy people, but there is a way to do business and then there is a WAY to do business... and things are just different on that kind of scale.

Yashu

He could have Essential Tremor (like I do) and be in a hurry.

Or... the most likely answer is that he has a Blackberry. I work for a multinational and many of our employees have Blackberries and you can tell very easily when they are writing an e-mail from the Blackberry Vs. the computer.

I type throughout the day (as some of you know, I am prone to write... a lot), and sometimes the fingers begin to do the talking. Phonetic spelling instead of correct, or typing as if speaking face to face. It is common in business. I think the Blackberry is the most likely answer, but who knows. I can easily tell from the new auction that this company has taken a much more professional tack, whereas the previous seller, a friend of the owner, was rude, snide, and very unprofessional. He was unable to provide numbers, he wanted someone to bid based on his "word" that it was the greatest collection in the world, without any kind of data to back up some of the rare, out of print, or priceless items.

This is/was an international auction, yet the only way he would allow information to be gathered was to travel and see it, but with only a day or two remaining... it just was very badly done, and I think this attempt, while still on Ebay, stands a better chance at being sold.

bobman1235

It's a multimillion dollar auction. You don't half-**** enter that information from your Blackberry, you carefully type out what you're trying to say. If someone is going to spend millions of dollars with you, they're going to want to trust you.

And as someone who types emails on his phone all the time, having a Blackberry is no excuse for poor grammar and spelling. Just laziness (and possibly bad spelling and grammar skills). It's one thing posting to the Polk Audio message board, it's a complete other thing when doing business.

reeltrouble1

I find it nice having folks to do my light work.

RT1

Yashu

it's a complete other thing when doing business.

Except I do business all day in a multi *billion* dollar industry, and yes, people do send that kind of crap from their Blackberries. Trust me on this one. I don't work in technical writing, but I am often asked to proof presentations because people know me as a prolific writer with an attention to detail. I see some really bad stuff that would go out if it wasn't for them knowing me, and it generally doesn't make a difference. Most big business is a verbal affair. People meet, shake hands, and talk to each other, sketch ideas on paper, and have their secretary write up the details via the company's document control procedures, which are handled by another department altogether. Many Blackberries are also the 2 letter per key design, so you are back in SMS message land again just about. No manager or CEO is perfect, that is for QA to worry about.

In the case of this auction, it is better than the last, but still misses the point. Why Ebay? I keep wondering why Ebay? Is it something the owner is insisting on? That is what it seems like to me... many people that are not in the business of doing this kind of stuff get an idea in their head and just go with it no matter what the cost. The owner is not hugely wealthy, this was his life's work, not some rich man's hobby... what he needs to do is understand that while he may not be rich in terms of liquidity, he is wealthy as far as owning something that some may consider to be close to priceless (whether it is or not, another matter), and so take a lesson from the wealthy and let this go up at a real auction house, not ebay. How hard would it be for this man to find an agent willing to sell this at a real auction house? Probably not hard, considering the possible commission, which means the owner is hard headed, wants to do Ebay, not matter what, and is stuck with these 2nd and 3rd rate agents.

bobman1235

It doesn't matter what industry you work in. It's one thing to send casual emails amongst co-workers or people you already have a rapport with; it's entirely different for your ONLY contact to potential buyers to be sloppy and unprofessional. Whatever multi BILLION dollar industry you're in, you're obviously not in marketing. If you are you should be fired.

Put it this way : no intelligent person would buy a car if all the ads they saw for the car were misspelled or sloppy. A car costs 20k, or even up to 50k. Here we're talking about someone spending three MILLION dollars, and the ONLY thing a potential buyer has to look at is this person's written word. That's it. Comparing correspondence between casual business associates to a public advertisement is asinine.

Yashu

it's entirely different for your ONLY contact to potential buyers to be sloppy and unprofessional.

I never said you were wrong.

I pointed out why I think the owner is stuck with 2nd and 3rd rate agents. I never once said, hey this is great, this makes me want to spend millions of dollars suddenly.

I have worked in marketing, but moved on to engineering and design work. I would rather work on improving our product than talking about it. Of course... every industry is different. Where I work, our product is what speaks for us... reputation is built on quality work, and while glitzy marketing can sometimes open the door, it takes hard work to keep it open. Part of the reason I moved away from marketing was that holier than thou attitude... the one that you are expressing to me.

At least my experience in both departments has helped me bridge the gap... it seems, at most large companies, marketing and R&D always are at each other's throats. Anyway, with the amount of money, and the industry that I am talking about here... generally the people you talk to ARE the ones you have a rapport with. That is why I express the importance of quality of work, because it is a very small world, it is easy to get a bad reputation. That wouldn't be good.

Which brings me right back to what I said earlier... Owner is probably the one insisting on Ebay, so certain agents won't touch it, and so he gets the table scraps... as shown by what you have noticed in the copy. If you think this is bad, you should have seen it the last time around. It was actually painful to read, especially the Q&A. I winced, literally. The guy was so rude, and so smug, I knew well before the end of the auction that it would never sell, and if it did, he made a bad enough impression that I was positive it would be a fraudulent bid, which it was.

This whole thing has me laughing... ether this collection is not really that priceless, or the owner is a complete moron. I may not be in marketing, but I remember enough, and you are right, it's sloppy, I never said it wasn't. I was merely explaining to you what leads to some of the errors, I never condoned them. If I see them all the time, that does not make them any less unprofessional, and like I said, people still bring stuff by my office to proof from time to time... As the younger set is beginning to take over some of the upper level positions, so to do they bring their bad habits. Eventually, like "work casual", new things will creep into big business... eventually acronyms and shortcuts won't be considered bad, but actually good. The USA is so... everyone is a workaholic. Eventually bad habits of old will be time savers, efficiency tools, something to be proud of. It always happens this way.

Music Joe

$3Mil collection saga so far...

Also the back page May S'phile/ Robert "Aural" Baird column about that sale, Record Rama, Mr. Mawhinney and culling a music collection was a good read.

mightymouse

So has it been sold yet? And for how much?

Music Joe

Not yet.

unc2701

Stereophile had an article on it last month...