Here are some thoughts on the Club using eBay for chip auctions. I don't know where I stand on this. Food for thought. Having the annual Club auction on line would have many advantages. I guess we would have to arrange with eBay to have them listed together, and for more than 10 days. Or maybe some key word in the title (say, CCTC) would bring them all up in a search engine.

Well, here goes. Fire away!

It is worth considering on-line, Club-related auctions. There are at least two ways the Club can participate and benefit:

(1) Leaving aside the annual Club auction for the moment, have the Club participate by having the Club vent (sanction/pre-approve) individual eBay, Amazon, etc., auctions submitted to it (in advance) and then :

(a) giving a Seal of Approval to qualified, reputable sellers who promise to abide by certain standards (history of honest dealings, no puffery (everything is not rare or vintage), does not mis-describe condition, etc.); and

(b) approving an Estimated [Minimum?] Fair Market Value (to be in all auctions) to the items being auctioned.

By doing this the Club gets publicity and respect, helps promote honest auctions, and gets a percent or a half percent fee from the seller. These vented auctions can have a Club approved symbol (eg., CC) in the title.

(2) The annual Club auction could be on eBay. It would give greater exposure to the auction; make the auction bigger and better, and maybe more profitable for the Club! The Club would take a percent, of course. There are many possibilities; it is a little complicated. All the auctions on eBay could be in the name of the Club. (Corporations and businesses run auctions on eBay.) One way would be for all the chips to be mailed to the Club, which would scan and host them, and write-up the auction description. There could be a computer at the convention. There could or could not be live bidding. (High live-bidding bids could be emailed to eBay.) If there were no live bidding, that would free-up valuable time at the convention -- the time could be used for forums, etc.

Robert