AUCTIONS - A BEGINNER'S GUIDE ------------------------------- by Simon Plumbe ----------------- At almost every convention, whether it is a small gathering of fans, or a full-scale major con, there will usually be an auction. These can be a great way to spend an hour or two and can often be a way of finding that elusive piece of merchandise that you've been trying to find for the last couple of years, but if you're not careful, you could end up spending far more than you can afford. At most major UK cons, there are two different types of auction. First is the main charity auction where all the proceeds are given to the nominated convention charity. Then there are the "private" auctions where all the items are from fans attending the con and they get the money from the sales. Usually, the con will take a small percentage as "commission" for the charity (around 10%). When you first arrive at a con, decide exactly how much you want to spend in the auction and put this on one side. Primarily, this will stop you from spending it on anything else (one trip into a dealer's room and you can end up going home without any cash at all!) and it also restricts how much you spend in the auction so you can still pay your hotel bill at the end of the weekend! From what I have heard, some hotels can occasionally become upset if their bills don't get paid! Inside most con packages will be a complete list of all the items in the "normal" auction. There will never be a list of the charity items (usually done to surprise the fans!). The best way to start is to look through the list and decide on any items that you might be interested in. Decide how much you are willing to go up to and make a note of the amount. However, it pays to actually look through the list carefully incase there are any duplicated items. In this case, it is better to wait until the second or third copy of the item is available and bid for that. It is almost certain that the first copy of an item will fetch the most, with subsequent copies going for substantially reduced amounts. An example was in the auction at SOL III where there were three copies of a STAR TREK VI poster signed by Leonard Nimoy. The first fetched £31, the second went for £26 and the final copy was sold for just £18. As you can see, it pays to wait! When it actually comes to the bidding itself, each auction will follow a slightly different method, so if you're at your first auction, watch how the others at the con take part and follow their lead. what you have to make sure is that your bidding is realistic. Obviously, no-one appreciates people who make ridiculously small bids and you'll only be wasting everyone's time, but don't overdo it! It's far too easy to make what you think is a fair bid for something, only to find that no-one else is willing to bid against you and you could have got your item of merchandise for a much lower price. A prime example of this was in May 1991 at UFP '91 when someone placed a bid for one of the TNG crew jackets (these are NOT on sale to the general public and you can only get one by being part of the actual production team. The person started the bidding at an incredible £100 and no-one else bid against her! Most items in the "normal" auction will have a reserve (minimum) price. You must remember that these are only starting points, but they can often be misleading. Again at SOL III, there was a copy of DC's 3rd Trek Annual (released in around 1988) which had a reserve price of £17!! At most, it can be bought for around £4 from most comic dealers. If you plan to go to auctions on a regular basis, it might pay to buy a copy of any of the numerous price guides that are available covering Trek merchandise. At least this way you'll know if you are paying "over the odds" and you can stop bidding at a realistic level. Signed cast photos will always fetch high prices, especially in the charity auctions, which usually command higher figures anyway. The most popular at the moment seem to be Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart and if you manage to get either of these for less than £50 you can consider yourself lucky! Props from the show will also fetch very high prices (I have seen a pair of the ears that Leonard Nimoy wore in Trek V go for £400) and other rare items. Press release packs for TNG also tend to sell for very large amounts as, although not REALLY valuable, they are only available to members of the press and they are not generally available to fans, or even fanzines! I saw, again at SOL III, the TNG season 5 press pack fetch £400!! Finally, no matter what you buy and how much you pay, make sure that you enjoy yourselves!