Online Aquarium Goods Auction

[Romi]

Those are a lot of good suggestions, bappa, Vijjy, sushant, syed. Will try and take each suggestion forward in a while. Bobvin, I agree there is scope for controversy. This is India, everything major that a person can do, has scope for controversy. Freedom of India from the clutches of foreigners was controversial. Even many Indians opposed it! The communists declared it a recipe for disaster. Do you know the Times of India (very popular today!) opposed it strongly?

The truth is always declared a lie by someone, and lies are always claimed to be the gospel truth by someone else. But people still manage to live and enjoy life. I have seen such good stuff available from us hobbyists only, so reasonably priced, so bereft of greed, so full of generosity and friendliness, I am very tempted to try this idea out. For all our sakes.

If it does not work initially, it might work later. If it does not work even later, we will at least have the satisfaction that we tried. Someone might be inspired to try again, and then it might work. It is worth a shot.

[devchitra]

I have some reservations about online auctions. Let me try to put them across;
1. The meets will go for a toss: Many of us participate in the meet also for the exchange buy/sell/auction. If we start moving the B/S/E/A to online, I am afraid the numbers for these meets will start to dwindle.
2. Managing the logistics: Post auction, the logistics of delivering the goods to the eventual buyer can become a headache. This is true for both dry bulky goods as well as fragile livestock/plants.
3. Complain about quality: We do not want anyone to complain about quality/quantity post purchase. It is best that bidders see/feel what they buy or bid for. In other online portals where auctions are held, the portals devise mechanism to ensure delivery/quality/quantity. I a afraid we should not devote our energy towards that.
4. We should start thinking about memberships (a paltry sum that would keep the forum running etc) and one attraction of membership is to participate in the meets where members get the chance to participate in such auctions. With online auctions, most people won't turn up and hence may refrain from membership fees.

Use of online: However, online has an important role for auction. Any item that is put up for auction, the sellers can post the exact description, picture and reservation price. The potential bidders in that meet can indicate whether they are interested in the item, Interested would automatically imply that the bidders is willing to pay atleast the reservation price. This is important because we do not want members to carry stuff for the meet and find that there are no takers and hence have to carry them back again. For example, one would not carry tanks, good quality substrate (use and/or new), filters, fishes etc if they think it won't be bought by anyone! Therefore, we can have all sellers posting what they want to auction (4-5 days before the meet). All willing bidders showing their interest at the reservation price, and on the day, the actual auction can be held.

Type of auction: I prefer sealed bid auctions...other variations are second price sealed bid auctions. I can explain that given I am often forced to design that in my professional capacity!