[427TJ]

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BJ forces people to list their car with no reserve or they won't take it across the stage and even then the sellers can bid on their own car to buy it back.

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By allowing owners to buy back their own cars BJ still collects the 8% fee. (I think it's 8% of the selling price, isn't it?) Anyway, Craig Jackson makes his money either way. Any businessman will tell you that guaranteeing payment is just good business.

And no one "forces" an owner to participate at BJ. The rules are posted beforehand and an owner decides to play by them or not. If the no-reserve clause scares an owner, then that owner can go somewhere else to parade their car in front of people. Craig Jackson is running a business as well as an entertainment spectacle. Anyone with a serious intent to sell should know that the show spectacle that BJ has become (live TV, huge tents, people with large amounts of money to spend on cars) is a great place to sell their car, IF they truly want to sell it.

The Rand Workman auction is being criticized here on Y-net because the high reserves and no-sales seem to prove that owners are just shopping their cars with no serious intent to sell--that is, unless a bidder meets the (high) reserve set by the owner. Perhaps Rand Workman is an "anti-BJ" in the sense that owners want more control over bidders. Well, it looks like only about a dozen bidders showed up at Rand Workman. What does that tell you? (Hint: How many bidders register and show up at BJ Scottsdale?) Bidders want more control to buy and so they flock to Scottsdale where there's no reserve. Looks to me like no-reserve clauses bring in the bidders.

So all Craig Jackson is doing with the no-reserve clause is 1: ensuring that he makes his money--and who here doesn't want that for themselves? and, 2: in doing so, he ensures that bidders, who know a car will sell no matter how low the bid, become emotionally involved ("This can happen!") and make those sky-high bids such as the $300K for a '68 Shelby. That bidder let his young son make the call and dad kept bidding up and up and up. You know darn well that Shelby owner wasn't expecting to get $300K for his car but he was glad as hell to take the money and run.

A good auctioneer such as Craig Jackson deserves an honorary PHD in all fields of human behavioral study.