BARRETT-JACKSON CUTTING BACK

[SBR]

I am very surprised that the auction is still all no reserve.

[quick-bowtie]

Maybe its 20% less because they cant find enough guys willing to gamble on the market and because of all the bad press last year. I cant see how that auction will have 1 good car in it unless there going to let "friends" have free buy backs or Craig is going to auction off his own cars. I will go to watch and kick Bruces a** at the go- carts again but dont think I would sell with them again unless its a 20k car of under. Im trying Russo & Steele out this year, Stefano introduced me to there head consigment guy and he seemed like a nice guy, not the movie star attitude you get at Barrett.

[tom406]

I don't think this is that big of a deal. You could see at last January's show that they reached a little too far, with too many days/cars, and the failure of the music memorabilia to complement the sale. So they're pulling back to where they've proven the sale "works" better. Any business does this, whether its BJ getting too big, or WalMart bailing after getting their ass handed to them in Germany (where a chain already existed that had minimal markups, and the customers were OK with standing in poorly lit industrial warehouses to get the best price).

I think they should stay with their no-reserve policy as long as it makes sense. It adds to the excitement and I think it ultimately leads to the best sales prices for MOST customers. I think theres potential for the next show to be a real funeral dirge if there's big stretches of reserve consigners in denial that their car isn't still worth what is was in '06.

If I had $50K plus car to sell would I consign no reserve? I don't know. But I think that BJ is the most likely place for me to potentially "hit the jackpot", especially if my prime time number actually hit the stage during prime time....