Martin Phillips

Sad news with the passing of major record seller avid record collector and dj Jason Koenig at such a tender age.Taken far too soon.

She hasn't improved.I saw her a good few years ago at Rhyl and she couldn't hit any notes.She did sign autographs at the venue but wasn't the most jovial of people,not a woman you would want to get on the wrong side of!

I've noticed quite a few primarily newish American sellers but some long standing ones too on Discogs are not selling to British buyers now presumably because of the intricacies of the new arrangements.Some in the past excluded the UK anyway but its a growing trend.It was quite irksome the other day when I spotted a minty garagey psych little 45 on there but couldn't get my mitts on it! Onr big German dealer is no longer selling to the UK either since July 1st

Correction $3900.From America seller has a thousand or so sales and condition was vg++ to Near Mint with a few scuffs on the vinyl not affecting play.....and some initials on the label!

There was a copy of It's Better to Cry by The Appreciations issue copy on Discogs last night apparently,must have been listed very late probably from America but it had sold seemingly by early this morning.Price $3750 if I remember correctly!

Just noticed this sad news Lloyd Price has passed away at the age of 88.He had a long illustrious career as you all know. RIP

I think Tim Brown auctioned the Joe Jama a few months ago.Not sure of its end price. May have been more beat up than this one but from the sound clip played fine. You certainly need bottomless pockets to buy these biggies but you'd be petrified of overplaying them and seeing them devalue consequently!

I'm well aware how a real auction works having bid by telephone as an absentee bidder at Sotheby's Christies Sworders on paintings books furniture etc etc fornearly 40 years. In fact every auctioneer has a different method of receiving bids.Some rattle through the bids super fast and don't allow dithering others it's like watching paint dry.I was just unaware that online auctions worked in that way and why does the clock countdown if the auction is to be extended for several minutes? I'll have to scrutinise the rules more closely..However if that is the established process then fair enough. I suppose i've been using other online auctions as a yardstck.

It is a great tune.......at the right price!

Part of John's strategy is to count the clock down and then restart it again hoping to whip up a frenzied bidding flurry!

What is the right price for that record re current trends.Probably half that!

John did his usual sneaky trick and extended the end time of the auction by several minutes.I thought the whole point of a timed auction was that you adhered to the quoted cut off time!!!

I wonder are they going to play the Don & Ron or frame it!!!

Oh thanks.I didn't know that.The winning bidder held a red star rating. .Never analysed that aspect of it.

Well on this Canada auction surprise surprise the private bidder had done his/her leg work in the preceding seven days.So the Positive Sounds record had attained $1802 and then right at the end another bidder swooped supposedly to nab it for $1827.What do the coloured stars in brackets signify ? Does it denote the country of origin of the bidder? I've never really paid much attention to it despite bidding on many auctions!

Well yes you're right.It's not difficult for a potentially bent/corrupt bidder to hire people,pay them to artificially raise the price on a high end item.Proving it is the tricky bit.It could work in his favour even if all are fake bidders.It only needs one person towards the end of the sale to believe all the preceding bids are legit and think to themselves well this record has escalated in price and is a safe bet! Looking at his feedback he seems to have a multitude of positive comments but it's hard to gauge as recent ones are not comparable to this.There is only the occasional private buyer showing ,generally for the more expensive items.

I agree with you on all those points. The fact that he got stroppy when asked a perfectly reasonable question is enlightening but as you say it could just be a naive buyer or actually at least three who are bidding high!!

Yes of course the best plan of action is to bid as late as possible on this type of auction.In the case in question though a record that you would expect to trade at around 300 pounds max has been dabbled at every seven days prior to the auction at roughly the same time each evening although varying a bit my hunch being that the bids originate overseas possibly Canada the country that the seller hails from with the private bidder to the fore each time.This jousting has led to the record hitting over 1800 dollars or 1300 pounds to date .Of course they may be perfectly legitimate bidders!

Now it's hit $1800 or roughly £1300 with the private bidder involved in a flurry of bids with the other bidder he was doing battle with last night. This is getting more insane than a John Manship auction !

Blackpoolsoul you've nailed it in one sentence there whereas I was waffling all round the houses.It's highly irregularWho in their right mind is going to pay £1150 and counting for a £250 record???

The private bidder is the one calling the shots on the record that never sold for more than £300 in the past.On this sale it has already topped £1150.00.Could be that he's genuine and determined to get it but the bidding patterns are very bizarre on this one.I noted that the Canada seller had about 350 buy it now items and only 18 auction lots,the 17 others having little or no interest!!!

You've articulated very eloquently what i'm thinking Frankie.I'm not intending to demean the seller from Canada because he seems to have a good track record over multiple listings in the past.The thing is he knows he's sitting on a biggie here or potentially so and already some regular bidders have been sucked in with the so called private bidder steaming in as soon as they make their move!

Can you explain this to me being a simple soul.There is an item on E-Bay,very rare original which has already far exceeded previous listings for it admittedly it hasn't showed during the last 2 or 3 years.However so far with two days still to go and five bidders one of them is described as a private bidder whereas the others are not. This bidder is determined not to be outbid at any stage preceding the auction.Is this private bidder listing not initiated by the seller unusual or irregular?? I've noted that some sellers go with private bidding,buyers identity protected but this seller doesn't use those settings???

There's no sign the upward momentum is slowing down,the reverse in fact.Records that may have fetched between say 120 and 200 pounds only four years ago are frequently reaching new heights maybe between five and ten times in excess of those figures.I suppose if something hasn't shown up for say four years or so that could precipitate a frenzied bidding war. It appears there are people with serious money investing in the scene too sending the prices skyrocketing and effectively sidelining many collectors.I'm not convinced this is happening in other markets say rare books and paintings for example but quality always comes with a chunky price tag now!

Roy Smith- We'll be happier than we were in Albequerque.........Hope that's the right spelling!!!! Great song incidentally too