ABS Auction call for donations

[Roy]

Question here: I am currently the high bidder on a few plants. One of them I want to increase my max bid. To do that do I just bid again with a higher amount? If I do that will it leave the current bid the same, or will it see me as another bidder and place the new bid against my current max bid?

This Internet bidding has been a new and a learning experience for me. At first I thought I had an answer for you, but looking at the bids, I'm not sure. It could go either way. The problem is if it doesn't recognize you and does expose your maximum amount you will bid, then at the live auction, a person who knows your max. bid, and has ABS's interest at heart, will bid up to just below your max. bid and you will pay the max. price. Better let Bill answer this one.

Also a comment. It would be nice to see the high web bidders have a shot at upping their bids on the plants if they do get outbid at the convention, but I do understand that the people who actually make the effort to show up at the live auction should have an advantage.

I don't agree that the people at the live auction should have an advantage. The purpose of the auction is to raise money for ABS and ABS should get the max. amount of money it can from each plant. A good number of the bidders will bid more for the plant than they know they can get it for from a bamboo nursery. They bid more knowing where he money is going and to help fund ABS.

On the flip side, in theory the max bid that the web bidders place should be the maximum they are willing to bid on the plant, so if they do get out bid at the live auction then it really doesn't matter because the plant sold for more than what the web bidder was willing to pay.

But if they, being the winner of the internet bidding wars, have a chance after the live auction to bid it out with the winner of the live auction, then wouldn't that achieve the goal: More money for ABS?

Anyway, I got off track. What is my point? Simply this: I want to win the B. Lako, but I don't want to front $1000 to guarantee a win.

Not to cut ABS out of any money, but you've got to put it in perspective. You can get a B. lako shipped to your doorsteps for about what you are bidding now, assuming what I see is your top bid.

Remember also, that on some of the rarer bamboos, those bamboos are purposely "bid up" to enhance the price for the people who have this bamboo for sale at their nursery. "3 GALLON SOLD FOR $500 DOLLARS AT THE ABS NATIONAL AUCTION IN 2006". Good marketing strategy even if you have to overpay for a plant or have someone buy back your plant for a high price.

[bambooweb]

Question here: I am currently the high bidder on a few plants. One of them I want to increase my max bid. To do that do I just bid again with a higher amount? If I do that will it leave the current bid the same, or will it see me as another bidder and place the new bid against my current max bid?

This Internet bidding has been a new and a learning experience for me. At first I thought I had an answer for you, but looking at the bids, I'm not sure. It could go either way. The problem is if it doesn't recognize you and does expose your maximum amount you will bid, then at the live auction, a person who knows your max. bid, and has ABS's interest at heart, will bid up to just below your max. bid and you will pay the max. price. Better let Bill answer this one.

Roy,

I will likely be the proxy at the live auction or have a local person help. The live bidders will not know any one's maximum bids so the auction will be fare and it will work like any previous auction when someone was bidding as a proxy for a person that could not make it to the auction.

To keep someone from looking at the list of max bids there will be two lists in sealed envelopes. I will keep one (Don't tell my roommates) and the other will be entrusted to Kim Higbie along with the rest of the auction materials.

I do know people that if they know you want a plant they will bid it up.

What I will be looking for is if the high web bidder is at the live auction will they bid against the proxy of themselves? I have seen business partners start bidding against each other and people block the view so they do not see who they are bidding against. I have also seen someone bid against themselves because they thought the price was to low.

Bill

[needmore]

mantid one,

I believe that you need to submit a new bid with your new max. But I think that this will instantly increase the current bid until it exceeds your previous max, therefore quickly pushing the price up. You may wish to wait until you are outbid entirely before re-bidding. Unless of course you are the high bidder on 10/1 going into the live part in which case you might want to go ahead and submit you new max.

[mantis]

Not to cut ABS out of any money, but you've got to put it in perspective. You can get a B. lako shipped to your doorsteps for about what you are bidding now, assuming what I see is your top bid.

Remember also, that on some of the rarer bamboos, those bamboos are purposely "bid up" to enhance the price for the people who have this bamboo for sale at their nursery. "3 GALLON SOLD FOR $500 DOLLARS AT THE ABS NATIONAL AUCTION IN 2006". Good marketing strategy even if you have to overpay for a plant or have someone buy back your plant for a high price.

I know. Last weekend when I picked up my 'Wamin' I could've picked up a 5 gallon B. Lako for the current bid of the 2 gallon one. Heck, the two B. Doli 'stripes' I'm bidding on are from where I picked up the one I have planted. I got mine for less than what I'm bidding here, and they are from the exact same supplier. I'm not going to be stupid, but I am willing to pay a premium when it is for a good cause

FYI, last charity auction I went to I won a 12-pack of Coca-Cola for $50, and I don't even drink soda.

[mantis]

mantid one,

I believe that you need to submit a new bid with your new max. But I think that this will instantly increase the current bid until it exceeds your previous max, therefore quickly pushing the price up. You may wish to wait until you are outbid entirely before re-bidding. Unless of course you are the high bidder on 10/1 going into the live part in which case you might want to go ahead and submit you new max.

I think I'll wait until I get outbid, just to be safe

[Roy]

mantid one,

I believe that you need to submit a new bid with your new max. But I think that this will instantly increase the current bid until it exceeds your previous max, therefore quickly pushing the price up. You may wish to wait until you are outbid entirely before re-bidding. Unless of course you are the high bidder on 10/1 going into the live part in which case you might want to go ahead and submit you new max.

I think I'll wait until I get outbid, just to be safe

Now that's thinking with your basal node. You also get the exitement of outbidding (or not) someone on a regular basis between now and then. Plus you'll probably bid a higher amount over time rather than all at one.

[needmore]

I stopped by the little nursery with the widest selection a few days ago to what they had. I did not pay enough attention to pot sizes but I think most were 3-5 gallon, possible a 7 or 10 thrown in. Here are some of the prices I recall.

Dwarf Rice Bamboo - (it looks like it must be Pl. Linearis) $6.99 for .5 gallon

Malay Dwarf - 3 gallon? $149.99

Same for Ventricosa and a couple of Otatea

The variegated-leaf Gigantachloa - I forget the form name but they were $199.99 and up

3 gallon Wamin also in the $150 range

Nastus Elastus $299.99

A multi-culm Wamin well over an inch on some culms but less than 8 feet tall was $450.00, maybe a 5 gallon

All of the Shizo Brachy were $299.99

And a Timor Black maybe 7 gallon - 10-12 feet tall was $999.99 (plus tax of course)

Makes the auction prices look pretty good eh?

[Markj]

Do people actually pay those prices

New stuff here might be hard to come by but it's usually fairly priced...

[Roy]

I stopped by the little nursery with the widest selection a few days ago to what they had. I did not pay enough attention to pot sizes but I think most were 3-5 gallon, possible a 7 or 10 thrown in. Here are some of the prices I recall.

Dwarf Rice Bamboo - (it looks like it must be Pl. Linearis) $6.99 for .5 gallon

Malay Dwarf - 3 gallon? $149.99

Same for Ventricosa and a couple of Otatea

The variegated-leaf Gigantachloa - I forget the form name but they were $199.99 and up

3 gallon Wamin also in the $150 range

Nastus Elastus $299.99

A multi-culm Wamin well over an inch on some culms but less than 8 feet tall was $450.00, maybe a 5 gallon

All of the Shizo Brachy were $299.99

And a Timor Black maybe 7 gallon - 10-12 feet tall was $999.99 (plus tax of course)

Makes the auction prices look pretty good eh?

I believe those are Paradise Island prices.

[mantis]

I stopped by the little nursery with the widest selection a few days ago to what they had. I did not pay enough attention to pot sizes but I think most were 3-5 gallon, possible a 7 or 10 thrown in. Here are some of the prices I recall.
*snip*

Makes the auction prices look pretty good eh?

Those prices are just stupid.

[needmore]

Well when you are paying $700,000+ for the average home here what is a few grand on some nice clumpers? The Lako & Schizy & Nastus have been there so long I feel like I'm visiting a petting zoo when I stop in to see my old friends, so maybe, just maybe, they are priced a tad beyond the appropriate market threshhold.

I believe that all of these plants are from Quindembo and marked up for retail plus inter-island shipping, but I did recently see some here on O'ahu from Gaia - both nurseries are on the Big Island, I believe.

I hope to be planting some yet to be built beds of the tropicals in a few months but I believe that I'll go to the nurseries and pick & ship them myself to save a few hundred dollars off these uber-retail prices. I think that the hardest part for me will be having the discipline to stick with species that can prosper in the site conditions and serve the purpose for reasonable prices as opposed to me spending my employers money on rare plants that I want to see growing!

[Eastlandia]

Is the auction all for plants only?

I could donate some a Glass bamboo sculpture for the good of the ABS...

Just a thought.. -eastlandia

[bambooweb]

eastlandia
The web auction has just been for plants because the non plant items are being carried to Hilo for the live/silent auction.

A couple of the items that will be at Hilo are at the bottom of this page. http://absauction.bambooweb.info/preview.php

Personally I would like to see the Glass bamboo sculpture so we could pretend it belongs in the web auction. What are they going to do turn down the money.

Bill

[Roy]

..snip..

I could donate some a Glass bamboo sculpture for the good of the ABS...
..snip...

-eastlandia

Got a picture of this glass bamboo sculpture?

[Eastlandia]

Ill see what I can do for a picture.
My uncle was inspired by my antics involving bamboo so he started to make some glass bamboo sculptures. They are clear clums that have frosted (etched) nodes with a few leaves at the top. We put them in a clear-glass bamboo-style vase. It looks quite lovely, something you might see in a bathroom sink commercial.
-eastlandia