It's time again for the Great Grex Auction. This will be the 4th edition of the auction, and it will open to the public on July 12th. Here's how it works: generous Grexers (that's you) donate goods and services to the auction. Other generous Grexers (or possibly the same ones) then bid on those goods and services, and the highest bidder wins. The winner then pays Grex the amount bid, and then the donor delivers the item. This item is to solicit donations of items for the auction. Here are some examples of items donated in past auctions: A week's stay at freida's farm An custom-painted oil painting of your choice Lots of different baked goods (cakes, truffles, bread, pies, bagels, and more) Lots of other food (soup, noodles, etc.) Various current computer games (and other software) A home-cooked dinner for two A handcrafted dreamcatcher Exotic homemade jewelry Homemade chocolate truffles Various computer books A rare copy of Terry Pratchett's Nome Trilogy The Grexbat Storage space for graphics for a web page Cuttings from various house plants Various board games Musical performances Various computer hardware A handmade didjeridu and a handmade shakukachi flute Custom printed t-shirts, mugs, and notepads A pair of lovely porcelain drunkmen A hand-made crocheted table runner Silly hats Homemade envelopes Printed astrological reports Canning jars Autographed children's books A handmade steel chainmail three dimensional jellyfish figure A set of luggage Tours of the pumpkin Web page design for a small web page And lots more. I hope this gives you some ideas for things to donate. If you'd like to do so, declare your intention here (and describe what you're donating). Also, I've volunteered to be an auctioneer (aka fairwitness of the auction conference) this time around, but it would be nice if we got a few more volunteers as well. So have at it - anything you'd like to donate, mention it here, or send me mail.53 responses total.
A translation of up to 1000 words from a Slavic language (Russian, Ukrainain,
Belarusan, Polish, Slovak, Czech, Slovene, Serbo-Croato-Bosnian, Macedonian,
Bulgarian) or possibly Albanian or Romanian if short and legible. Science
and technology preferred. Into English only.
Perhaps people with hardware or software skills could donate a couple
of hours of their time for auction?
I will, of course, donate a homemade apple pie.
Dan's apple pies were big sellers in the last auction - thanks Dan and Sindi! I will donate my usual: 10 handmade envelopes and a template for making your own.
I will donate my usual: Cheesecake, and the blackdeath cake...
I'll donate a hand cross stiched "Birthday Angel" personalized for the month and framed for hanging
I will donate a Sunday breakfast, brought to your door. Included will be a quiche, fruit salad, muffins and The New York Times. You supply the coffee or tea and a local address.
I will donate 2-8x8 pans od fudge. This was the winner of the 1958 Michigan State Fair. Min Bid- $5 per pan. Made when you arrange to pick it up.
make that "of"
wouldn't it be a little stale by now, Jim?
No, the recipe is from 1958. The fudge will be made when you make arrangements to pick it up. I got the joke, btw.
Several board games donated by zook: (1) Avalon Hill - Tobruk (2) Avalon Hill - Bismarck (may be missing pieces) (3) Avalon Hill - Submarine (4) Avalon Hill - Flat Top (5) Task Force Games - Star Fleet Battles (may be missing pieces) (6) Task Force Games - Federation Space (7) Task Force Games - Federation and Empire The missing pieces may be in another batch of stuff zook donated, if we can't find them, we probably won't offer those games. The Task Force Games look weird. They have pictures of Star Trek ships on the box cover, and they abound with references to "Klingons" and "Romulans", but there are also "Kzinti" and "Berserkers". There are no references to Paramount copyrights, nor do words like "Star Trek" or "Enterprise" ever appear.
Oh yeah, I've typed in more detailed descriptions of those games, which I will mail to aruba for posting in the auction conference.
Also donated by zook:
Apple StyleWriter II printer
including:
- printer
- power cable
- serial cable
- four diskettes of printer software
- original box
- no manual
I believe this worked when it was put in the box. I haven't tested
it.
again, two items, one per winner, either a coffee/milk mug with a photograph (you supply that) and text imprinted or a t-shirt with photo & text ....and this time ... a mouse pad w/photo & text each of the two winners may choose any one of the above items. initial bid $7, please - several examples exist throughout the grexian space if you need a reference or sumpin like that.
From the same anonymous donor who last year supplied the porcelian
drunkmen, we have a new item, with a new web page:
Pandora's Mystic Box
http://wwnet.net/~janc/grexshop/box.html
I like the Pandora's Mystic Box page, some what "interesting" box. =)
I'll donate an astrology chart and report again. High bidder needs to know the exact birth time (usually on yur birth certificate, or moms often know - since they were there), the place and the date of birth. This is a 20+ page report.
And I will say that it's a fantastic report. :-)
Thanks, Twila. :-)
Last time I donated plastic shakuhachi type flutes which sold at a fixed price of 5 bucks. I haven't been playing around with them lately but I can dig one up to be auctioned to the highest bidder. This time, for a fixed price of 7 bucks, I will have the US government deliver to your door a sundial of my own unique design, custom made for your location. They're about 7 inches tall and about 3 inches in diameter and are very nice to set on a desk or window sill or with a potted plant or flower arrangment. I can offer several at this price.
(Slight correction - 3 flutes sold for $10 each, which meant $30 for Grex!) Can you describe the sundial, John?
OK, you asked for it. See /~jh/sundial2.html
Very interesting, John - I'll buy one! We need more items for the auction! If anything in the list in #0 looks like something you'd like to donate, *please* say so here. This can be a lot of fun (as well as being very important for Grex), so please help out if you can!
I'll donate something. Maybe the truffles again. Maybe something else. I guess I have to come up with something soon...
Ok, I'll donate: A free MBTI consultation. Includes completing official MBTI questionaire, scoring, and a 2 hour consultation/explanation of what your scores mean for you. Retail value: $150-200. Minimum bid $50.
Anyone interested in a night in the Lincoln Bedroom with a visit to the Nashunal Zoo?
What's MBTI?
I'm guessing that it involves the Myer-Briggs Test.
I will donate the Grex T Shirt I won. The bidder can pick size and color. The minimum bid should be $25.
Hmmm... The problem with that, Audrey, is that anyone who wants a T-Shirt can buy one from the Grex store for less than $25. (The prices range from $15 to $20, depending on size and color.) A couple of auctions ago someone offered a pair of movie passes which have a fixed price at the theater. What happened was that someone bid more than the fixed price, was advised of his mistake, and then never paid us for them. As a result Grex got nothing out of the whole deal. For that reason I think we should avoid auctioning off items which are available for some fixed price somewhere else. (This doesn't include used items, of course - we will be offering some used software, for instance.) So thanks very much Audrey, but I don't think we should auction off the T-Shirt, unless someone would like to take issue with my logic. Is there anything else you can think of to donate?
There are t-shirts available -- to whom did you send inquiries, Sreeni?
Out-of-print T shirts, however, are really hot items at auctions in other organizations. Grex should print only limited editions of T-shirts so the old ones become more valuable.
(re #32: I had sent them to grexshop@cyberspace.org. BTW, after I posted #31, I got a reply from Mark.)
Mark, I donated the T shirt as a fund raiser for Grex, hence the idea of starting at $25. I am still willing to donate it and start at $20. I disagree with you that just because, once before, an item was bid on at a price higher than it could be purchased and the bidder was a deadbeat, that we should never offer anything for auction that one can buy (perhaps for less). I never base my future behaviors on one bad experience. My offer to donate the T shirt for a minimum bid of $%20 stands unless there is a consensus that I should withdraw the offer. I would like to hear what others think.
I see headdoc's point. I could buy a mug for $10 anywhere, that is except PBS who offers them as premiums for a $75 donation. I say if someone wants to buy a $100 t-shirt and it benefits Grex, let us not be the ones to stand in that persons way.
you're missing the significance of the psychological element. if the price were set, say as in the case of a premium for pbs donations, people go into the process thinking they're going to part with x amount of money and they're going to get y premium. in an auction, the same kind of simple products that can be given away as premia don't get the bids because even though the event is a fundraiser, the focus in an auction is more on the item itself. people are more willing to donate in an auction if the auction item is unique or creative as opposed to something you could just buy off the shelf.
Maybe if no one wants to donate $25 or more for headdoc's item, she can keep it. I thought this was the conferencing system where people were allowed to try things and see if they work. Why the debate?
Well, OK. I'll put it in with a minimum bid of $20. We still need more items! *Please*, if you can think of anything at all to donate, it will make the auction more fun and also benefit Grex a lot. The auction gets underway on Sunday, and though we will accept new items for a while after that, the more items we have at the start, the better.
1. An Indian elephant made of wood (I think it is rosewood), height ~2 inches, length ~2.5 inches, normal stance, minimum bid $3.00 2. Another Indian elephant, trumpetting (sp?) stance, other specifications identical to (1), minimum bid $3.00
Thank you, Mark.
I will weed someone's garden for an hour, or clean their house (but no smelly chemicals, please), or something else tedious, but they will have to work along with me. Minimum bid $4.50. I am offering up to 3 hours, not necessarily to the same bidder.
Donated by beccap, through me: One complete copy of DOS 3.3, complete with license. One complete copy of Ventura Publisher 4.1 documentation. One copy of the Xerox Edition of Ventura Publisher Reference Guide.
I'll donate a "parlor" ragtime piano recital of about an hour's length. Pianist: me. Parlor: You provide it, or make arrangements for a recital location. Background: I play ragtime piano, specializing in the "classical" ragtime of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, James Scott, and other composers of that era. (Also some contemporary composers who write in that style.) Although I'm not a professional musician (i.e. I don't make my living at it), I've been playing the music for over 25 years and have had experience performing at after-hours sessions and other open-piano events at ragtime festivals. I've garnered appreciative comments from audience members and praise from such professional ragtime performers as John Arpin, Bob Darch, Sue Keller, Bob Milne, and Richard Zimmerman. Some constraints: The location should be in the Ann Arbor area or a short drive from it. The "parlor" could be your home, a local church recital room with a piano, or whatever you can arrange for. Invite a few friends or the whole world -- whatever you feel comfortable with. We'd work out a mutually agreeable date and time. I'd reserve the right to try out the piano in advance -- it doesn't have to be a concert grand, but I'd want to be sure that it's in reasonable tune, has a decent touch, and that all the keys work. :-)
wow! with auction items like, these, the auction should have a press release all its own!
(oops. delete the extra comma above.)
Those are great items. Keep them coming, folks! I'll be getting the auction going tonight/tomorrow.
It's late and I haven't finished typing in items, so it will be sometime tomorrow afternoon when I get the auction up and running.
I'm still working on it - hopefully in a few hours the auction will be open.
I e-mailed this to the auctioneers, since I forgot this item exists: We have a screen tent to donate if you would be interested in taking it for the Grex auction. I believe it's 8x10'. It's plastic, with metal poles. We used it only once -- it's very difficult to set up for 2 people, but once it was up it stayed up through heavy wind and rain for over a week. It has all the parts, including the box and instructions. One pole is bent, but we fortified it with duct tape and it held up fine. There's no other damage to it. It cost $40 on sale at K-Mart a few months ago. I don't care how much it gets sold for; I will give it to someone or throw it away if Grex doesn't want it. Maybe Grex wants to just keep it, which is fine by me. I would like to drop it off somewhere in the next week. I'm willing to deliver it in Ann Arbor, Saline, Clinton, or Tecumseh, or I can bring it to work (I work at ArborText) and someone can pick it up from there. Thanks!
I entered it as item 44. The auction is now open, everyone! Come bid on stuff!
Kiwanis can sell the screen tent if grex cannot, don't throw it out.
We already have a bid on the tent.
You have several choices: