PWCC debuts its newest service on Oct. 7 with over 40,000 items up for bid.
Prolific trading cards and collectibles platform PWCC went all-in this summer on growing and optimizing its in-house auction and marketplace services. Now, the organization has announced that its newest offering — Monthly Auction — will go live on Oct. 7.
Monthly Auction aims to build on the momentum PWCC has built with record-breaking sales via their existing Premier Auction and Fixed Price Marketplace services:
- A Tom Brady Contenders Rookie Auto PSA 10 sold for $2.88 million in August.
- A Patrick Mahomes National Treasures Rookie Patch Auto BGS 9.5 sold for $1.05 million in September.
- PWCC’s Fixed Price Marketplace launched Sept. 1 with 51,000 cards and saw over $3 million in sales over the first three weeks.
Now, Monthly Auction arrives to take the whole PWCC experience a step further.
What is Monthly Auction?
Monthly Auction will debut with over 44,000 items from across sports and trading card games up on the block. That includes cards from the worlds of basketball, football, baseball, soccer, and golf, as well as from popular TCGs such as Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon.
The first Monthly Auction launches Oct. 7, with subsequent launches through Oct. 11 based on specific sport or TCG. These auctions will end between Oct. 24 and Oct. 28.
Avid collectors will have roughly 17 days to place their respective bids before the auction timer hits zero. At that point, auctions that received two or more total bids will enter an Extended Bidding period.
How Does Extended Bidding Work?
Unlike other auction platforms, Extended Bidding provides potential buyers additional time to make final bids on a sought-after item. In order for a buyer to participate in the Extended Bidding period, they must have placed a bid before the auction’s originally allotted time ran out.
The Extended Bidding period then begins at 10 p.m. ET and proceeds like this:
- Extended Bidding begins with single closing window of 30 minutes.
- If a bid is placed during that half-hour window, another five-minute window opens. This rule stays in place for a maximum of 30 minutes — six windows of five minutes each.
- Afterwards, closing windows will cut down to just 60 seconds each and will keep going indefinitely until no bid is placed for 60 seconds.
The extended bidding period prevents “sniping” auctions, and gives highly interested buyers more ways to continue to engage with a particular offering.
Ultimately, this leads to higher payouts for the seller (and cuts down on FOMO).
“When we developed our Monthly Auction platform, we took a look at auctions throughout our industry and saw an opportunity to make extended bidding more engaging. Our new accelerated timer model will give auction participants a fast-paced competitive auction experience that will be as, if not more, exciting than sitting at an in-person auction.”
– Jesse Craig, Director of Business Development for PWCC Marketplace
Another Round
After the Extended Bidding period ends, a Round 2 auction will commence. A Round 2 will begin the night after the final closing of the cards’ respective sport or trading card game set.
For example, PWCC may have several 2003 Topps Chrome LeBron James rookie cards ending on a basketball night; as long as the cards are in different grades, they will close during thatparticular night (PSA 10, PSA 9, BGS 10, BGS 9.5, BGS 9, SGC 10, SGC 9.5, CGC 9, etc). But if PWCC has two PSA 10s and two BGS 9.5s, one of each will be moved to the Round 2 night.
This feature not only gives sellers the opportunity to maximize their earnings, but it also gives interested buyers an additional shot at getting a card they truly want. PWCC will notify its clients in these situations if their card soldeither in the main Monthly Auction or the Round 2 night.
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Building Trust for Buyers & Sellers
The most important investment PWCC has made is security. Two third-party firms will oversee various functions of the platform. Tech Heads, a cyber security risk management firm with 25 years of experience in the industry, validates and maintains a firewall on the PWCC platform to ensure a fair bidding process. PWCC employees or contractors will not see a max bid due to this firewall.
To ensure the validity of max bids and firewall, Triaxiom Security will audit the security feature. PWCC also accepts a variety of payments, including major credit cards and cryptocurrencies.
For sellers, the most annoying thing to happen after an auction has ended is a non-paying bid. PWCC has a Marketplace Trust Team tasked with the responsibility to ensure bid integrity. This team will monitor bidding abnormalities, vet buyers with low activity, and punish those caught in shill bidding and non-payment. Punishment includes being banned from the platform.
To participate in the all-new Monthly Auction format, be sure to sign up on the PWCC Marketplace.
