Did anyone else bid by absentee in Fusco's latest auction? They switch over to using ArtFact as their online auction software and I can't see any prices realized for last weekend's auction.

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I was there. Not a bad auction. The auctioneer was hillarious. I got some pics of the crowd.

Matt,

I'm not surprised that you can't find prices realized via ArtFact.

I went to the site last week because someone e-mailed me that there were quite a few pieces of Cleveland Indians memorabilia. Unfortunately, I was unable to search Fusco's auction, and scrolling through the pages of items was so slow that I eventually chucked the idea altogether. ArtFact's search function listed results for all auctions on the site, so a search for "Indians" brought all kinds of results of Navajo pottery, western prints, etc. Not exactly user-friendly.

There was something on the site about subscribing with ArtFact, which I was unwilling to do until I knew whether I was going to bid. If a buyer already has registered with the auction house, being asked to then register with another third-party Web site can be a deterrent. At least it was to me, so I passed on the auction altogether.

By the way, did you receive a hard copy of Fusco's catalog for this auction?

Rob - I did receive a hard copy of the catalog; obviously with no images, I still had to go to ArtFact to see the lots.

Being in the software field one of the things that drives me nuts is when companies invest thousands of dollars in improving their software but instead of addressing important usability issues like what you just mentioned, or the ability to see prices realized, they instead choose pretty pictures and fancy looking doo-dads that are relatively useless. It happens all the time because the decision making executive falls in love with some cool looking component that can be included. ArtFact just put up a new version of their site this week which looks great, but functions the same, as best I can tell.

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