Only one day after my blog entry about Robert Edward Auctions’ online preview, I got a call from REA’s auction house owner Rob Lifson. This was the first time I ever talked with Rob, and I must say, he is a very nice guy and really cares about the hobby.

It is no secret that Lifson has a keen eye for super high-quality baseball memorabilia, but what continues to surprise me is the way he does it.

When on the phone today, I found out more about his business and his strategy to success. Lifson doesn’t set up at shows. When all the other major players in the auction industry have some of the biggest booths at The National, Sportsfest and others, you would think it would be key that an auction house sets up. Lifson said he would rather walk around and check things out that way.
What he does think is a big deal is taking care of his customers and being honest. Lifson stressed some of his policies to me today and I commend his efforts.

Rob told me that no employee of his, including himself, may own or bid on an item in his auction. That pretty much is unheard of nowadays and really takes out any conflict of interests that may arise.

If any of his authenticators consign an item to his auction, he has no problem with that. The only stipulation is he reveals that the authenticator is the seller in the lot’s description.

Rob also told me what goes into his catalogs. The current issue went out today to 10,000 people, at a whopping 680 pages! He also told me that the catalog is too big to go out at his normal $4.05 USPS Priority Mail rate, so he had to ship the book via FedEx ground at about $5-$8 each. I didn’t know that much went into sending an auction catalog. All this and that doesn't even take into consideration how much his production costs were.

Rob also stressed the importance of using MEARS to authenticate his game-used equipment. MEARS stands behind everything they authenticate and offers a money-back guarantee as its policy.
By no means is Lifson 100-percent satisfied with where his business is. He still is excited at his potential to grow.

Good stuff from a guy who has been in the business for many years.

Happy Easter everyone!