I can’t speak for others but for me the issue isn’t competition it’s the waiting period once the bidding starts. It’s still first come first serve if you get the item before anyone has placed a bid so that’s not completely gone. However, to me the issue is the wait. Might not be as bad if the waiting wasn’t so long. It was one thing to buy from the factory outlet with a 4 week wait knowing you would get your product by then or sooner. Now you have to always wait a month and still may not get what you want, meaning placing an order and waiting again.
I just think Axiom will move their B-stock faster if they go to straight discount pricing instead of dragging out an auction. I’m not sure what the auction results have been so far or there is even enough data to look at but I imagine not to many people have paid over the 10% markdown while bidding and probably less.
I don’t begrudge Axiom trying something new but if auctioning B-stock was a good business idea I imagine other audio companies would also be doing it. I imagine most companies try to keep their on hand inventory as low as they can and still fill orders in a timely manner. Having an asset sitting around almost guaranteed for 30 days seems like a waste to Axiom and a hassle to most buyers.
In conjunction with what I mentioned above, I would fully concur with what you have said. I may be wrong, but the only reason I can think that Axiom replaced the "factory outlet" set-up with the auction was as "B-stock" items became available perhaps it was a way of disposing them quicker and at a little higher price otherwise, I must admit and perhaps I am missing something here, BUT I really don't see any other reason for the change in approach.
Here again, the only problem with this process is you better hope what you have available is what your customers want otherwise I don't think anyone is going to be too keen on paying more than 90% of the NEW price otherwise one might as well buy it NEW and be guaranteed getting it quicker without the wait and hassle.
