When I think back to the beginning of live commerce in memorabilia, I think about Don West, the shouting salesman I happily found on the Shop at Home channel around my junior year in high school.
I was never a good sleeper, so if I wasn't listening to "Captain Midnight" Steve Somers, on WFAN radio at 2 a.m., I was watching West do his thing.
We're thrilled to debut our partnership tomorrow with @eBay, as @darrenrovell hosts cllct's first eBay Live show!
— cllct (@cllctMedia) October 29, 2024
Tune in tomorrow at 6 ET to hear tremendous stories and bid on spectacular items. https://t.co/xfRxdh1kkV pic.twitter.com/QzUSXo1Y0Y
Even though he was mesmerizing at selling sports cards and other memorabilia, I never bought anything. You see, by 1994, I was disenfranchised by the junk-wax era and the Major League Baseball strike of 1994.
But, boy, did I watch West do his thing.
What made West great, aside from his high energy, was the stories he would tell. About a certain card or a certain set. And although I'm sure West was one of Shop at Home's best sellers, I'm also sure the percentage of people watching him who weren't buying anything was likely a Shop at Home record.
I didn't collect anything substantive from 1994 through 1998. But heading into my senior year of high school, I caught the bug again. As we were all worried about Y2K, I remember landing on eBay for the first time from a teal iMac G3 in the Northwestern University library and purchasing my first item as nuwildcat99.
Over the last 25 years, I have purchased 1,376 items on eBay, with prices ranging from $1 to $7,000. Any time I've sold, I've consigned it, just because it's easier.
But I always thought I had a little Don West in me. Along with a Paul Harvey and Charles Kuralt, of course. My buying behavior has always been attached to the story.
I also thought eBay had so much more in it. Auctions are great, but how much is left on table when the story of the item is just left up to text?
We also think there's so much more of an audience to be had beyond the breaking audience for sports cards — when people aren't in on the break, they have no interest in being there.
That's why I'm thrilled cllct has partnered with eBay Live for a new series of shows that will entertain and inform with the backstories around the items being sold. We've curated more than 70 items that we will auction off over the next month, starting Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET
Sure, we want you to bid, but we also want you to do what I did with Don West, just watch.
Here's how you do it.
Go this link to get to eBay Live.
Make sure you are logged in with you eBay user ID.
Favorite this page and then set a reminder to watch when we go live at 6 p.m.
We have some outstanding items Wednesday, including a custom doorknob from the movie "Home Alone," a Wayne Gretzky lunchbox, a Michael Jordan Birmingham Barons jersey and more.
Our next time out will be Nov. 11, when I will be live at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles right before the Rams take on the Dolphins on "Monday Night Football." We will auction off more items with great stories, and I will be joined by Meghan Payton. We also plan to do another onsite eBay live with Alex Giaimo.
I hope you will join us. Like Don West, I promise it will be worth the watch.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.