Who owns auction times?

[Tad Carlucci]

Nobody "owns" a time slot.

If another auctioneer decides to hold an auction at the same time as another, too bad.

If you were running an auction at a given time and decided to move elsewhere and someone else decides to run an auction at the same time and location you just vacated, too bad.

You don't have to like it, and you can complain about it, to some extent. But you're running close to rules violations when you come here and name names. And, if you take it in-world, you'll need to be careful about violating the LL ToS.

Your best course of action, if you want your auction location and time to be the "go-to" auction at that time-slot is to stop complaining and up your game.

Let's face it, as a buyer, most auctions aren't worth the effort of teleporting to. The selection will be poor and the the auctioneer terrible.

As an auctioneer, it's your responsibility to know the product. That means knowing the current market prices and knowing breeding.

If someone wants to put out a cat an opening ask of 15,000 L$, which just like hundreds of others which have been selling for 500 L$, it's your job to get them to lower their ask or kick them out. If you don't your auction will get a reputation (among buyers) for over-priced, worthless cats, and people will stay away and you'll get a reputation for never selling (among sellers).

If someone wants to sell a cat which has no chance of hiding the latest-and-greatest fur, it's your responsibility to honestly sell the cat and not falsely represent it as "hiding" something it clearly cannot have.

Your job, as an auctioneer, it to be an honest broker for your customers: the sellers. You do that by guiding them to good choices, and performing for them by selling their product. You do THAT by creating an environment which is fun and where everyone, buyers and sellers, feel they're being treated honestly and fairly.

So, if you think someone has poached "your" time slot and are upset because they're stealing "your" customers, instead of being upset with your competitor, ask yourself WHY "your" customers are leaving for the new event? Are you selling cats? Can the sellers trust you to guide them to better sales? Can the buyers trust you to be honestly offering quality products? Are you too rushed, too slow, too boring, too easily off-track? Are they just trying the new place because yours is just the same as everyplace else?

Most likely, it's not that someone "stole" your time slot, it's that you're doing so poorly you're not actually there, anyway.