More Cancellations .... what's going on breeders ??

[Ivy Norsk]

I think the problem is that we don't have enough buyers. The auction community has gotten insular - and I don't think that's through any fault of the auction communities. But you know, we often see the same people at many of the auctions. And many of us buy cats when we attend; if you know me, you know that I do. But it does get to be a round-robin of buy one, sell one. And there's nothing wrong with that either, because we all make each others' Catteries stronger. But for a very healthy auction scene there needs to be more buyers than sellers.

We need outreach.
And the forum, alas, is I think not going to work for that purpose really. It's a necessary base that is already being utilized. And I suspect that we already personally encourage kitty and non-kitty friends to try out auctions.
One problem I think is that a lot of breeders think that they're not Ready for auctions and find them intimidating. (I know I tell Marissa every week that I don't have a cat that's good enough.)
Another is that a lot of people think that the cats at auction are going to be Waaaay expensive. Those of us who attend understand that many of the cats are amazing "Stolden" bargains.

One thing I really liked about this past week was the Lovecraft Fest auction. An amazing event. And there were people there who knew nothing about KittyCats who peeked in to see what on earth was going on. And I think - though I have no way of really knowing - that some of the cats may have been bought by people there for the fest not the cats per se.

Auctions are fun. Intrinsically. (Unless they are depressing because nobody is there.) I know it's hard, but we may need more actions that are tied to non-Kitty events like the Lovecraft event just to get the word out. As for other ideas on expanding the buyer base (and there are thousands of casual breeders out there that could be encouraged to set foot in an auction), I'm not sure.
One thing I'm thinking is that I know the CSRs are not allowed to push stores, and secondary market things in the KittyCatS Addicts chat, but surely it could be okay for them to talk about auctions in general, as a thing? (Do CSRs attend auctions? I once talked to one in-world who had never been to one and was intimidated by them.) I know that's not their function. But the chat (on all cat groups) is such a great form of outreach. It would be good to know that they aren't Forbidden to talk about them.