Business As Usual

I started buying TRE auctions on June 1 of last year. The Exchange was still in its fairly early days of operation and each new auction posted seemed to represent something of an event.

There were two days in the first half of last June, in fact, on which no auctions closed. It certainly seemed at that time that there were more dollars seeking auctions than there were auctions to bid on. So “losing” an auction was, at least for me, kind of a big thing.

There have been many changes in TRE operations and dynamics since that time. By my count, over the same period in June of this year there have been five times as many auctions sold as last year and the average daily dollar volume has increased by a similar factor.

The number of Sellers has continued to increase and, while there are quite a few that don’t make it through our screen, there are quite a few that do. There is now a significant number of Sellers, in fact, that I’m quite pleased to buy from.

One of the happy consequences of the continued maturation of the Exchange is that it no longer feels like such a big deal when an auction is “lost”.

A year ago, the process of analyzing a Seller; analyzing it’s Debtor(s); reviewing the invoices posted; considering the past auction history; deciding to bid; and then actually placing a bid; represented not only a significant investment of time and energy but had an emotional component as well.

It represented a serious commitment. To fail to win an auction after all that actually felt something like a failure.

Well, times have changed. I “lost” two auctions yesterday that I bid on actively. I liked the Sellers. I liked the Debtors. I’d had good experience with each and I offered competitive pricing—actually a series of increasingly competitive bids.

And then those auctions, that I really assumed I was going to win, were just gone; snapped up at prices that I suspect pleased the Sellers quite a bit but left me empty-handed.

But here’s the point……

I didn’t get THOSE two auctions--but later in the day I got two others.

And I know that the Sellers of the auctions I lost are likely to be back very soon and I’ll have another opportunity to buy some of their invoices.

It’s no longer an “occasion” when a good auction is posted for sale. It’s business-as-usual. If I miss one today I’ll have another chance tomorrow.

On the other side of the coin, if a Seller has to pay a little more today because of the dynamics of this particular day’s activity, he can probably count on evening the score on a day when the Buyers are feeling the pressure to put money to work.

In short, what was a novelty a year ago is not a novelty today.

When I log onto the TRE platform tomorrow morning I will have every expectation that I’m going to have the chance to do some business.

Some days will be better than others. You win some and you lose some.

But that’s what a market is about, right.

And that’s what the Exchange has now really become.