Collector Nation - Pristine Auction: Why $1 No-Reserve Auctions Are Changing the Hobby

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

In this episode of Collector Nation, Ryan Alford talks with Jared Kavlie, Founder of Pristine Auction, about the evolution of one of the fastest-growing auction platforms in the collectibles space. Jared shares how the company scaled from a simple idea into a high-volume operation moving thousands of items daily through a unique $1 starting bid model. The discussion explores the rapid growth of live auctions, shifting buyer behavior, and how pricing dynamics are evolving across the hobby. This episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at how auctions, technology, and community are shaping the future of collectibles. 🔑 Topics Covered Pristine Auction origin story Daily vs live auction models Consignment structure and pricing Live auction growth and engagement Market trends in sports cards and collectibles

You know, it's funny because we've kind of been sitting on the live tech for a while, and it just hasn't gone to the top of our list. And once we started dabbling with it, you know, I would be on a couple hours a week personally from my office, just selling a few things. And it's very clear early on, like, okay, there's definitely something here. I like to talk about the business side of these things, too. Like, it's like the logistics. Like, they've got to be impressive to keep up with it.

Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling blood. You take you inside the hobby. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. The collectible space has changed a lot, especially when it comes to how people buy and sell items. Auction platforms have opened things up, making collecting more accessible through live selling and faster-paced formats.

Jared Cavley, the president and founder of pristine auction, has been right in the middle of that evolution. Jared, welcome to Collector Nation. What's up, man? How you doing, man? Good to see you, Ryan. Thanks for having me. Appreciate you.

Hey, good to see you. I, uh, you know, I don't use the, I like the word, but I was thinking, actually, I was doing my, my research and getting to know pristine auctions. And I go, pristine's a nice word, you know? Like, who wouldn't want to be pristine? I hope that's what they say. That's what Bella says about me when I'm not around. He's pristine.

It's a great word. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, it's funny. You make me kind of remember. when the name was born, I was actually at lunch with a friend. And we were just going through. And I know you're a marketing guy, so you kind of know how some of this works. But you kind of just got to look at like, okay, it's collectibles.

We want to be in collectibles. What are some words that work? And then you got to check for the URL, see if they're even available. And you kind of go through that game. And pristine is what we landed on that was available. And so we just kind of rolled with it. In a way, and Jared is the president, founder of pristine auctions. We're going to talk about auctions, you know.

it's uh it sounds better than mint you know so like when you think about trading cards specifically you know mint near mint being you know perfect pretty much pristine a lot of free advertising from those grading companies which is fantastic yeah right it's pristine rated you know right do we have the do we have a trademark i would assume on pristine auction i guess we do yeah we do yeah so you got to keep that IP intact uh absolutely you know I've been on eBay. I've got one of the oldest accounts on eBay, 1999 or something like that.

I don't know. It's got to be up there for at least my peers. I'm sure there was before. But that was like my first experience with like online auction. And then my grandfather took me when I was really young to a bunch of like live auctions. You talk about like an experience thinking about through like, you know, one do, one do, one. I'm like, what the hell is going on?

So, like, the history of the word auction has, like, a unique place for me in, like, these two outer places. And then Pristine sits here in this wonderful place doing collectibles in the middle. But why auctions for you? Where did all this originate? Well, I mean, really just born out of a collector myself and dabbling with all the other auctions out there. And then as an entrepreneur one day just decided, hey, what if we give it a shot on our own? It's kind of a pipe dream at the time. So a wife and I just sat down and were like, hey, let's give it a shot.

You know, I was selling and buying from all the other auctions, kind of like some things and didn't from some of them. And so, yeah, we just started rolling. That was 2010. We gave it a shot. I mean, without really a very good business plan. Sweet 16. Yeah, yeah. 16 years later.

Crazy to think, man. It feels like it was yesterday, you know, that we were dreaming up the idea. But, you know, and then it's obviously. evolved along the way, kind of started as a pipe dream. And we just kind of like everybody else. You're like, everyone's doing a monthly auction. We might as well do that. But, you know, Ryan, I know you're a marketing guy. You got to kind of differentiate yourself, right? So it was really when, now, do you know, have you heard of this website called Woot? I think it still exists. This is part of the story here. Wooped. Woot. Woot. So their whole idea was. I know exactly what Woot is.

I was a Woot daily, or I got it on daily for the daily sale of the day, right? My dad obsessed with Woot. He is a deal finder. I ordered more crap. I never needed. They literally sold sometimes. Do you remember when they sold crap in a bag? They might still do this. Like you have no idea what it is. It's just a deal.

Mystery. They're clearing out. Dude, we love deals. So based off of that, I was inspired to create the daily auction. So we created the daily auction pretty early into our kind of a business experience here. And I think that's what really was started to differentiate ourselves. You know what? I always say we're, this is the drive-through mentality.

As a collector, I hated waiting a month for an auction to end. And so I was like, people don't want to do that. They bet at the end anyways. Let's just do it daily. They got to come back every day. They got to check out the website. Everything's new. And so, you know, kind of stole that sort of idea from Woot.

I mean, not that it's revolutionary, right? We just want people back every day. So that's kind of evolved even further from there. I love that business model. I mean, I, man, this, you really sent me back there. Jared, you got me. Like, I mean, I'm not kind of nostalgia, like, think through the way, like, like places, things where I was like I started my ad agency curriculum.

This was pretty early. This was like 2003, four, five. Wasn't it somewhere in there? Like in that time period, 2004 to 2008? Because I remember being, I worked right out of school in 2001 for an ad agency. And ended up moving to Manhattan and opened their New York office in 2008. But I have this memory, though, of ordering Woot before I went to New York, which means it had to have happened before 2008. Yeah, I keep bringing this up and I haven't been to the website for years, you know, since my dad was shopping on as a kid.

So I'm sure they still exist and it's probably a lot different now, probably more evolved. Because at one point, it was like one item one day. You know, you know how that works. And then it's like, oh, this works really well. We've got a kind of like our daily auction was one item for a day. And that happened for like a day. And then it exploded from there. So I'm sure they've done the same thing.

There was a wine store. So this is going to come full circle. That is what actually did the wine of the day. they had a similar thing. It was kind of like a daily wine thing, W-O-T-S. And it's actually how I met Gary V, because he used to be a wine guy. And this is, man, this is going way back. But yeah, I'm using myself a little bit.