Good posts about auctions and bidding!!

JD Seller · Feb 1, 2015

We have had some really good posts about bidding at auctions in the last few days.

I hate the SLOW BIDDER fellows that wait and wait at a sale to bid and then bid the lowest possible amount. Either bid or quit!!!!! LOL

Most auctioneers like me bidding at their sales. I will push the bidding along. An example: Lest says $10000 tractor is selling. At some sales no one wants start the bidding. I sure as heck will. IF that tractor really worth 10K your not going to get it for $2500 at most sales so lets get the bidding going. SO I will tell the auctioneer $7500 before he is even done "talking" about how great it is. I have had that be the only bid on some items. Some people think that that is foolish as I MIGHT have gotten it cheaper. Well If it is worth 10K and I am getting it at $7500 then it still deal. Lets GO!!!! LOL

I have seen the very same item start at $2000 and go to the $10000 mark at $50 bids. An auctioneer that does that is wasting my time. I do not want to still be at a sale in the dark.

IF it is something I am interested in then I will move the bid along at a faster pace. I know what I will bid to. I bid to that and walk away. I don't need to "think" about it for five minutes while the auctioneer chants. LOL

At a local sale of very good farm machinery here 3-4 years ago the seller/farmer got hurt on price badly by a slow auctioneer. It was an absolutely terrible day for a sale. Started out raining and then changed over to snow with a driving wind. The auctioneer moved the hay racks inside to sell them. He was still on them at well after 2 PM. Then he sold the implements first. Then the tractors and combine last. It was after 6PM when he started on them. I know many bidder left. One fellow was real mad as he had driven over 4 hours an had to leave for evening milking. He would have given well over the sale price for one of the tractors. So the late sale made all the LATE model good equipment sell well under market THAT evening. I knew the farmer well.

Also it seems some guys have to "grow a set" then they bid like crazy and pay more than market on some things.

rockyridgefarm · Feb 1, 2015

I wanted that F145 3-16 for $650. They got the first bid at 200. I took 300. went back and forth to 800 in about 6 seconds. $700 was 50 over my top bid, so I said no to $900.

Auctioneer goes "How bout $850?" as I walked away. Didn't want him pushing me for two minutes for a bid he wasn't gonna get.

I rarely start an item, but I don't sit around and get them to beg me once I'm done. I can't believe the guys who'll say no for a half a minute, then say yes... WHY?????

oldtanker · Feb 1, 2015

I agree, with most of that. I've seen people leave auctions in droves because they are taking too long.

The worst ones are the guys who will 100 or less on items worth thousands and they will raise the price of the item by one or 2K bidding 50-100 at a time. Those kinds of bidders can drag an auction out a long time.

My rules for an auction are simple. Know what I'm willing to pay for an item before bidding starts and never, ever exceed that price. That's it. 2 rules.

I love the guys who will try to intimidate someone bidding against them by glaring at them. Like they are really going to do something at an auction. Now it might be interesting to hold and auction in a bar!

My only thing that really angers me is the auctioneers whoa are not doing too well. You can generally tell these guys by their web site. Weekly consignment sales are a bell ringer. Every once in a while they will get a farm auction. When they have an item that they know the value of and the high bid is way under they can spend as much as 15 minutes trying to convince the crowd that the item is worth more only to fail to get nay additional bid. No one is bidding? Sell it and move on. We got 2 really pathetic ones in the area. I don't go to their auctions unless they do get the occasional farm auction that has an item I'm really interested in. Got a couple of really good auctioneers here too that I attend some of their auctions just because they make it fun. Good way to spend a Sat when I have nothing else going on.

Rick

LAA · Feb 1, 2015

It seems like every story you tell has some poor moron being taken advantage of by an evil BTO, or unscrupulous landlords, auctioneer or dealer and you are the one stalwart standing up for the defenseless. Doesn't anyone in your neck of the woods besides yourself have sense enough to look out for their own interests? I would shut the auction down and run the auctioneer off my place if I thought he was not taking care of business. Every Farmer and Rancher I know make their living by their wits and by paying attention to costs and returns, they wouldn't last long over paying and underselling.

Northvale - PA · Feb 1, 2015

actually, when I want to bid on something, I let it go all the way down, then all the way up, until the 2nd guy drops out. At that moment, I know about where the final price will be. Often, I never even bid, if it goes past my 'range'. The thing I don't like is the same few guys bidding on everything at the bottom then dropping out half way up. That is annoying. Getting good deals at auctions is mostly about patience. You will spend time. When I am in a hurry, I go to a dealer. Years back, I shopped for a 4010 and 4020 at farm auctions. I quickly figured out the condition and selling price, then bought better tractors at dealers for about the same price. Time well spent.

flying belgian · Feb 1, 2015

Wow. You guys would not like me at an auction. I have only been to a handful of auctions in my life so I did not even know there was a protocol. At the very few auctions I have gone to I maybe did n't go with the intent of buying anything but happened to spot something I want. Really have no idea what it is worth so will jump in bidding and consider if I want to bid higher after each bid. Don't really know what my top dollar will be until I get there. I got to believe there are many of us like that and we are oblivious to the fact we are irritating you "professional" attendees.

farmboy48 · Feb 1, 2015

went to an auction about 20 years ago, there was a 62 ford fairlane up for bids, nice looking vehicle, auctioneer called for a 10k opening bid, a young lady raised her hand right away, auctioneer said "Sold". she drove it home. I got a 69 chev pickup for $600 at the sale.

Dick ND

T in NE · Feb 1, 2015

There's an auction company that will haul several estates/business closings into the 4h building in McCook and sell them all at one auction. But they don't separate anything out into groups. The last one I went to had a lot of tools but missed out on a lot because you can't hear them at the back of the building and jump around a lot. They spent an hour on cookie jars and candy dishes, put 6 or 7 on a table, bidder takes choice, no back-bidder choice. There were several times they gave some away to make room for more. I about took them for $1 apiece just for target practice.

They started ignoring my bids when I'd try making the first one half way from what stuff was worth, to the nothing that everyone was waiting for it to drop to. The one box of stuff I was after they started at $40, I bid at $20, and the auctioneer says "who said $5?". I took it back to $20 and walked away, last bid I made that day.

Do meet some interesting characters waiting for them to get to the good stuff. Worth going just to meet people.

J.Wondergem · Feb 1, 2015

I'll jump in anywhere, but have always known where I'm stopping before hand. I look over what I'm interested in and figure my top pay. If it goes over, someone else got it, and I don't look back.

oldtanker · Feb 1, 2015

(quoted from post at 11:21:27 02/01/15) Wow. You guys would not like me at an auction. I have only been to a handful of auctions in my life so I did not even know there was a protocol. At the very few auctions I have gone to I maybe did n't go with the intent of buying anything but happened to spot something I want. Really have no idea what it is worth so will jump in bidding and consider if I want to bid higher after each bid. Don't really know what my top dollar will be until I get there. I got to believe there are many of us like that and we are oblivious to the fact we are irritating you "professional" attendees.

LOL not a pro but when I see a bill with an item I'm interested in I check on the average price of the item, like a tool or in the case of used equipment dealer asking price. Then I set my price. I do this because I pay in cash. So I only take what I may need. Basically I price what I will pay at 80% or less depending on condition. That's not being a pro. That's protecting me and my money. Like with tools I know what I need that I don't have and what it would cost me to buy them new. So if I see something I know what to bid to keep me happy. Where I don't like it is when items take a long time to sell of the auctioneer drags it out when no one is bidding. Sometimes I'd really like to go and do other things but have to wait to get to the item I'm interested in. Plus the auctioneer is messing himself over. If I get out bid that means I have money in my pocket and there may be other things I would bid on. If it's dragging out way too long I leave and take that money with me. I may not get another item but I may drive the price up higher which in any case in the sellers and auctioneers interest. I attend auctions to buy what I want or need. It's not entertainment to me. I always have other things to do.

Rick

Traditional Farmer · Feb 1, 2015

There is no set way to bid at auctions,I've been going to auctions steady in 5 states for the last
40 years seen some crazy things,got stuck a few times and have gotten some real bargains but its always interesting.I'll bid the way I like and don't care if the auctioneer or anyone else likes it or not.When they start paying for my ride there and pay my bill at the end of the day I'll start listening.

VaTom · Feb 1, 2015

"Some people think that that is foolish as I MIGHT have gotten it cheaper. Well If it is worth 10K and I am getting it at $7500 then it still deal."

Maybe, but the last major piece I bought was something so heavy I didn't really want to have to move it. An 11,000 lb 3 drum sander with a cast housing occupying 8' x 9' of shop floor. I was hoping somebody would go $1000 or so and relieve me of any responsibility.

Nope. The auctioneer finally got down to $100. I yelled out $50. Auctioneer thought that was great, anything to get the bidding started. It was the only bid. I had to move it after all.

Even better, a guy there noticed I was braver (dumber?) than most and after the auction asked if I would buy more woodworking tools. I ended up with a 24" variable speed planer with built-in knife grinder and a lovely Crescent bandsaw that I didn't want. 3 phone calls to friends and the Crescent was gone for twice what I paid, still a great deal for my friend. That seller was so happy, he delivered them.

I kept 20,000 lbs of old tooling, all working, and spent under $500, plus $150 for the rollback.

I haven't attended a nice old farm auction for years. Guess those old guys all died. My accumulation will be an interesting auction.

Dan in Ohio · Feb 1, 2015

JD Seller,

I am surprised no one has mentioned the internet bidder. That is my pet peeve as there is no way to verify one really exists. As far as I am concerned "internet bidder" means you are now bidding against the auctioneer, good luck with that. One of our prominent equipment/farm/antique tractor auctioneers got me a few years ago. He made me so mad I looked him in the eyes and yelled SOB be fore he stopped, by then he had run the bid up 3K higher than the crowd bid. I learned right then not to show how much you want something to an auctioneer.

My other lesson involved seeing an auctioneer offer similar items as if they are selling ONE item then saying to lucky bidder "do you want them all" well of course they do. Seen a lot of John Deere weights sold that way.

Mike (WA) · Feb 1, 2015

Local livestock auction also has consignment sales 3 or 4 times a year. He's got it down pretty good, as far as order of the sale. Starts with little stuff in the inside sales ring at 9, then goes out to the mowers and tillers, tools, misc. stuff.

Promptly at high noon, everything stops and he does the tractors and rolling stock. He's in the truck with the PA equipment, with the portable bleachers across from him, and the stuff is driven through. His crew has been getting everything started and in line, so its ready to go at noon. Then back to the misc. and implements. Anyone there for a tractor, car or truck knows to be there at noon. He's a good auctioneer, and keeps it moving. The regulars know if you snooze you lose, so they don't horse around. Newcomers soon catch on.

JD Seller · Feb 1, 2015

LAA The fellow with the bad auctioneer did it to himself. He chose an auctioneer that usually did house hold sales. That auctioneer was two percent "cheaper" on his commission than the other auctioneers in the area. The auctioneer did not even asked for picture ID and they got several big bad checks.

As for the other parts of your comments. The things I write about are usually the "not common" things. People usually do not pay much attention is you write about the "normal" stuff.

I will agree that the majority of farmers are honest and hard working. Most of them are usually pretty good managers to still be left in this business.

Even with saying that it seems like there is getting to be more of the " poor moron being taken advantage of by an evil BTO, or unscrupulous landlords, auctioneer or dealer" type of things going on.

As to the balance of you comment. I don't see how you got to there from a post about bidding at auctions. I just hate SLOW bidders at auctions.

SO LAA have a good day!!!

Animal · Feb 1, 2015

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Ray · Feb 1, 2015

I had the high bid on a tractor at a auction in ohio.The auctioneer from Indiana asked the owner if he was going to let it go.He said sell it.The auctioneer yelled sold,pointed to the back of the crowd and knocked it off for 50 bucks more than I bid.The clerks at the sale refused to tell the owner who bought his tractor.I found it for sale a couple weeks later on the auctioneers sons lot.

bill mart · Feb 1, 2015

Dave Hestor? Bill

Bruce from Can. · Feb 1, 2015

First point of how I will bid is . I never start the bidding. I always wait until the first and second bidders have wore themselves out, and one is starting to hesitate. Then , if I still want the item, and think it is worth the money I will bid. If they where going up by $50.00 bids , I will bid $100.00 higher. Usually The bidder who thought he had the piece bought will bid again. I will then up his bid by twice what he just upped my bid. Some times the other guy will get mad and bid again. Now the equipment could be going for more than it is worth, and I will let him have it. But if the price is still good ,on we go.I have jumped the bid by $500.00 when the last two guys were raising each other $50.00, had the other guy bid another $50.00 , and left him with it. Auctions can be fun!
Second point, if I know what a piece of equipment is worth, and it is good , and I am going to buy one anyway. Why waste more time going around to more sales looking for a deal ,or fooling with dealers. Just pay a bit more than the other guy and be done with it. I have more to do than run to sales standing around all day and not buying anything. I leave that for the dealers/old guys and hobby farmers.While there can be some fun, this is business for me, and I treat it as such. Bruce

BIG ED · Feb 1, 2015

*** IF ** auctioneer that got MORE kickback from the equipment / tractor buyers than he lost in commission from the SELLER, due to the slim crowd caused by delays, in the end he made more money at days end. Some also got favors to repay, on sellers dime.
Not saying that happened in that case, but in my years in it, I've seen plenty.
To think ALL auctioneers do what is best for the SELLER is a fools dream.
Then you've got stupid auctioneers, like stupid people in any trade.
My view/2 cents

fixerupper · Feb 1, 2015

Years ago my dad was sitting in a local sale barn not buying, just watching. One of the bidders on a particular lot of cattle suddenly looked up at the ceiling and yelled "THOSE BIRDS UP THERE ARE BIDDING AGAIN". Dad said the crowd roared in appreciative laughter.

JMS/.MN · Feb 1, 2015

I bought virtually all my start up equipment at auction in "72. Lots of interim buys as well- almost never new from a dealer. I agree a rapid response bid is an advantage- tells the other bidder you mean business. Slow bids mean...maybe just once more, then I"m out.

Rule number two...If it goes cheap enough, I can always get it home somehow. Got the bid on a Gleaner F, with three heads, for $2000. 85 miles from home. Sold the corn head for $3250. Went there looking for a bean head- they sold choice on F and G, all heads go with. Took 5 trips to get that and everything else home, made 5 trips to get that and other stuff home. Kicked myself for passing on an IH 13 foot 510 drill, let it go at $850...was at the point I"d have to see the banker.

Don-Wi · Feb 1, 2015

I went to a pair of auctions this year, one a retirement auction where the farmer got out of dairy and it's just doing cash crops now. The other was an estate auction. One was a few miles from the farm, the other was my neighbor. Wasn't sure what if anything would be bought at either. Ended up buying a small sprayer at one, and the other my dad made a deal after the bidding to buy the chopper boxes of the running gears that the other guy wanted and bought.

The second auction,I wish I was there alone and had the cash, because we ended up spending just as much money putting the second box on a gear(we had one already) than we would have paid for both boxes on the running gears to begin with.

The first auction I was alone and I did alright. Lesson for me, check with dad on what we need and want to spend, then tell him to stay home. I'll save him some cash in the long run by going alone, and having him just help me haul it home.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Dave H (MI) · Feb 1, 2015

If you always start high, you will never get it low.

oleclint · Feb 1, 2015

I ve been going to mostly farm auctions for 50 years or more. It is interesting to watch the different auctioneers. One would always start everything out way high then gradually back down, wasting lots of time, then start over, working partway back up. Grrrr. Not good on a winter day!
Any one ever " jump" the auctioneers asking bid? I have done that several times when he was way low. That has caught some off guard. Mite have made the other bidder mad at me , but why waste time. Sometimes that will scare off the other bidder. Another thing that turns me off is an auctioneer that starts sales late , like 30 min. to an hour.
How about the ones that charge a bidders " fee", I refuse to go to that kind of sale. clint

larry@stinescorner · Feb 1, 2015

you never mentioned the guy who buys anything for 1 dollar no matter what it is,is it goes for 1 dollar he buys it,,,,seen some of those guys on the american picker show,,,after 40 years of buying stuff and storing it,quite a collection fo :stuff"buids up!

DoubleR · Feb 1, 2015

I have seen guys start high than no else bids and he gets it. Meaning he may have got it cheaper if he started lower. It happened to me a few years back. Luckily it was only a 400 dollar disk. I still felt I got a deal. I was buying it for a friend as he said to go up to a thousand on it. Lesson learned.

Dick2 · Feb 1, 2015

A friend had been pricing 5th wheel enclosed trailers for his Model T's, so he knew prices before we went to an auction.

There were several guys interested in the 5th wheel but were waiting for someone else to start the bid. My friend didn't wait; he bid $5000 and nobody else bid. That was half what he had been quoted for similar trailers! It held 2 of the Model T Fords. He later sold those 2 Model T's and trailer to a buyer at a handsome profit.

oldtanker · Feb 1, 2015

(quoted from post at 11:03:28 02/01/15) It seems like every story you tell has some poor moron being taken advantage of by an evil BTO, or unscrupulous landlords, auctioneer or dealer and you are the one stalwart standing up for the defenseless. Doesn't anyone in your neck of the woods besides yourself have sense enough to look out for their own interests? I would shut the auction down and run the auctioneer off my place if I thought he was not taking care of business. Every Farmer and Rancher I know make their living by their wits and by paying attention to costs and returns, they wouldn't last long over paying and underselling.

LAA: here we have about a half dozen auction companies. 2 are very good and get most of the auctions. But they get the biggest commission. The others range from fair to poor. Most of those who contract with the poorer auctioneers do it because of the commission. But because they are known to everyone they get poor attendance and even less money. One will put out bills with the descriptions being total lies. I went to one of his where he claimed 5 running smaller tractors and an 856 Farmall in good condition. On the day of the auction there were signs on all the tractors like on the 856 "transmission shifting problem" and on 3 of the others engine "engine stuck". People know this so few attend his auctions and of those no one is spending any real money. One of our better auctioneers here has a crew out to pressure wash stuff and get it lined up. He will also tell you if he thinks something is worth fixing. Like a none running H he may ignore while something that will sell for twice the money he will tell see if you can't get someone to get it running. So JD's observations may not be too far off.

Rick

redtom · Feb 1, 2015

After years of going to auctions I find that any method can work. Slow, fast, high, low anything goes. All it takes is two people with money that want the same item. I would NEVER start an item high. The one way to guarantee you won't ever get a steal is to start high. Why do that? I know the fair value of an item before hand and stick to that price. Fast bidding or slow, big bids or small, the end will come and like it or not, many auctioneers will not let something goes for a fraction of its value. They have "protection bidders" whether real or imaginary-I know I was one a few times and when I stopped at the protection point my "bidding" magically went on. And current equipment draws dealership bidders that always know a fair price too. An auction is not the place to be saving ones time either. A good auctioneer works hard to get his price and I respect that. If the crowd is timid and he has to work his tail off $50 at a time to $10,000 I know he's doing his job- not real efficient but that's the crowd. He can only ask so many time for a start then he has to start low. Not to say he should do that with each broom and shovel, though. We had one auctioneer that would INSIST that each item start at a fair price like a $500 disc start at $450. Surprise, he's not around anymore. That's a yard sale not an auction.

jimg.allentown · Feb 1, 2015

Well, here is a good one. I was going to a spring consignment auction every year. I was looking for a portable welder (the engine powered type). Just about every one that I saw sold in the $1000 range. Just a bit over my available budget. Not like I was looking for a steal, just simply only had a fixed amount of money to spend.
Then, one spring, at the same auction, there were a couple of those welders. The second one was the next to last item sold at that auction. There were still quite a few bidders. The auctioneer tried to start the bidding at $800. No bids. Then $500, $400. Now, I have watched the same auctions many times, and the old Mennonites will wait until the auctioneer gets down to $50 or $100 to start bidding - but then watch out! They will bid it up to $1000 or better. So, as soon as the auctioneer said $400, I hollered out $300!!! That was the only bid, and I got the welder. To this day, I don't know why there were no other bids.

Robert in Md · Feb 1, 2015

My philosophy at any auction is if you buy anything at an auction.

You paid more for the item than anyone else at the sale thought it was worth.

T in NE · Feb 1, 2015

Had a friend at a horse auction. They were starting at $1500 dropping down to $200-$400 then running back to $1500+. He hit hard at $900 on the one his sister wanted and they couldn't get a bid against him. Brought it back in later and still no other bids. Cheapest horse of the day.

Sometimes starting high is worth it.

Chris Jones · Feb 1, 2015

I like your way of thinking.

Rarely have I won anything at an auction. But occasionally I will want something more than anyone else at the auction.

VicS · Feb 1, 2015

Our closest neighbor, was a cattle trader. He bought calves from neighbors and sale barns. Put them together matched and in larger lots. Always said his goal was to make a dollar a head off a million head. I imagine he surpassed that. Getting back to bidding. If he wanted something he would bid almost that much. Like bid .45 cents for cattle worth .50 cents. If he didn't want something he would just bid minimum amount getting other bidder to bid just once more. You are right. Just bid almost what item is worth right off. Then next bid jump up more than auctioneer wants. He died with many acres and cattle. Vic

Richard from SE AZ · Feb 2, 2015

We have an auctioneer in our area who mysteriously has the same three guys bidding items up at his auctions. Once one of those guys is high bidder he will go on and on trying to get someone else to bid higher. If they win. that same item will be at his next auction, even if it is an estate auction. He has been turned in but nothing has changed. A lot of us that like auctions don't go to his anymore.

Good posts about auctions and bidding!!

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