speaking of the auction crowd.......

rockyridgefarms post on the auction crowd got me thinking about some of the personalities you see at the farm auctions. some of my pet peeve guys are as follows. the "i must start up every piece of machinery that has an engine even tho i am not going to bid on it. if it will not start , they either hopelessly flood the engine or kill the battery. then there is the group of guys that stand directly in front of the auction truck blocking it so it cannot move to the next item. then there is the whole group with no bidder cards that stand right in front of the auctioneer blocking views from the active bidders. then there are the guys that come up after the gavel falls and tell you that they would have paid that for what you bought, or, you paid way to much for what you just bought. or the guys that fiddle with a piece of machinery so it wont start, expecting to get it for a cheap price. or the guys that try and steal stuff.....that really ticks me off. but on the lighter side, i enjoy going to auctions and see friends i havent seen last year. i generally go a day or two in advance to view whats up for auction, if i see something i do some due diligence and figure exactly what i will spend on it. some one here a while back had a great quote on auctions.....iirc it went like this.......if you bought something at an auction, you know that you bought it for more than anyone else there was willing to spend on it!!!

Talk about fiddling with stuff so it wont start. I went on a two day 200 antique tractor
ride this past summer and the tractors were parked together overnight in a lot. Come the next
morning my tractor wouldn't start. Never failed before. I was in a bit of a panic because we were to be in a
lineup to parade. I was checking everything and finally discovered someone had pulled the coil wire
and left it set in a position so you couldn't really tell it was disconnected. I have
encountered some real A-holes on these rides too. Had one guy rip me for going too slow. I said well
there are 30 tractors ahead of me. Pass me and be my guest to run into them. I think some of these
guys wake up in the morning already angry at the world.

My favorite is when the auctioneer talks down to the crowd and says "you don't know what this is worth." That always helps prices. Or what about the Jockey that hides behind something and winks at the auctioneer to bid with one of their three bidder numbers? And the smell of either wafting through the air from the combine that won't start but was "in the field yesterday". Ride and drive boys, ride and drive.

How about the ones that walk around something picking it apart, then you stand back and watch them when it's sold and their standing there bidding on it. Seen it happen several times.

Good thread, funny stuff.

I'm an auction junkie, go to a lot, not that much of a buyer but most of my stuff has come from them over the years.

Seen it about all too.

Paul

Gets me wondering, do the auctions you guys attend have security? I go to a monthly consignment auction in western Washington and they have one or two sheriff deputies there. Most of the shenanigans you fellows talk about I haven't seen here. Wonder if the security is the reason? We also don't seem to have the trash problem you guys talked about earlier. Auction yard is probably not over 10 acres, has trash cans in at least 5 places I can think of.

I quit going to auctions when the cost, for a hydraulic cylinder was more than a new one was. This is with the hoses and tips.

Back in 2002 I sold my step grandpa's equipment. Most of it had not been used in decades other than the two tractors.

I got along fine lining equipment up till the sale bill came out. I live 65 miles from where the auction was to be held and was not there 24-7. Locked the tractors up when I left at night. One morning when I drove into the yard. There was a guy wanting to see the 3020. He was MAD because I wasn't there he could not wait on me. I unlocked the barn to let him look at the 3020. He comes back out telling me what a piece of junk it was. And telling me how much work it needed. I knew it was all a bunch of crap. I turned and walked away from him. After he left I took the 3020 to move more equipment as grandpa had machinery parked everywhere.

I drove back into the yard. I find a guy jacking up the almost new Rino mower with a hi lift jack because he needs to see the knives. One guy trying to start the Ford truck that had not run in ten years. He is mad because he wasted a trip to see a truck that won't run. I told him I didn't invite him. There are two more guys wanting to see and drive the 3020. They act like it is there right to come and test drive every tractor on the auction!

I had steel fence posts layed out in piles of ten. One guy kept walking around the barn and then coming back to look at and count the fence posts. After he left I noticed two piles of posts looked larger. Two piles somehow now had 18 posts!

I got even with some of them. Grandpa had a Gleaner F gas combine.It was full of old rotten gas. I put the gas in several 5gal cans. I put the cans where they would be seen. The next day all the cans were gone!

I sure got an education on auction crowds!

I was at an estate sale auction a few yrs. back. There was a clean JD 2240 (with the fuel tank ahead of the radiator), and a very helpful bidder adding water to the diesel. I asked him what he was doing, and he said it was low on water so he was adding some! It even had the red cap on it, which meant nothing to this genius.

That sabotage stuff always goes on. If I have a running piece of equipment or vehicle we always watch it and then carry the batteries home and charge them for auction day. Invariably they will be dead if you don't. I had a high crop four thousand diesel at an auction last year and it ran so sweet I just let it run most of the day.
Ron

25 years ago I was at an auction with my brother, they were selling a nice 730 diesel pony start. I was told it had been running earlier before the sale. I got to sale late and tractor was already at around $4500. one of the bidders asked for it to be started again. it would not start and both bidders backed out and they restarted the bidding at 1000, I bid 1250 thinking it would go higher. oops I won the tractor. we ended up pull starting it, drove to gas station and filled with diesel for 50 mile drive home, while there an old gentleman came up and looked at the tractor and told me stories about working and farming with them. I told him about it not starting and symptoms, he deduced and discovered that someone had removed 2 of the pony plugs wires. turns out he was retired JD mechanic, I thanked him by paying for his tank of gas.....

I really do wish you could have permission to shoot some idiot. Just one a year, but it would thin out the idiots!

Security at an auction? unheard of around here. You would have to pay someone out of your own pocket to watch your stuff.

My biggest complaint at auctions is my truck isn't big enough

WOW!

These stories posted here and the stories about trash at Farm Auctions, plus the threads about how crooked auctioneers or jockeys are....

I would never think of doing such a thing as many of you would not either.

I understand that there are "bad" apples in every bunch but, I think(as a percentage of the population) there are way more crooked farmers than the general population.

Heck, even the threads about renters stripping the land of nutrients abound.

I could never picture myself changing plug wires to sabotage a tractor at a sale or stealing a radiator cap because I needed it.

By no means am I implying this about you guys! It just blows me away about the stories I read posted here.

I ran Antique auctions for years and that was nothing compared to the stories posted here.

I have seen the exact same people at auctions here plus the ones that look like they were drug thru a plowed field before coming to the sale. I can't imagine they put those dirty clothes on 2 days in a row at a 9:00 sale. Their wives must put up with a lot as they haven't been close to a bar of soap for a few days either. Can't believe some farmers represent themselves that way.

We had an auction in 99. The cows were already gone so it was for real estate and farm equipment. I spent 30 days getting everything set up to sell. I spent a lot of time showing stuff to different guys. Only one bothered to come back to the sale and actually buy what they looked at.

you made the comment you like to see friends. I attend auctions to buy not socialize , I prefer to attend auctions where I don't know anyone, and will avoid auctions close to home for just that reason.

(quoted from post at 15:58:12 02/02/16) Gets me wondering, do the auctions you guys attend have security? I go to a monthly consignment auction in western Washington and they have one or two sheriff deputies there. Most of the shenanigans you fellows talk about I haven't seen here. Wonder if the security is the reason? We also don't seem to have the trash problem you guys talked about earlier. Auction yard is probably not over 10 acres, has trash cans in at least 5 places I can think of.

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Yep - That's the same as here only it's members of the Sheriff's Posse (volunteers) that show up. Plenty of trash barrels around but still find trash where it's not supposed to be. :roll:

The ones I love are the guys who like to sort thru the box lots.They love to move stuff around to the box they want. After they walk away I put the stuff back where they original found it. Then listen to them rant about people stealing stuff when the items aren't in the box they just bought.Love to agrevate them to no end.

Seems to be the nature of some people. I used to have a chainsaw shop & one guy would bring in a tough knot & say 'If that saw will cut thru this I'll buy it' or 'if your log spliter will bust this crotch' or 'if your generator will power this grinder'. All the machines did the jobs perfectly. No one I ever demonstrated for ever bought the machine! I just flat-out refused to do it after that.

(quoted from post at 05:30:45 02/03/16) The ones I love are the guys who like to sort thru the box lots.They love to move stuff around to the box they want. After they walk away I put the stuff back where they original found it. Then listen to them rant about people stealing stuff when the items aren't in the box they just bought.Love to agrevate them to no end.

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When we were in the antiques business we used to see this a lot. You had to closely watch any box lots you were interested in to make sure no one took anything out, and inspect the box just before you bid on it. I will admit I used to bury stuff I was interested in at the bottom of the box, but never moved anything. The auction helpers usually just pull a couple of things off the top to hold up. Not my fault if folks don't look to see what else is in the box. One time I got a $400 Egg brand egg-shaped tin biscuit cutter this way for something like $10. I left the rest of the box on the table at the end of the day.

I love going to auctions. Can't make more than a couple a year though. I see the same people and types mentioned in the OP. The thing that really irks me isn't the crooked buyers that sabotage machines or steal stuff, it's the crooked auctioneers. We have one guy that is a flat out liar and had phantom bidders all the time. He'll be at, say, $700.00 on something and not a get a higher bid and then he'll go to the last lower real bidder under the $700 and ask if he wants to buy. I've called him on it before, but it must be people just don't realize what he's doing and they buy anyway. Stupid. You have to watch this guy like a hawk every second, and yet some people get duped and walk away happy. I don't get it.