Worst auction I ever attended.

I went to an auction yesterday. Old welding and repair shop filled with really neat and old machinery. Lots of stuff in really good shape and lots more stuff in various states of disrepair, just a nice old typical repair shop. Would have been a really great sale if a little more effort was put forth.

First off, the auctioneers were complete amateurs. At least a dozen times, they'd say "SOLD", then take late bids. I had always thought that was illegal. In fact, I've seen other sales where they apologize to the late bidder and say they can't take late bids. Maybe that's a trick to speed up the bidding, but speeding up sure would have happened.

Then, they had these tall sided white boxes for flats. They'd hold up the box, dig around in them, say what is in, BUT NOT SHOW THE CROWD! They could have taped the tops shut and cut them in half horizontally to get two boxes that people could see in. One item that could have went REAL cheap was a box plumb full of snap-on wrenches and sockets. They held it up and said "Miscellaneous sockets" and started it at 2.50. Crowd knew what was in the box and bid it up to $270 at $2.50 increments! Good thing the crowd knew what it was doing.

After that snap-on box, they sold busted up welded-on vise grips, C-clamps, jacks, etc in piles for "choice". Just dragged out the sale with people coming up, digging through, and taking one. The whole while the auctioneer was asking people to "hurry up, please". Guess he doesn't know that he's the one who sets the pace...

It was well after dark, and people were using flashlights to see when they came to the machinist chests. The chests were full, so they'd open a drawer and offer choice out of the drawer! If the tools weren't going with the chest, they should have taken them out and put them on flats.

This is a new auction service in the area run by a bunch of young guys, and I wish them the best, but they're gonna need to greatly improve their service. It takes very few sales like this to lose crowds.

When a sale gets slow like that I usually leave. Strangely I often feel guilty for being at a sale instead of doing work that needs to be done. They don't have to slow down too much to loose me.

Two auctions I hate - the "what just sold??" And the
"oh my Lordy my back hurts".

If it's so fast that I have to ask 14 people to see if it
was what I was watching it was too fast. There's a
machinery guy like that here. Luckily must of his
stuff is a sheered bolt away from scrap. You don't
feel bad if you accidentally miss it.

When my ruptured disk hurts more than my desire
to rifle through other folks' things and see them sell
at a snail's pace - I'm out.

Was this the sale in Mineral Point Wisconsin? I thought about going to it but I almost never go to auctions. Just don't like standing around waiting. Always feels like such a waste of my time.

I love auctioneers like that as a lot of fainthearted folks will leave and I'll get some knockdown bargains by the end of the sale.Quitters and talkers don't get bargains(LOL)

I went to an old fashion estate auction Saturday. They wanted 20% premium on site and 23% for online bidding. No Thanks.

(quoted from post at 06:48:37 11/13/16) I love auctioneers like that as a lot of fainthearted folks will leave and I'll get some knockdown bargains by the end of the sale.Quitters and talkers don't get bargains(LOL)

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Well some of us have better things to do than to sit around with a thumb stuck elsewhere waiting on an auctioneer who doesn't know what they are doing. Getting a better bargain has to factor in the value of your time! I can make 60 an hour wrenching on something. So if I go to an auction when I could be wrenching what ever I buy has to reflect that 60 an hour. I pay myself 40 an hour when I'm running my backhoe for hire. SO if I save 100 dollars on an item by standing around an auction when I could have been doing something else at 40-60 an hour I better be there less than an hour! Over an hour and it no longer a bargain. No if you ain't worth anything........that really ain't true. Everyone is worth at least minimum wage in that state! SO if that's 8 an hour and you stand around for 5 hours to get a deal that saves you 20 bucks it ain't a deal IMO.


Rick

(quoted from post at 06:48:37 11/13/16) I love auctioneers like that as a lot of fainthearted folks will leave and I'll get some knockdown bargains by the end of the sale.Quitters and talkers don't get bargains(LOL)

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The auctioneer works for the seller. It's not his job to give you bargains. Sales like this hurt the seller by not properly advertising what is being sold. And it hurts future sellers because people will avoid this auctioneer's sales. The box of Snap-on tools is a prime example. Had the crowd not known what was in the box, they would have sold hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for a couple bucks. The beat-to-death vise grips got more attention by the auctioneer than the quality tools in good condition.

Ya me too I never go anymore,I can find tools on sale used items I know exactly what I have to pay before I leave home on Kijiji and cattle guaranteed to be sound delivered to the yard at a fair price.

I got to where I feel guilty spending time at a sale instead of doing something worth while. Little ticket items I could usually buy cheaper new If I figured my time spent there. Unless there is a big ticket item that I really want or need and could more than pay for my time being there.

Aw come on Lee. I just go because that's my social life. lol

I enjoy going to a auction . Gives me a chance to visit with neighbours , and see what
things are selling for/learn what people well pay for stuff. I don't mind buying
things at auction , provided I can see value in the item . And I have bought items
that I knew were selling cheap , and later flipped them too. It is just business.

I went to one yesterday, some tools,
nothing special, every thing sold
individual and by choice.

People started asking to go to this or that
because they had to get going. They
realized it was supper time and picked up
the pace. The few things that looked like
they could be deals ended up bringing more
than they should have.

Also, like others, pick up a box, stir it around, pull a piece or 2 out, not show what else was in there.

Old Buick century, early 90s, they begged
for 10 minutes trying to get 1200 before
letting it go for 1150. I'd figure its an
$800 car, tops.

18 foot car trailer. Had some repairs, the
hitch I would call a significant repair,
got over 2,000. Gotta have 2900, no sale.
Beaver City is an hour away and a new
Kaufman lists for 3400. Similar story on a
Gooseneck. Both 20 years old. And heavy.

Same story on a pair of 10-15 year old 4-
wheelers. Need another $500, no sale.

Would have left earlier, but I had nothing
else to do, first 2-day weekend since mid
September.

Reminds me of an auction here several years ago. The whole gang of us from the neighborhood were there. Typical spring day,went in a T-shirt,cold front came through,temp dropped about 20 degrees and it started raining. One of the neighbors laughed and said "Have you ever seen anything so stupid as a bunch of farmers standing in the rain waiting to spend their money?". I said "Ya. Us farmers who are standing in the rain who don't have any money.". lol

Sometimes you are just funny.

Agreed. A poorly run auction hurts the seller but makes for some real bargains if you have the patience.

I showed up late for one earlier this spring (auction started at 9 got there at 1 to see the land sell) BSed with the neighbors for a while, watched some TV on the phone in the truck then finally started bidding on things at 6 in the evening. I bought a $400 anvil for $25, a massive locking steel cabinet for $10 (when I first saw it I figured $500-$600 at least) and a good wide front end off a 656 tractor (with tires and rims) for $50 - sold it to a neighbor for $400, it was worth a lot more but he needed it and I was already making good money off it. He had seen it at the auction but left long before it sold. Bought several other smaller items that were getting sold fast and cheap as it got dark. So for "wasting" about 6-7 hours of my time I made well over $1200. Not exactly lawyer rates but worth the leisure effort I put into it.

Something I've not seen before, and maybe it is common on real estate auctions, is a buyer's premium (not unusual) with a minimum amount. There is a dump in the little town near us that they are selling at auction, minimum sale at $29,500, minimum buyers premium of $5,000 (I think the premium was 10%). At the minimum price that's almost a 17% commission. Way out of line for the area. I can give them some extra for the auction over the standard realtor commission, but come on!

I'm sure when you all were young and just starting out that you never made any mistakes.

(quoted from post at 10:38:19 11/13/16) [b:0c70585826]I got to where I feel guilty spending time at a sale instead of doing something worth while.[/b:0c70585826] Little ticket items I could usually buy cheaper new If I figured my time spent there. Unless there is a big ticket item that I really want or need and could more than pay for my time being there.

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Ditto. I get email listings for auctions that I'd like to attend without any specific thing that interests me, but I figure that's a wasted Saturday. Maybe when I'm retired but now, after working all week, I only get 2 days a week to work on MY to-do list. Won't drive more than 1/2 hour from the house so that limits attendance as well. I went to one a couple of Saturdays ago, spent the whole day on it, but I got the Gator that I wanted. Bought about $50 of additional stuff that I didn't REALLY need but the price was right.

They should not be just starting out on there own. They should work for several years with a good older established auctioner. Then they would learn how to do things properly. But they need to hook up with a good one, not a bad one.