How do these junk jockeys make money???

Just saw a 4020 powershift sell for at least the second time yesterday. It "sold" in November for $5500, and yesterday it "sold" for $5900. One of the less reputable auctioneers in the area sold it both times.

How can a tractor move down the road, sell for a couple hundred bucks more and make anyone happy?

Just depends on who wants it and when.

Back in the 1980's when I had a used car dealers license I watched a well muddied up Chevy Blazer at the Omaha Auto Auction sell for about $900. An hour or so later, the same Blazer came back through the ring and sold for $1900.

All the first buyer did was take it up to a car wash on the corner, wash it up, and made a thousand dollars.

Happens all the time.It is common to see the same tractor/implement at all 5 local consignment sales,From january to end of march.Then the next year it shows up again and makes the rounds.

I know several buyers that have
flipped equipment from auction to
auction and make lots of money.
Maybe a few hundred or maybe a
few thousand.

I bought a skid steer at an auction once that would not start. I paid I think 500 or 600 dollars for it and it came with 2 buckets and forks. They loaded it on my trailer took it home and set it in the shop. Tried to start it but no go. Fuel guage said it was full. Dumped 5 gals fuel in it and primed the system and it ran. Used it all summer and took it to sale in the fall with one bucket on it and got 2500 for it

Is it possible that the first sale was fake, then relisted in a second auction to get a better price?

If that happened around here. The 1st auction was a No Sale That
did not meet the sellers reserve price.Most Auctioneers will
negotiate on a scale before they consign their "NO sale fee" on a
nice "draw the crowd "piece . especially if they will get a 2nd
chance to sell at another site the same piece .So far it is not
illegal,And i shudder to think what we have become if we ever did
make such tactics against the law . Thats why it pays to be
neighborly at auctions ,You will learn alot by talking with people
.

The first sale was an inventory reduction, and the second sale was a year end consignment. He ran another sale in between I didn’t go to, but I’ll bet it “sold” there, too. The auctioneer has a bad reputation for buying stuff for himself and moving it around. So I’m guessing he bought it on the first sale and moved it to a few other of his own sales. I know I cannot drive down the road for free. He’s hiring guys to move a tractor 100 miles or more for a couple hundred bucks. I doubt he broke even, especially if he did any work on it. It did have a new seat, so there’s another 100 bucks. Dunno. Maybe I just noticed the one he lost on, and he made out on the rest.

Pretty common with the guys that are good at it 99% of the people at the auction won't know whether it was a really sold or not when 3 or 4 guys are working together.There was an Empire tractor that was 'sold' for 5 or 6 years in a row up at Beilers sale in PA.Blaine Rentzel even commented one time the sale just wouldn't be the same without the Empire(LOL)

You say the Auctioneer has a bad reputation for buying stuff for himself.. Is that against the law where you are. Happens all the time here, in fact at consignment auctions as much as half the stuff may belong to the auctioneer. Very common to see tractors make the rounds here at consignments auctions, just waiting for the right bid. We even have jockeys around here that do not sell retail off their lot , all they do is buy at one auction and take it to another. And I might say they make a pretty good living.

What's wrong with making money? Everyone wants to make money, but it seems they don't want the other guy to make money. Hmmmm.

I've been on both sides of the auction deal, and it's rare that anyone makes a big, hefty profit. The overhead involved in running an auction is bigger than many realize. If the 'house' is keeping inventory, it has to be stored, and moved. this goes triple when the inventory is something like a big tractor. There's also typical rent or fee for the location the auction is using. I'm not defending scam artists, but really the old saw about 'buyer beware' goes double when dealing with auctions.

My best buy at an auction was a 1968 Jaguar XKE. It had been in a barn for 10 years, but it was under a canvas tarp. Which did some damage to the paint, but preserved the rest of the car quite well. Made a pile of money on that. Second best deal was a constant speed prop for a plane. I paid $1900 for it, still in the box with a repair tag on it. Later on, sold it for $11,000.

Was I wrong for getting a good deal? It was an open public auction, the trick is to know when to walk away, and knowing the value of the product you are bidding on.

Profit is not a four letter word.

Doc, I agree with your first statement. And your last one too. We all are big boys when we go to auctions or buy something from ads. Was
it not Kenny Rogers who said "you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em" (or something like that)?

Jerry Clower told a story that explained it well. Uncle Versie had an old horse that was about all used up. Somebody wanted to buy it and gave him $25 for it. He took it home,curried it all up and had it looking pretty good. Uncle Versie saw it one day and offered him $50 for it and bought it back. He trimmed it's hooves,fed it and got some meat on it and it looked even better. The other guy saw it and bought it back for $75. It traded back and forth a few more times for $25 more each time until the other guy finally sold it for a good profit to somebody else.

When Uncle Versie found out he'd sold it to somebody else,he was pretty upset. He said I can't believe you sold it! You and me was making a pretty good living off that horse!

all depends on how bad its wanted, lots of variables, company people sometimes buy a piece if its going dirt cheap, then sell it later at a different auction where maybe different people are present willing to give more for it, tractors also make the auction rounds like cars to, if you watch those high end car auctions certain cars get bought, then a couple years later they get brought back and sold again, many reasons for that people get short of money, have 100 grand tied up in a car they cant drive for fear of it getting a scratch, people gambling its worth more 2 years later than they paid, and in some cases it is,collectors pass away and their collections get sold off ect

Sounds like he made 400$ on one piece of
equipment if he did that on ten or 20 pieces of
equipment that?s a pretty good way to make money