Auction Surprises

On line auction 40 miles from me had an Oliver 77,description said 'cranks up runs good,motor been overhauled',tractor had been given a spray can paint job ALL was Oliver green except the tires.
I decided before I bid very much I'd better go check it out,no battery,no gas,and if was overhauled it must have been years ago judging from the overall looks of the motor.The auction agreement reads all items sold as is where is.So if a buyer comes expecting a tractor that 'cranks up runs good,motor been overhauled' which its clearly not as described.Wonder what will be the outcome?

Bot a few things off of purplewave and everything has been a surprise from rust and welds and broken welds that don't show up in pictures. Figured out there's a reason companies and governments are getting rid of stuff in online auctions and it's not because something still works like new.

A Farmall 300 had sat for eight years. The auctioneer said that they thought it had a bad starter. With humidity high enough each fall to make metal parts sweat on the shelves at work, I think the engine was locked up. I bid it up to $1700. I wish I could have called the other guy to find out if I was correct, because I think that he believed the auctioneer.

Auctioneers tend to 'sugar coat' things in order to get the best price.Sometimes they have nothing to go on except for outward appearance. Other times they have only the sellers word.His only job is to get the highest price for the seller. Not to protect the buyer from a 'bad deal'.

I would always go see any piece of equipment and look it over first for an online auction before I bid. I did buy one tractor thru an online auction a few years ago but I had looked it over and heard it run.

The standard auctioneer disclaimers and boilerplate protect them. They claim to only relay what they can directly observe from seeing/operating the machines to set up for the auction, OR what they were told by the seller.

In my area the auctioneers seem much more up front with this. They don't want a bad reputation because the market is shrinking and the field is so competitive. An openly crooked auctioneer will be out of business within a year.

I guess I got lucky. Online auction about 60 miles away had an Oliver 880 gas with New Idea loader on it. I couldn't get there when they had the showing, so I was flying blind. Listed as gas tank needed cleaned, ran good, loader cylinder leaked, wasn't running, but owner would rebuild carb and have it running by pickup time. I got it bought for $640 plus a 10% buyers premium. Went to pick it up and seller had a gallon plastic jug with a hose in the bottom for fuel, started and loaded it. Cleaned the gas tank and lined it, new seat rubbers and it runs like a top. I planned to fix it up and sell it, but I like it enough, I may put new tires on it and keep it. I haven't put seals in the loader cylinders yet, but will someday.

It pays to know the auctioneer personally . I did a ton of auction buying BUT where i did my grocery shopping if you bought thru the ring at the time anything over 1500 bucks was a ride and drive and running as it went by , Now if the starter was elscrapo junk , deqad battery , Hyd. did not work or any nasty sound of a walnut grinder grinding shells and all coming out of the trans or rear end or ya found a cracke block , water or fuel in the oil Once you bought it you cold reject or negotiate the price . If the called good T/A and you found that OH it does not hold in the high rage and higher gears you could aqain reject or make a deal. Then after a bunch of elscrapo junk that still ran and moved on it's own started getting rejected they uped the reject price to 4 grand i got zinged on a Sharp looking 1855 Oil ALL OVER . If you bought from the dead row you bought it to love it . Bought a sharp 826 at Ted Everette sale just shortly after he started having sales and they called good T/A and guaranteed it . It was getting late in the day and my buddy and i had been out of sales all week and we had one hole left on the back of the semi and as soon as i gto the ticket on it i went in and paid my bill and ran out jumped on and got it on the back end of the trailer threw four chains on it and out the gate east bound hammer down . I did try the T/A once while driving to the trailer in 4th low and it held . Donnie and got to his place around 2 in the morning and i still had 48 miles to the house . We did not unload till the following Monday . When i got it home to the shop i did a better ROAD test and found out that the T/A was headed south . Called Ted and told him and he said send him the bill . All the guys we dealt with were straight shooters . Bought a lot off the guys in Indiana . BUT i don't like this online stuff i am to touchy feelly . and ya can still miss things .

Bought a 240 Farmall,good tires and a repaint with power steering. The auction house delivered it, no P/S and would not come down on the price. They did come and pick it up when they found the check had a HOLD on it.

Coming into my shop next week will be a beautifully painted Deere 730 gas a fella bought on an on line auction 150 miles away. I rode to the auction site with the fella the owner hired to haul it home because he did not know how to run a Two banger and was uncomfortable driving it on a trailer. I got it going, it idled on one cylinder but straightened out after I gave it some throttle. I put it in gear and there was nothing there. Neutral in all of the left side slots but the three gears, 4, 5, and 6 in the right side of the quadrant worked. Hmmmm! Then I noticed the power steering did not work. Hmmmm again! I got it in fourth gear pushed in the clutch went about 50 feet and it starved out and died. Took a peek at the sediment bowl and it was gone!!! There was a fuel line straight from the tank to the carb with no filter! The guy who sold it told me there is a little rust in the tank. Ya? It started and died a couple more times but I got it to the trailer and it died half way up the ramps. Fourth gear was the slowest gear I had available to me and fourth gear is about 6 mph wide open. Thank god the brakes were good. It re started after a long wait and pulled itself another foot before it died again. Another long wait, re start, one more foot, die again but I finally got it up on the trailer deck. We pulled it off with a push bar and shoved it in a shed when we got it to my place. He did not pay all that much for it so he probably will not be under water after he gets my bill but it will be close to it. Oh, it needed new tires all around too!

I sold a number of items at my auction.
Electrical items, seller had to prove to me our my
crew it operated before placed on the floor.
ANY gas/fuel powered item had to crank and operate before being placed on the floor. None of this "its out of gas
crap was accepted. NO IF ANDS OR B/S.
Some sellers would not sell with me due to my policies.
Good.
I ran a square and honest auction.
Sorry, a bit ticked that EVERY Auction Is a RIP
on this site.

Enjoy your day and good luck, gajack

When the item is deliberately misrepresented, I call that fraud. I would expect an auctioneer not to be a party to fraudulent deals. I've seen a few that were and a few that were not crooked. One had me bidding against the wall on an item I wanted. I got wise to him and backed out of it. The wall won that one. I do get a laugh at some of the little comments that get thrown into their babble. When selling cars, I usually hear "high rubber" or "top of the line" or similar comments that tend to be misleading.

I used to go to a bid board auction where there were a lot of collector coins. Many were misrepresented. I complained to the management several times over outright fraudulent claims of condition or grading. They finally added a disclaimer. They did get really angry with me when I pointed out fraud, but I just said "too bad" because I do not support fraud.

I do understand why an honest auctioneer would resent the posts about crooked auctioneers. Most do not deserve the bad name that they get from a few shysters.