Auctions.?ÿ You either love them or hate them.?ÿ When you make the winning bid on an item, you have just proven you are willing to pay more than anyone else to get whatever it was.?ÿ On the other hand sometimes it seems no one wants the same stuff you do, so you come away feeling very fortunate.?ÿ I grew up going to auctions on a regular basis, so know a lot of the tricks to bidding and avoiding really bad mistakes.?ÿ One thing I will do is get the auctioneer's attention early by bidding on a few things that I really don't want to own but stop in time to let someone else get whatever it is.?ÿ That let's him know I'm there to buy, not just hang around to chat with people in the crowd for entertainment.?ÿ Many people tend to move in close to the item being offered if possible so the auctioneer can certainly see them bid.?ÿ I do the opposite.?ÿ I like to have as wide a view as possible to see who is bidding on the item I want plus being behind a certain fraction of the potential bidders.?ÿ Body language speaks loudly when one gets focused on bidding......or not.
Was at two auctions today and bought nothing at the first and only two items at the second.?ÿ Probably bid on twenty items but cut off early.?ÿ Watching people pay $1500 for something they could buy new, not 15 years old, for $1200 is sort of fun.?ÿ They get so wrapped up in bidding, they lose sight of the amount.
Used to go to farm auctions with my dad as a kid and they were sometimes interesting but mostly boring.?ÿ Later on when his parents died a farm auction was held for their stuff, and of course I was there to see it.?ÿ Stuff that I thought would sell for quite a bit didn't, and stuff that I didn't think would sell at all actually did.?ÿ The prized item seemed to be the John Deere 9600 combine.?ÿ Some farmer pulled out their wallet, cut a check for $70,000, and took off down the road.?ÿ I asked my dad if it was wise to do that amount of business so casually.?ÿ He just shrugged and said 'Think someone would bounce a $70,000 check?'?ÿ I never heard any more about it so I guess not.
I try to get near but a little bit ahead of the item I want in the line before they get to it, preferably leaning up against the fence at the back of the crowd. Fun to watch everybody turning around trying to figure out who is bidding.?ÿ
if you??ve never been to a farm auction, watch The Millennial Farmer on YouTube. ?ÿHe filmed a big one a couple of weeks ago.?ÿ
People who drive prices in favour of the auctioneer with phoney bids in an auction are called shills or potted plants and seek to provoke a bidding war among other participants. Often they are told by the seller precisely how high to bid, as the seller actually pays the price (to themself) if the item does not sell, losing only the auction fees. Shilling has a substantially higher rate of occurrence in online auctions, where any user with multiple accounts can bid on their own items. One detailed example of this has been documented in online auctions for used cars.
The second auction I attended for a while today was over 20 miles from my house but still I recognized at least a dozen people, including the auctioneer's wife.?ÿ Her ex-husband and his current wife were there, too, so I got a chuckle out of that.?ÿ That sale had been going for about an hour and a half when I arrived.?ÿ I walked up to a total stranger who was away from the main crowd and asked if he knew what areas had already been sold.?ÿ He told me he had been there briefly when the auction started then ran home for a bit and had only returned a few minutes earlier.?ÿ But, he knew the row of items he and I were both interested in had not sold yet.?ÿ So, I asked him how far away he lived, just to make chit chat.?ÿ He told me where he lived and I promptly rolled off the names of five jobs we have worked within three miles of his house, explaining about being a land surveyor.?ÿ He said he had never needed a survey but his brother had some surveying done five or six years back to cut off a tract on which to build a new home and then ended up not using it because the neighbor's house came up for sale and he bought it.?ÿ I asked if that was close to his house.?ÿ No, but he explained where it was.?ÿ I said I had done that job and then said, "That would be Patrick, right?"?ÿ Sure enough, that was his brother.?ÿ It took a minute to remember the family's last name but I added, "I first met your dad while doing a lot of survey work for his employer about 20 years ago."?ÿ Saw three former survey clients there but not the one I thought I would surely bump into as his project was only a mile away.?ÿ He might have been there and hid from me as he still owes me some money.
I went to a lot of auctions after I bought my first house. Got so I recognized the other regulars and knew what they would bid on. It's time consuming but a cheap way to furnish an empty house.
We're in a bigger house now and it's full, so I've given up auctions. Can't break the garage sale habit. I restrict myself though to really good bargains on tools or things that will replace something else.
There was one item at the first auction today that I wouldn't want if someone gave it to me.?ÿ I decided I would bid on it one time just to stir up some of friends and acquaintances.?ÿ Give them something to talk about.?ÿ It was a 1995 Chevy short-bed pickup with no engine and the most hideous paint job imaginable.?ÿ The body was resting no more than three inches off the gravel surface of the lot and the tires were lowriders.?ÿ It had been equipped with an air system to separately raise and lower the front end and the rear end.?ÿ My buddies would have had a good laugh picturing me driving that thing anywhere while bouncing up and down like a clown.?ÿ I did make one bid then quickly bowed out before it jumped up another $500.?ÿ My bid sure caught the auctioneer off guard as he knew I didn't want to own it.
You never know. It just takes two who are really set on an item to run up a whopping price.
I recall an estate auction of a guy who must have been a carpenter. Lots of tools were going at very reasonable prices.
They came to a pair of little metal tools the auctioneer and most of the crowd didn't recognize.?ÿ Two guys did. They started at $1 and quickly ran up to over $100 each, take 1 or 2, and this was about 1985.
After one of the bidders gave up, somewhere well north of that price, I found out they were a pair of specialty wood planes (left and right cut) that you would use making window frames and fancy cabinetry. They were from a manufacturer that had been top of the line but had been bought out, and current products at a similar price were considered junk by comparison.
It may have been the same auction where it took me 3 trips in the sedan to haul $10 worth of table, chairs, ordinary hand tools, and a back seat full of books.
A similar bidding war took place at the auction of a house and outbuildings on an 80-acre farm.?ÿ This had been the home for decades of an elderly couple and had been the childhood home for all of their children.?ÿ Two of the grandchildren had decided they wanted it.?ÿ The final bid was more than double the appraised value.?ÿ I have wondered if those two grandchildren have ever spoken to each other since that day.
A funny bidding war took place at a local auction for a retired couple moving off the farm.?ÿ They had three very competitive daughters.?ÿ The couple had a decorative frosted glass in their front door.?ÿ They had it removed and replaced with a plain glass pane.?ÿ The old one was then offered for sale at the auction.?ÿ The auctioneer had known the family his entire life and had a suspicion of what was going to happen so decided to have some fun.?ÿ When it came time to sell the door glass he told the crowdhet had no idea what it might be worth, so he started it out for a bid of $1.?ÿ Then, in rapid fire it was "2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10..............54,55,56,.....................?ÿ I forget where it stopped but it was a big number.?ÿ What added to the fun was that one daughter made her husband do the bidding while she hid out.?ÿ He is a major tightwad and you could see how much it hurt him every time he had to raise his sister-in-law's bid.?ÿ He had been told to buy it OR ELSE.
Oh yeah, I had a roommate years ago who had another friend and they shilled for each other on ebay all the time.?ÿ It was a bit scammy I suppose, but personally I've always had pretty good impulse control and I have zero problem walking away from an item that went above what I thought it was worth.?ÿ Isn't that what it ultimately comes down to??ÿ Not paying more than what you feel an item is worth?
