AUCTION info...

[Industrial Toys]

I love auctions and have bought lots of equipment. Each auctioneer has their own short-comings and things to look out for. Some auctioneers are really quite crooked, and nothing is ever at it seems. My favourites are municipal auctions. Especially when they decide to switch equipment brands. Say they get rid of all their Kubota grass cutting equipment and now go with JD for the next while.

You have to know what market value is! I have been so preocupied by getting a good deal, that I have let a good deal slip through my hands, kicking myself at auctions end! My biggest annoyance at auctions is the buyers for used equipment dealers, who tend to buy the nicest and best equipment for immediate resale. But that's O.K. because I make sure, they
have to pay top dollar and don't get anything dirt cheap! lol

I also dislike auctions that have heavy fees, usually on lots under a certain amount. With taxes, that can add another quarter to the price, and it can easily be forgotten in the heat of bidding.

I know one guy who seems to have horse shoes up his . . . well, anyway he goes to estate auctions and buys boxes with sundry items for next to nothing. But he has spotted some rare limited edition book or piece of china, that he then sells on E-Bay for hundreds if not thousands! In short, he always makes money at auctions, and I only ever spend!

One thing auction newbies need to realize, is not to waste their time thinking they can get a good piece of equipment at a bargain basment price. You will rarely get anything below wholesale, market value. Unless the condition is really dubious, or it's just not an in-demand item. Many auctioneers will buy any equipment themselves, if they can buy it below wholesale.

 

[PA hayseed]

My favorite auction technique to use is to wait. If you have two or three people who wait until an item is dropped to almost nothing by the auctioneer before they start bidding against one another is the best. Lets say you know an item used goes for 600, the 2-3 clowns wait til the auctioneer drops the starting price down to about $50 -75 before they bid. Then they bid against one another in small increments and take their time. When one person drops out, and the biddign between the two starts to slow down alot, jump in at $50.00-$100.00 higher. They almost always bail out at that point.

I also like to jump into a bid that is at say bid 100 and the ask is 125 and then you call 200. Lets em know your not playing. The auctioneer appreciates not playing around for things that go for alot of money.

Always ignore the people who talk down a piece before it comes up for bid, they usually bid on it themselves.

If you see an auctioneer selling to one of his workers, and the worker doesn't have a bid number assigned, scream murder or fire. It is crooked as ****, and they normally pound a sale down fast when their friends are involved.

Either be all the way in front and keep your bid low (so people in the back can't see who they are bidding against), or be all the way in the back.

If a dealer keeps out bidding you on some items, run em up on them. They will stop. You may get stuck with an item from time to time, but they won't play that game with you over the long run. They make money by keeping it low.

Thats all my advice - I love auctions, and a good auctioneer is priceless. I'd say about 60% of everything I own has come from one auction or another, and what I don't keep I sell on ebay (or local).

 

[patrick_g]

PA, I have noticed similar results. If you know something is worth at least $300 to you and the good ole boys are bidding in $5 increments at the $75 level, why not bid at least $175? It cuts through the BS and frequently elliminates some of the guys who bid on everything like it is a hobby or something but who hardly ever actually bid high enough to buy anything. They are just noise, an impediment to progress.

Many bidders will hang in there if the bid increment is low enough($1-$10) probably thinking that somehow magic will happen and serious bidders willing to pay a fair price will somehow just stop bidding and let them win, when if you jump the bid by $25-$50 each time you bid some of the wishful thinking is dispelled.

I have found that sometimes when there are multiple similar items (say 10 of them) someone who may want only one or two of them will bid up the price on each one in turn trying to get one and resulting in your paying more for each one you get. If you stop bidding and let FARMER JONES get one of the items he may not be interested in more of them and your chief competition is elliminated so the other 8-9 items may go for less.

The last time I was at SOLA (Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction) buying heifers the commercial buyers rapidly figured out what I was after and "got out of the way" to avoid a bidding war as I was running up the prices on them. A soon as my requirements were met and I was through actively bidding they went on with business as usual. This worked to our mutual advantage but not the seller's. No advance collusion, just experience on their part. When someone with more $ than brains comes charging in let him buy something and go away if there is more of the same to be bought after he has spent his handful of $.

The hardest advice to follow is to remain detached and unemotional and avoid the feeding frenzy. Don't be the pup who although he isn't hungry will eat to compete with his litter mates.

Pat

 

[Harold_J]

...I have found that sometimes when there are multiple similar items (say 10 of them) someone who may want only one or two of them will bid up the price on each one in turn trying to get one and resulting in your paying more for each one you get. If you stop bidding and let FARMER JONES get one of the items he may not be interested in more of them and your chief competition is elliminated so the other 8-9 items may go for less.
Pat

This is good advice sometimes. How do you approach it when there are multiple very similar items and the auctioneer says you are bidding to buy as many or as few as you want? If you really want most or all of them, should you bid to get them all on the first round or just take a few and hope the price drops? Conversely, if you only want one or a few should you grab right away or wait? If I only want 1 or 2 I'd usually grab right away up to my maximum price.

 

[PA hayseed]

This is good advice sometimes. How do you approach it when there are multiple very similar items and the auctioneer says you are bidding to buy as many or as few as you want? If you really want most or all of them, should you bid to get them all on the first round or just take a few and hope the price drops? Conversely, if you only want one or a few should you grab right away or wait? If I only want 1 or 2 I'd usually grab right away up to my maximum price.

There is more than one way to look at this. If someone wants them all, they are going to pay a price for them all. If they only want one or two, they will normally sense (not always) that the price is getting too high for that one or two. If two of them are brand new, and the rest are junk, be prepared to bid 75% of a new item cost times two and bail if it goes higher than that, unless you are reselling. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, or leave and go buy it at a store.

Keep this in mind, once a sale is pounded down "sold", the auction isn't over. I have been approached, and have approached others after a sale is over. I may ask to buy one or two of the items off them at a fair price (keep in mind that you both now know exactly what was paid for it). I have bought lots of stuff off of people who just bought lot items or bulk items. Case in point, a guy bought a pallet load of trash cans at a liquidation auction for about $3.00 each (break down price), they normally sell at a store for about 13.00 each. I offered the guy 6.00 each for several, or as many as he would sell. I wanted five, he sold four. In the end you may not get everything you want.

Many times when I buy tools, a collector will come over to get an item that was included in the lot that I out bid him on. I will often times sell it to them at a premium, and I mean a premium to what I paid for the lot. I bought a box lot of chisels, some antique and some brand new. A collector wanted one antique one, I bought the lot for 23 dollars, and sold him the collector one for 15. I sold the ones I didn't want on ebay for 23, and kept the new in the wrapper ones for my garage. Many times you have to haggle with people, people who go to alot of auctions are frugal and will not overpay. Harry and jane the homeowner who go to an auction will overpay.

You must absolutely know what an item sells for new and used to successfully bid and win at an auction.

 

[PA hayseed]

The hardest advice to follow is to remain detached and unemotional and avoid the feeding frenzy. Don't be the pup who although he isn't hungry will eat to compete with his litter mates.

Pat

This should be pasted to everyone's bid cards, and some people's foreheads. It makes me sick when someone bids $20.00 for a piece of crap that sold new for $12.00 - for some reason in my area people always do this with gas cans. It is truly hard advice to follow, but discipline pays for itself in the end. I too have overpaid, I wish they had some type of support group for this

Charity auctions are a different story, and estate sales where family members are present is another seperate issue altogether. I too would overpay for my grandmother's items if her house went for auction, because its not about value at that point.

 

[patrick_g]

This is good advice sometimes. How do you approach it when there are multiple very similar items and the auctioneer says you are bidding to buy as many or as few as you want? If you really want most or all of them, should you bid to get them all on the first round or just take a few and hope the price drops? Conversely, if you only want one or a few should you grab right away or wait? If I only want 1 or 2 I'd usually grab right away up to my maximum price.

Harold, I just got back from the auction. My friend and I bought nothing but a 6 ft 3PH disk from a neighbor who put a sign on it 1/4 mile down the road from me. The disk was 5 min away. We drove an hour each way and ate two meals out to attend the auction but it was a beautiful day in low 70's with gentle breeze. Strong Mennonite presence for some reason but didn't see any of them bidding. Their wives ran the snack bar.

We stayed to near the last item sold because we were interested in some feed troughs which came up near the last items. Apparently a lot of folks were. The troughs were painted steel about 18 inches wide and 6 inches deep and twelve feet long. There were 3 types but similar. They went for nearly new price. The deal was you win the bid and take from one to all, your call at the winning bid price. The winner took all 41 of them and then bid the other less desirable ones up beyond my max price. So one guy got about 60 troughs or 720 linear feet of feed troughs.

An AC only Lincoln tombstone went for about $50 and an Astro brand MIG with bottle and a spare roll of wire (big roll, 10 lb size) for $70. A Jeep in good running condition (about '52) went for $2K.

The JD 4440 tractor went for $17K. It was like new with low hours.

Pat

 

[Roper14]

Got back from the "Williams Equipment" Auction in Batesville,AR...I would recommend it to anyone looking for any type of working equipment in the future.. only problem is that they have the sale once a year in the spring...they "attempt" to liquidate all of their used inventory...here is a small sampling of what i saw....
-not a lot of small items-all implements....saw a couple of Ford 552 (i think) Round balers go for less than $300 (yes they were old but probably usable)
- had probably 10 other baler that sold from $2k up to $21k..rakes...and some very nice drawbar hay cutter...new to moderately used $3k - upwards of 15k.

tractors--
I was looking at a tt55 4wd FEL, MF 253 2wd FEL, and a 5210 2wd FEL...after getting there and looking them over discounted the first two and decided on a price ($11k neighborhood -- yes low) for the 5210 1500hrs...
heres how the above sold with a few others...maybe they will help someone else (the auction had everything from a 4020 up to 6-7 tractors with less than 400 hr C/A FEL on all of them...so something for everyone

the 5210 bidding stopped at 12.5 dealer wouldnt take it..said he would take 13,750 and would of them stepped up and paid it...not much of a deal in my category (new 5103 same setup $19k)...so i digress..
the MF was one of the buys as it "looked" like it had electrical problems (tach not working, wires exposed everywhere, and oh by the way, just forks, no bucket----yet 8500)
-a rough JD 1050 4wd FEl brough 4600
- a rough Ford 4610 brought 6250 but did not sell
- an old JD 2750 C/A FEL brought 15,000
- a New Holand TN 55 2wd brought $9k barely (1500 hrs)

there were a few compacts and like I mentioned maye another 15 other tractors that were "a lot " nicer than the 5210 ... yet I had 2.5 hrs to drive and I hit the road after it sold....(i kinda live by the 60% rule...try not to pay more than 60% for a tractor than what a used one would cost new...different thread all together)
good hunting to everyone else

 

[sandman2234]

Speaking of auctions, I had intended on going to one on the 8th, for a cabinet shop, in Bushnell, Florida. Work has decided that is the day for a safety meeting, mandatory attendance.
So, if any of you guys are going to be in mid Florida and are looking for something not tractor related, have fun without me...
ABSOLUTE AUCTION
SAT, 10AM MARCH 8TH 2008
CUSTOM ONLY CABINETS
8135 EAST COUNTY ROAD 48
BUSHNELL FL. 33513

David from jax

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