What do you think of this auction?

I used to get mad at myself when ever coins would go for more then I was willing to pay.

But now, I pay more.

Why?

If I'm going to an auction, and I sit for 3 hours, then ending up going empty handed, it's a waste of time.

So now, if a coin should bring $15, then I will go to $18. It sounds odd, but it beats sitting 3 hours at an auction just to leave with nothing.

 

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I know how you feel there. The last one I went to I wanted a wheeler. It was crappy but I waited from 8AM until 4PM and was willing to overpay just to be able to take my son for a ride the next day. The wheeler really was a POS but I went to $650 encil: and was outbid by a guy I was talking to prior (in his late 70's) who said he had 3 already he didn't use but had room in the shed. I ended up buying some belt buckles with polished agates in them for $10, and leaving satisfied with the knowledge that I knew I was willing to overpay for my intended purchase only due to special circumstances, so that guy really overpaid.

The belt buckles are still in my truck; they went through the crack and are behind the seat. I saw them there the other day and, well, there they are

Also at that auction and my 2nd intended purchase was advertized as "100 foreign coins" was actually broke into 2 lots with "+/- 50" in two pill bottles! I was amazed when the opening bid was $20, which they each sold for to the same guy. $40!!! I inspected them before hand and told my brother they were worth $5 all together prior to start of the auction.

Auctioneer: "Who'sgonnastartthebiddingwithfiftydollarrrrrrrs?"

me: "Yeah, right!"

Guy in Overalls with Suspenders and Flannel Shirt: "Twenty bucks!"

me: "What?" :too-funny: "Good job, dude!" :devil:

 

I've never been to any live auction that charges any buyers fee.

 

Looking at that in writing it appears as though he tried to drive up the price on me and stick me. Too bad for him

That auction was something. I also saw a different man, also around 80 years old, (white hair, giant hearing aid, stiffened joints in his fingers, you know, old) Thoroughly inspecting a riding lawnmower. He started it and shut it off at least a dozen times. He raised its hood just as many times, giving it the once over... a dozen times over. Then he s-l-o-w-l-y gets on his hands and knees and goes prone. A minute or two go by and I start to wonder... (an elderly woman had tripped and fallen over some of the items up for auction and was hauled away in an ambulance a half hour before) Then "FWOOOOOOOOSH" you hear all the air escape the rear tire as the old codger pulled out the valve stem. He gets up and looks around all shady, then put the valve stem in his pocket in what he thought was a discreet manner and goes to his car.

I reported this to the auctioneers, who were suprised and told me they knew the individual personally. They said they would call him on it. I didn't want the thing; wasn't intending to bid on it. They asked why I thought he would do it, to which I said, "Well, either he really needed a valve stem or he was trying to reduce interest by making it appear more damaged than it is, thereby getting it cheaper."
I bet they had an interesting conversation when he went to pay for it... or maybe not... depends on how well they know him, I guess.

Just wanted to share a funny story!
Auctions can be entertaining in other ways than buying

EDIT: there was no buyers fee here, either.

 

Ours charges the buyers 10% + 8.75% sales tax (except no sales tax on coins) and charges the seller 35%.

Makes e-Bay look like a bargain.

 

Hah, that's hilarious! That's another thing that always bothers me about those auctions. Every item goes like this:

"Who'sgonnastartthebiddingwithfiftydollarrrrrrrs?"
"Who'llgimmefortydollarrrrrrrs?"
"thirtydollarrrrrrrs?"
"twentydollarrrrrrrs?"
"tendollarrrrrrrs?"
"I got five!!Nowtendollarrrrrrrs?"

The whole time I'm sitting there thinking, "Why don't you stop wasting everybody's time and just start EVERYTHING at 5 bucks!!!"

 

It makes me wonder why eBay sellers whine about the fees. Altogether, it's about 12-15 percent. A local auction house, well all the ones around here, are at least 25%.

One of the local auction companies here charge every $1 for a number. But it's not like it's $1 at the door. I supposed that keeps a lot of the "squatters" away. Some people actually just go to an auction to visit, and not actually bid on anything. If you don't see anything you want, why stay? It makes no sense.

I've never heard of paying sales tax at an auction, and I know about 12 auctioneers in my area. Maybe it's more of a state law kind of thing.

I think 25% commission is plenty. Why tack stuff onto the buyer? I've seen plenty of auctions that easily totaled over $10,000 dollars, so I see no reason to charge the buyer. $2,500 in one sitting is nothing to sneeze at. If an auctioneer has 4 auctions a month, that's a huge amount of money.

 

The reason auctioneers do this is to prevent confusion. Let's say they started a car at $1, there would be a hundred hands in the air.

I usually do not bid on the 1st bid, other wise you have 4-5 bidders to mess with. I wait until it get's down between two bidders, then hop in. Makes it much easier to follow.

I've also seen people bid on the 1st bid called, which makes no sense.

 

Ebay fees bother me more becuase it's all automated. Nobody is actually doing any work to sell my item, it's just a software program sitting on a computer. The fees shouldn't even be in the same ballpark as compared to a situation where a team of people are working to sell your stuff.

 

eBay has over 27,700 employees, they have to pay them somehow. That's over $200,000 an hour on salary alone.

 

I say, if you want to go to the Auction, go. Beware of parking fees, 3 dollars for a soda pop and buyers fees. I don't think they had a really nice size of products, but I do like those Morgans. I would go. Take a look around, see the sights...why not? I go to an occasional flea market and stop by yard sales. Why not? Half the fun is the the journey! Just bring a price guide to help you keep it real....Have fun. Post if you had a good time!

 

You must live in a larger city, no parking fees here.

Is there an actual auction house that charges 3 bucks for a soda? That seems ridiculously high. Most here sell cans of pop for $1. I usually bring my own soda.

 

At ours at least the Boy Scouts sell hot dogs, sodas, etc. so that's nice. The auction guy is probably gouging them too.

What the heck are they doing?!?! Maybe they count a server as an employee. That would make sense. As far as I know they don't actually provide any tangible items themselves, just a service. I would think there might be quite a few in customer support but not that many. That's the only area where I think it would take a living person - to answer questions, etc.

 

Ya, and the customer service work is probably farmed out to India for the most part. That number just doesn't sound reasonable, but I could be wrong.

 

Not really. From what I have seen the typical estate type auctioneer has about five people on staff, sometimes more. Four auctions at $2,500 per and 4 auctions a month is $10,000. Less expenses, divided between five people and take out taxes and you are probably looking at an annual income per person of under $15,000 per year.

 

Survey says yes.

 

Young man, you have a LOT to learn.
Don't let your money burn a hole in your pocket.
I've attended plenty of auction that I returned empty handed from.
If nothing else, attending the auction will give you an education and THAT'S PRICELESS!

 

I agree. Seriously Detecto, a lot of the "overpaying" you complained about might have been others thinking the same thing.

The good thing about money is its not perishable. You don't HAVE to spend it today, you can keep it for later. Paying more than you wish is neve a good idea. Keep your money, and find a better place to spend it.

If the auctions around you are that bad, just stop going. With the internet nowadays there are lots of other places to buy. Or just save up money and wait until you can attend a large show.

 

If it's anything like the auctions in my area,the coins will go for way more than they are worth!

 

Actually if you keep it too long it is kinda perishable.