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Auction and Estate
Sales! Now lets take a few minutes to talk about another one
of our addictions: AUCTIONS & ESTATE SALES. These
have their advantages and disadvantages over yard
sales. The
disadvantages are you have to sit for hours to wait for your favorite
items to be sold. If you are lucky you will win your item for a reasonable
price, if not, the defeat gives you a pissed off feeling. If you are
bidding on an item you are going to use for your home that is antique or
unique, its worth taking the price up and trying to win the item. You may
never get another chance to find this item again. One
thing we noticed at the sales. If you are truly interested in an item and
you are willing to pay top dollar, hold your number card high, or right
near your face to let the ones bidding against you know your serious and
your gonna keep on bidding. If they think you wont give up soon, then they
might be the ones to cave. You can always tell when a person is not
willing to give up the item. One
thing to be careful of, make sure the auction site and auctioneer are
reputable. We found a few who
are not. They have “plants” that work for them. These plants will bid up
the prices to make more money for the auctioneer or maybe for a friend or
themselves if they have put items into the auction to be sold. There are
some dishonest bidders out there and the auctioneers are equally as
dishonest if they allow this shill bidding. If dealers are working together,
hanging out with each other, the prices will go up on good items. They
help each other too. If
you are bidding on an item for resale, be careful. Set a price limit and
stick with it unless you are willing to only make a few dollars. If you
are into resale, always set your sites for doubling your money when
selling or at least getting a 20% investment. Breaking even just is not
worth it. Of course you could do very well with most of your items and
make some serious money from that sale, but maybe there is an item or two
that you overpaid for. Don’t freak, as long as you did good in the long
run, your still a winner in the game. The
advantages of Estate Sales and Auctions. They are usually advertised one
week to one month ahead of time. This gives you time too look over all the
goodies and do your homework. Most auction sites will even include a photo
gallery so you can see the item and the condition. PLUS any nice
auctioneer will let you come to the auction site the day before to look
over the inventory. If you are one of the smart ones to check over prices,
you can be way ahead of the game. Another
advantage, most auctioneers will take “left bids” on items if there is a
reason you can not make on auctions day. We
have people in our town that seek out auctions that are taking place the
same day and the same time. They will go ahead of time to put an absent-T
bid on the items they really want, then they head out to another auction
to bid on other things. Tricky! Don’t
forget to look over the box lots. Some think they are just boxes of junk
that should be tossed away. On contraire my friend. Auctioneers don’t know
everything. They get busy and bored going thru hundreds of items and will
start tossing stuff into box lots. We have found many treasures in box
lots. Also if you like having
yard sales, box lots can sometimes go for a buck or two and contain
several items. Look over the lot. If
you can spend a dollar and put the items in your yard sale for 50
cents a piece you can double or triple (or more) your money. Hey! every
cent counts. WE
are interested in your Auction-Estate finds. Please go to our forum and
tell us your stories. |