Iowa | toolman - 2/3/2012 12:45
A couple of the better auction companies here will start every item and not back down. If they can't get a bid they own it. Makes for a fast paced sale and keeps people from sitting on their hands trying to start a 10 grand item for 100 bucks. They end up stuck with an item one in a great while but not often. This is one of the reasons I go to their sales.
I agree 100%.
I successful auctioneer knows what stuff is worth and is "man enough" to start at the proper place and not back down. It sets the tone of the sale ("we might as well bid, he ain't backing down"). Seller is helped, and buyer is not hurt--he either stays out if just a vulture looking to steal or bids if he likes where it started.
Good sale barn owner who always did his own auctioneering started every group of livestock, never backed down. At the end of many sales, he would say, "OK boys, we're gonna sell my stuff now" and he re-sold what he got stuck with. It was usually the first pen of pigs, cattle, first lot of hay, etc. Once he set the tone for the day, he rarely ended up with any others. He said between the extra commission he got on all the rest of the day and the reputation it gave him, it was a no-brainer to do it that way.
Fast sales, fair prices for both buyer and seller, always knew where the first money was. Never had to worry about "fake" bids starting, and no one was afraid to start. In my mind, all other auctioneers are just chicken-hearted. I won't go to a sale where the auctioneer has a habit of starting way below fair value and wastes my time getting there. |
auction ....rant
