by Gauk
Thu, Sep 24, 2020 11:48 PM

AUCTION PROCEDURES

Auctions are generally fast and furious places where there is little time to examine the goods fully, items may be difficult to get at and see and others may not even be on view at all. Similarly, auctions are full of traders, many of whom are very experienced in the business of assessing the quality of goods quickly and accurately. With practice you should be able to do this in a very short time and after a few visits to auctions you will pick up what is happening very quickly. However, there are a few basics which you should learn at the outset.

Auctions can be full of junk! There are always truly ‘duff’ lots and it is important not to get tempted by a so called ‘bargain’ that is of no use to you or of no resale value just because it was ridiculously cheap.

For every 100 items offered for sale at an auction there may be only a handful that are worth your while thinking about buying. Your goal must be to become so knowledgeable about the pros and cons of second-hand goods that you are able to judge which are worth closer inspection, and worth bidding for and which must be totally ignored and not worth wasting any further time over. Sometimes there may not be much to choose from. At such situations, you must organise your time efficiently.

Do be prepared to admit that there may be nothing at that particular auction worth giving a second thought to and walk away. Although this is extremely unlikely to happen, particularly at the bigger auctions, you must not approach an auction with the belief that it is simply jam-packed full of bargains. This is not so. Most auctions will be but there are a few which are not. Don’t whatever you do go to one with a fistful of money and expect to take away a lorry-load of gear at the end of the day. You might be fooling yourself into bidding for many things which you don’t want to deal with, don’t need, and you may even end up paying more than they are actually worth.

The most important thing to realise is that there are good auctions and there are bad ones. The vast majority of them are good, in most places they are very good but there are a few that are absolutely awful.

Make sure that you check on arrival the auctioneer’s conditions of sale.

The auction house is legally obliged to display this information on their premises. Normally it can be found in the sales office and you should be able pick up a copy from the desk. Usually the conditions of sale are also stated prominently in the catalogue. It may seem a bit strange to take the time to read them – every time – but it is absolutely necessary.

Your instincts are key; you have to trust them.

Every time you look at a lot of goods you must ask yourself if they look and feel right. Then check the conditions of sale to see what the auction house guarantees. For example, if you buy an item and it turns out to be faulty, will you get your money back?

Normally you won’t, but you want to be aware of this. Usually at such auctions goods are sold “as seen”, with all their faults and problems and this will be stated in the auctioneer’s terms and conditions. Similarly, people have bought goods at auction that have turned out to be stolen and have lost quite substantial amounts of money. While this is truer at car auctions and antique auctions than it is at liquidated stock auctions, it is well worth being aware that auctioneers only act as agents and are not legally responsible for the title of goods which pass through their hands.

All auctions sell goods “in good faith” and it is your responsibility to confirm the authenticity of any particular article. This may sound unfair and to be quite honest it is. The auction house gets well paid for its services. Most people would agree that auctioneers should look into the history of the goods that they deal with. Some do but most don’t. They are not obliged to. However, that is the way the system operates so be aware of it, tread carefully and suspiciously.

At the Auction

At any auction there are generally two areas.

The first is known as the viewing area (where the goods can be viewed) and the other is the bidding hall, where you will find the auctioneer and where bidding and buying takes place. At most smaller auction houses, both the viewing area and the bidding hall are the same place with bidding entered into in a cleared area amongst the goods. Usually an item will have a lot number on it and this indicates when it is due to be offered for sale.

If there are only a couple of items you are interested in you can often judge when they are likely to get around to corning under the hammer by studying the list in the catalogue and watching how fast items are selling, thus avoiding having to hang around all day. Items usually have stickers on them giving some information as to the history and condition as well as their lot number. The amount of information displayed and the reliability of that information depends entirely on the auction house. It is worth noting that the more information that is provided the more credible the auction is likely to be.

Sometimes you can pick up further information from the catalogue or a sheet of photocopied paper available at the door or, as at most auctions, you are charged for a catalogue even if it is only a sheet of photocopied paper when you wish to gain entry.

Items Sold ‘As Seen’ and ‘With Warranty’

At auctions items fall into two distinct groupings.

There are those that are sold ‘as seen’ and those that are sold with some form of ‘warranty’.

As seen means you buy an item with any faults and problems and you have no recourse whatsoever if it breaks down, doesn’t work or falls to bits once you get it outside the room. Be very careful in buying an item as seen at an auction, particularly a mechanical or electronic one. Having said that though, many auctions will not warrant very much or give any warranty whatsoever for items over a certain age.

In this case you will need to know whether the goods you are buying have any serious problems or not. Except where you are at an on-site auction, it is very rare to have the opportunity to plug in the item, switch it on or try it out. It is a real gamble to buy ‘as seen’ and the odds are stacked against you, but the price of the article when sold will bear this in mind.

Do remember, however, that you are not the only one in this position, dealer and the public alike are all in the same boat. If you buy three photocopiers ‘as seen’ for £25 each and only one of them works, then you still got a bargain. In addition, the other two may come in use for spare parts and may even have scrap value. Buying an item with warranty means that you normally have a period of time ‘after sale’ to inspect the item thoroughly and ensure that it works to your satisfaction. If it does not work, you can get your money back.

Check what ‘after sale’ means, as it could mean after the fall of the hammer, after the auction ends or after you have paid your money and bought the item, it varies from place to place. Buying an item with warranty is almost as good as buying it privately and you probably have paid much less for it. It you find a fault then you can take it back and have your money refunded. However, fewer auctions these days offer goods with warranty.

No-Reserve Auctions (unreserved)

Items go into auctions at two levels, those which have a reserve price and those that don’t. Basically, if an item has no reserve price then the highest bid buys it on the fall of the hammer, irrespective of whether it fetches a good price or a bad one. If an item has a reserve price then you will not be told what it is. It is a secret between the auctioneer and the vendor of the goods.

It is the price below which the seller is not prepared to let the item go and may be prepared to keep it or sell it privately. If bids go above the reserve price then the item will be sold to the highest bidder. If bids do not reach the reserve either one or two things can happen. Either the auctioneer stops trying to raise the bids, refuses to sell the item (where it may be offered at the next auction in a few weeks time) or he or she will sell it “provisionally”.

A provisional sale means that the highest bidder has an opportunity to negotiate, via the telephone in the auctioneer’s office with the seller to perhaps agree on a compromise price, somewhere between the highest bid and the reserve price. This often happens because people offer their items (particularly collectibles and antiques) at auction for too high a reserve price. In short they are greedy.

The seller obviously wants to get as much as possible for the good and people also often consider their goods to be worth more than others are actually prepared to pay for them.

No reserve auctions present the greatest opportunity for bargains as the auctioneers MUST sell the item regardless of how little he gets for it.

published by Gauk

 

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