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Are auctions a waste of time now?

Baconator

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
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1740
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314
I have been going to auctions since I was a little kid, and have bought thousands of items over the years, everything from large construction equipment items to small shit like bolts. I would say around 50% of the items Ive bought I got a really good deal on, 25% was ok, and paid too much on the last 25%.
It seems like in the last year or so people have gotten straight dumb on what they pay for stuff at auctions, Ive been on the hunt for a bigger motor grader, I found one that sold at auction for $10k more than 5 others that were listed for sale on national websites that had lower hours and looked to be in better condition.

Case in point is this auction site I follow in Denver, 3 no-name ratchet binders going for $160 +14% commission right now. You can buy them for $32 each at Northern, or even cheaper on Amazon. There are literally hundreds of items on this auction that are selling over what you can buy them new for.

https://www.rollerauction.com/auctions/5934/lot/35019-(3)-New-Ratchet-Binders
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...BPuxrmxmsdj7_iGMVGAaAnuLEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I am starting to think I should start importing some cheap chinese shit and just list it in auctions, seems like I could make a killing on morons.
 
I have noticed the same thing. I think it really got bad when everyone started listing everything online. All of the live auctions around here are also on proxy bid. They open for bidding a few days before the live auction. By the day of the auction, everything is up to new price.
 
Yup the sellers at the auctions are the winners. It’s a sellers market. I put my m715 up for auction last summer would have been ecstatic to get 4500 for it. Damn thing sold for 8500 wtf. If you have shit to sell nows the time to hoard some cash for when shit gets cheap again.
 
Yeah, most of the live auctions I've been to over the last year have been very well attended and lots of stuff going high. Was the professional back bidder at one auction, where I must have bid on 20+ things and didn't get crap. :laughing:
 
Lately most things I have bid on end up selling at least for full retail before auction fees. I don't get it.
 
ToughBowtieTruck said:
My dad growing up "it's raining nobody will be at the auction!"

Me "Uh dad, I think everyone thought the same as you." Never failed rain days were packed. :laughing:
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Home Depot is full on rainy weekends too. That is why I go there on superbowl weekend. :)

I suspect the auction thing has alot to do with all the .gov stimulus money floating around in our system. Active inflation phase.
 
I pass by a car auction place almost daily. Pre rona they would run a min of 500 units a month. Rona hits and dealers hang onto the used stuff and that lot has maybe 40 units on it at any one time. They go to an online auction only and shit goes higher than I've ever seen but wait a second.

Nothings moving, I noticed it a week or two ago. Same shit sitting in the same place literally not moving. I don't understand it except for the fact that being online only makes it easier for buyers to back out when they wake up and realize they way overbid.
 
I watch a local auction site here that charges 11% and then adds TN 9.25% sales tax... so essentially it’s 20% above final bid, five or take.

A lot of tools and farm equipment seem to go for darned near retail. Watched prices a saw mill liquidation go over retail.

It’s crazy what happens in the last hour of a week long bidding.
 
I stopped going to auctions about 3 years ago. When I would see stuff sell for more than the same item on craigslist or even sometimes new it became a joke. I got some very very good deals and a few items I bought for more than i wanted but still sold them to make profit. And yeah I figured most auctions would be around 18% above the big with buyer fees and tax.
 
Also since rona virus too the auctions are all online so there is way more people bidding because they can do it from work and simply take the time off to go pay/pickup a few days later. When it was at say 10AM on a wednesday the auctions wouldn't have nearly as much competition and prices would be cheap cheap. Just like the used truck prices auction prices have really gone up a lot. Last auction I went to 2 yrs ago I bought 3 miller tig welders and 2 licoln mig welders and sold them all for profit but a year But all of them a couple years before would have been 2-300 cheaper each easily. That's an extra grand I could've made.
 
Depends what your going after, I buy and sell a lot of mowers I've always figured if a guy is willing to wait all day to bid me up, someone else will pay more not to waste their time at the auction. The online auctions have gotten stupid this last year, It's evening out the high cost of living areas of the country and the low COL areas. Honestly I think a lot of it is because money is cheap right now and there are few ways to safely invest it. Might as well have stuff you want or can use as opposed to a retirement that may not be there for you when you want to cash it in.
 
The big auctions like RB are to go to for third world oil buyers. They buy absolute trash for tippy top dollar.
 
IEATRKS84 said:
I can tell you that estate auctions involving guns are a total waste of time. Might as well look up what you want on gunbroker and pay their god awful prices and youll be dozens of dollars ahead.
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Estate auctions are great for whatever isn't the flagship items.

Find the auction where all the guns are and go bid on the pile of end mills still in the wax and the tire changing machine that are also being sold that day. Though online auctions ruin this somewhat.
 
Gov planet had 24 aircraft maintenance tool boxes last week. I never really paid attention to their auctions before so I was intrigued since they were local here in Tucson. Mind you there was no special high dollar tools in there. Just wrenches and sockets and shit. Damm shit went for just shy of 3100 bucks. Don't think I will be going back to even looks.
 
Been like that for years in my area. Any auction is packed and it's like people get into a competition and don't care if they can buy it new for cheaper. I randomly watch the local online ones. But, won't hardly bother to go walk around one all day anymore.
 
I have a few Duece and a half’s and a 5 ton I think I’m going to auction off with a local guy. I’m tired of answering stupid questions from idiots.
 
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Local auctions have been very good to me as a buyer. I've never seen a good deal at a larger spring auction like the spring nitke auction in wausau. The point of going is to play with all the heavy construction equipment with absolutely no training. The deals at auctions are typically better in the fall when contractors are licking their wounds.
 
IEATRKS84 said:
I can tell you that estate auctions involving guns are a total waste of time. Might as well look up what you want on gunbroker and pay their god awful prices and youll be dozens of dollars ahead.
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depends on what the gun "theme" of the auction is. Regular estate with normal FUDD guns, no chance. its better to find the few guns at the large auctions that dont really fit the theme. I went to one a few years ago and it was the family of a Texas Ranger and he was a collector of western themed rifles and handguns. lots of collectors of early winchesters, colt SAA, Henrys, etc. I wanted a Bronwing o/U shotgun he had. in a room of 200 people, only me and one other guy cared about that shotgun. i hit my limit and bowed out. he paid just about exactly what it was worth (buyer premium has to be added) but i was looking for a better deal. could have bought the same gun at any cabelas online, proxibid, etc.
 
I liquidate shit our utility doesn't need any more through gov deals. It astounds me what people are paying for absolute shit and doing sight unseen. I did have one pallet of control gear a guy drove up from Memphis to actually look at. We both expected the pallet to go for around 5K. He left excited and nobody else came to look at it. He had to pay around 15K bidding against a guy that had not laid eyes on it. :eek: He was still going to make money on it, but not nearly as happy picking it up as he was after taking the time to look at it.:laughing:
 
It's the fees that turn me off.

The price of the auction item, (cool)

The last auction I bid on was Buyers premium of 14% (They would offer a 4% discount for cash, but it was on -line due to COVID, and they wanted pay at the close of the auction... so 14%)

Then they applied Tax AFTER the buyers Premium

Then there was a "Convenience Fee"

Then a Tax on the "Convenience Fee"

It ended up 29% over the closing bid .
 
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Gun auctions are even worse...complete dumbasses.
 
Thumping said:
Gun auctions are even worse...complete dumbasses.
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I got some good deals off gunbroker a year or so ago. hell I picked up 100 rds of buckshot for about .80 a round a month or two ago. but you have to watch it. has anyone kept up with class 3 shit? dealernfa has two shoot m16s, thats it. he usually has 20 or so.
 
I went to an auction 2o years ago, they had a craftsman router/table that caught my eye. Bid it up to just below 100 bucks and thought I had the cat by the tail. A few months later a sears flyer came in the mail with the same set up on sale new for 79.95. I didn't feel so great about the purchase then. Haven't been to a "crap auction" since. I go to dealer auctions weekly. Sometimes the stupidity is just as bad there. :laughing:
 
Some of the over-retail bids come from retail either not actually available anywhere at the moment or the lead time to get it is substantial. The auction may be a source of something that doesn't require a wait.
 
I've gone to a few auctions around here on farms since moving to agricultural area. It was good in the first year we were here, then the last ones I have been to there are obvious "bidders" working on the inside to bump the price of shit up. There was always the one or two people bidding on absolutely everything and they never won a bid. It was disgusting.
 
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