The Bargain Hunter’s Snare
September 21st 2006 04:53
An indelible memory of my childhood involves a box of half-used bars of soap. It was a revolting sight, but what was worse was that it was for sale and in fact sold for $2.00. When I think of the pitfalls of auction houses, I think of that box of half-used soap.
In recent years, the popularity of traditional auction houses has declined due to the emergence of Ebay, but there are still quite a few in the United States. Many people will tell of the bargains they’ve gotten at auctions. But remember in my first post, I wrote that a bargains had to be a purchase that was not only at a low price, but also advantageous. Many people get a deal, but they don’t get a bargain.
When I was growing, my parent’s landlord went to the auction every Monday. One day he was tearing down a house next to us and offered us the opportunity to take anything in the House we wanted. It was jam-packed with stuff, much of it from his favorite auctions.
Now for some, auctions are a sport. It’s about winning the auction, not about using what you buy. Thus, these people aren’t truly bargain hunters but stuff hunters building a trophy room of useless things in their basement, garage, or storage shed.
However, it becomes quite easy to be hooked into the Stuff Hunters’ game and end up with stuff you don’t need at a price that’s too high.
How It Happens
Generally, a few hours before the auction, an auction house opens up and people can stroll around and look at the items for sale. In a large house there’s something for everyone, so most people end up coming back for the auction.
At the auction house my dad went to occasionally, they sold concessions. Why? Because, you’d get hungry as the auction is a very, very long process. Indeed, as a little boy, I thought it took forever, but in reality it took around 5-6 hours.
The reason people sell their goods at auction is that they are in the ultimate seller’s market. Unlike Ebay, where millions of items are for sale at once, in a traditional auction, only one thing at a time is available to hundreds of bidders.
The only time the seller loses ground is when the bidders as a collective withhold their bids until the auctioneer drops the price to an acceptable level. However, it only takes two bidders to escalate the bidding to unheard of heights of absurdity. Or in the case of the used bars of soap, one will do nicely.
The goods are not only brought out when they’re sold, demonstrations are done to highlight items bidders may have not considered or seen. Bidders who came to buy one thing often finding themselves buying other items on impulse. Oftentimes, because of the volume of stuff, the auctioneers don’t get to the item some bidders came for until late at night, if at all.
Can you get a bargain at the auction house? Yes, but you have to be very careful.
How to Avoid the Trap
1) Only go to look at an auction’s selection if you’re looking for something in particular. The surest way to separate a man from his money is to have him wander around an auction house aimlessly and come back to bid on something that caught his fancy. If you’re looking for tools to resale, that’s a good enough reason. But have some reason for going.
2) Is it really worth the trip? If you find a really good riding lawnmower, chances are a lot of other people want that item as well, which means it will be top dollar for the seller. You’re likely to spend hours waiting for the riding lawnmower to be rolled out only to lose it to higher bidders. Only go for the auction, if it’s an item that you really want; that’s going to have somewhat limited interest; and is likely to end up as a bargain.
3) Only buy what you came for.
4) Bring something to distract yourself. Traditional auctioneers are performing artists, whose auction calling has a melodic (and almost hypnotic) ring to it that creates an air of excitement, battle music for the war of the Stuff Hunters. You want to have something such as an I-Pod or Portable CD player so that you can tune out the noise, but keep your eyes open. You don’t want to miss your item and you may have a very long wait.
In recent years, the popularity of traditional auction houses has declined due to the emergence of Ebay, but there are still quite a few in the United States. Many people will tell of the bargains they’ve gotten at auctions. But remember in my first post, I wrote that a bargains had to be a purchase that was not only at a low price, but also advantageous. Many people get a deal, but they don’t get a bargain.
When I was growing, my parent’s landlord went to the auction every Monday. One day he was tearing down a house next to us and offered us the opportunity to take anything in the House we wanted. It was jam-packed with stuff, much of it from his favorite auctions.
Now for some, auctions are a sport. It’s about winning the auction, not about using what you buy. Thus, these people aren’t truly bargain hunters but stuff hunters building a trophy room of useless things in their basement, garage, or storage shed.
However, it becomes quite easy to be hooked into the Stuff Hunters’ game and end up with stuff you don’t need at a price that’s too high.
How It Happens
Generally, a few hours before the auction, an auction house opens up and people can stroll around and look at the items for sale. In a large house there’s something for everyone, so most people end up coming back for the auction.
At the auction house my dad went to occasionally, they sold concessions. Why? Because, you’d get hungry as the auction is a very, very long process. Indeed, as a little boy, I thought it took forever, but in reality it took around 5-6 hours.
The reason people sell their goods at auction is that they are in the ultimate seller’s market. Unlike Ebay, where millions of items are for sale at once, in a traditional auction, only one thing at a time is available to hundreds of bidders.
The only time the seller loses ground is when the bidders as a collective withhold their bids until the auctioneer drops the price to an acceptable level. However, it only takes two bidders to escalate the bidding to unheard of heights of absurdity. Or in the case of the used bars of soap, one will do nicely.
The goods are not only brought out when they’re sold, demonstrations are done to highlight items bidders may have not considered or seen. Bidders who came to buy one thing often finding themselves buying other items on impulse. Oftentimes, because of the volume of stuff, the auctioneers don’t get to the item some bidders came for until late at night, if at all.
Can you get a bargain at the auction house? Yes, but you have to be very careful.
How to Avoid the Trap
1) Only go to look at an auction’s selection if you’re looking for something in particular. The surest way to separate a man from his money is to have him wander around an auction house aimlessly and come back to bid on something that caught his fancy. If you’re looking for tools to resale, that’s a good enough reason. But have some reason for going.
2) Is it really worth the trip? If you find a really good riding lawnmower, chances are a lot of other people want that item as well, which means it will be top dollar for the seller. You’re likely to spend hours waiting for the riding lawnmower to be rolled out only to lose it to higher bidders. Only go for the auction, if it’s an item that you really want; that’s going to have somewhat limited interest; and is likely to end up as a bargain.
3) Only buy what you came for.
4) Bring something to distract yourself. Traditional auctioneers are performing artists, whose auction calling has a melodic (and almost hypnotic) ring to it that creates an air of excitement, battle music for the war of the Stuff Hunters. You want to have something such as an I-Pod or Portable CD player so that you can tune out the noise, but keep your eyes open. You don’t want to miss your item and you may have a very long wait.
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