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| For the patient man, there is always another fish or fishing boat somewhere down the road. |
My dad was a very frugal man. His choices in recreation reflected that. He liked to garden. He liked going fishing. He liked to go to auctions. Even if you NEVER bid on a single item, a good farm auction is very entertaining. And if you pay attention to the local auctioneers, you will figure out who attracts the clientele that you find most amusing.
One of the fundamentals in attending auctions is to look an item and quickly determine your "Price of Indifference". That is the price that whether you win or do not win...you don't care. If you win, then you know you got fair value for your money. If you do NOT win, then you are just as happy to have the money still in your wallet.
I have several bids in on an auction that closes in two hours. I am getting a bunch of emails telling me that "I am losing the auction" because I am being out-bid on various items.
It is not a big deal. Somebody wanted/needed those items more than I did. The dollar I do not spend tonight is a dollar I still have in my wallet and can spend tomorrow or the day after.
I've purchased some things from an online auction site. I always decide the most I'm willing to pay for the item, then ignore notifications of being outbid. If I win, great, if I don't, no big deal.
ReplyDeleteSome you win, some you lose. A year ago I bid $650 on a 1978 International 1460 Combine. No one else wanted it so charged the a/c, grease and change oil and harvested 200 acres with no problems. Sure beats spending 1/2 a million or more on a new one.
ReplyDeleteTo your point ERJ, always have a price going in.
ReplyDeleteTwo friends and I attended an estate auction of sporting goods and over 200 firearms. It was the first auction for one, who was looking for a defensive shotgun and a couple working handguns. I said that 90% of the guns would go too high. 5% would sell at good prices. “We’re here for just 5% of the guns?” he asked. “You can afford buying ten guns today?” I countered.
ReplyDeleteI further explained that people tend to bid with their egos, and let bidding get personal.
He noted which guns he had an interest in, with the max he would pay for it. He left with a Remington 16 gauge m12 and a Great Western.45 SAA. Also “stole” an S&W breaktop model 2 in .38 S&W that he bought in a lull. Bidders get lethargic, and a good auctioneer will wake them up by letting a lesser quality item go very low. Opening bid, lethargic crowd response, and my friend had a solid old gun for $22.
The last auction we went to was for wines. We got their list and found the retail prices for the wines we fancied. We bought not one; the atmosphere at the auction was giddy as people wildly bid against each other, ending up paying more than the retail price. Madness.
ReplyDeleteWe did try to sell a decent late 19th century Continental violin recently. No bids at all. Boo! Next we shall try to sell a pleasant piece of Victorian furniture. Our hopes are not high.
Funny thing about auctions. When you're buying, the price is always "too high", even when you get a good deal. And when you're selling, all the bidders are cheap and got a steal.
ReplyDeleteBefore my wife became unable, we used to go to auctions all the time. Wife wanted to buy stuff to resell on eBay and me, I usually only bid on tools that I wanted to have.
About 20 years ago, wife bought several box lots of reel-to-reel tapes that someone had recorded music on. You know, the classics; Beatles White album, CCR, Bob Dylan, ect. I think it only cost her around 10 bucks for all of them and after the dust settled, we/she made over a grand selling them on eBay.
Put this with your irrigation post, got in the habit of asking about the trash pile at barn sales / farm auctions; one had a pile of dead garden hoses. Got the whole pile for hauling it away, gonna use some to cover support ropes. Found most had been hit with mower or similar damage. $50 at rural king and I have 2 miles of garden hose, most left laying out to what i need to water for years. For the cost no reason to pull them up. Ask about the pile of oriental rugs soaked in raccoon pee a guy had stored in his barn, nasty stuff. A month laid out on the ground and I've got the fanciest pool deck you ever saw.
ReplyDeleteHubby in the '90s had an antique store. There was a sterling silver lighter he for sale and moved it everywhere in the store, even on the counter where he rang up people. Just couldn't sell that lighter even at give away prices. E bay had just started 6 months earlier and he put it on there couple weeks prior to Christmas and it had to run the week as the bids poured in. Sold for more than 10x what he bought it for.
ReplyDeleteMargi
Your online auctioneer is a bargain. My local one charges a 15% bidder's fee, looks like yours is 10% + tax?
ReplyDeleteI try to stay away from bidding, because I know it's too easy for me to get caught up in "just a little higher, and maybe I'll get it", but sometimes the price is too good and I'll throw in a "walk-away" bid. The tough part is sticking to it.
With 1st wife, we’d go to auctions around leslie, rives junction and Jackson. Was usually fun though one time my BIL and I were on opposite sides of the room and didnt realize we were bidding against each other. I’m planning to sell some guns I have no use for and I’m exploring using John Peck auctions in Gladwin. Now if you want a Dan Wesson 44 mag revolver with 3”&8” barrels a ruger blackhawk .357 or a smith 686 with speed loaders and quick draw holster ready for a round of PPC give me a holler.
ReplyDeleteI've done the same with old fishing reels and old pocket knives on ebay. I'll put in a $10 to $20 bid and just let it ride. I've seen the same style reel go for anything between the $10 I bid on it and up to $200. No way it's worth that, not to me. But if I can get the $10 one I'll take it.
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