Blasted Auctioneer
 

I went to an Amish farm auction yesterday and stood for hours watching them sell junk until they finally got to the livestock, which was announced to sell at 12:00 sharp, at about 1:15.

The heifer I wanted was one of the last 2 to sell, naturally. They ran them in and said they were selling choice; one was very nice the other was not nearly as nice. I was one of only 2 bidders left and was in at $200.00 when the @#*& %*)* blasted auctioneer "tied'em together" meaning the bidder had to take them both at 2X the money.

I said shucky darn or something like that and turned and started walking away. The auctioneer shouted at me and said I was the high bidder I couldn't just leave. I told him I darn well could, I was bidding on one animal and he changed the terms he had announced, so he had to back up and let them go to the other bidder at $190.00 ea.

He was mumbling and mouthing so I turned around told him loud enough for everyone to hear that I would have paid $350.00 for the heifer I wanted but not a cent for the one I didn't want. Also told him that he should explain to his seller how he had cost him some money by his action. He didn’t have to tell him, the old Amish gentlemen had already figured it out and wasn’t at all happy about it, he was still chewing on him when I left.

It's not uncommon for auctioneers to do that, but I don't understand why, just laziness on their part I guess. I've seen several people get angry about the practice. It always makes me mad as hops when they do it and I never make another bid on an item they have doubled up on after saying they are selling choice.

Oh well, I guess I really didn't need her anyway.

I thought that once they got a bid they ethically couldn't change the lot size or terms.

Must do it differently out there.

Well now, that IS odd!!! Usually if the product (or choice of products) is/are selling, the auctioneer continues as is, until the bidding is done and then sells choice to the highest bidder. About the only time something else is thrown in with the first item, is if it isn't getting a bid.

And at the auctions around here, usually when they specify a time - whether it be for the farm equipment, animals, or property, either the auctioneer stops selling the regular stuff and goes on to whatever items a time was given for. Now, the Father / Son auctioneer, usually one of them goes off and starts selling the "appointed time" items while the other one continues selling whatever it was. (This can make things difficult if you are at the auction by yourself, and are interested in items at both areas!!!!)

After you stood up for yourself, the auctioneer should have backtracked and said he made a mistake, and went back to selling "choice". I can't believe he sold to the bidder under you! Lost the owner (and himself) some money. (And also possibly lost some potential customers down the road. I'd think twice before hiring him to do an auction for me if I witnessed that!!)

My father and youngest brother are both auctioneers. We ahve a family business doing auctions,esp. estates. Or anything really. This is a very unethical thing to do and the farmer should have stopped everything and told the man to sell them seperatly. This is one of the things that make auctioneers look bad. And believe me some of the things I've seen are far worse. I am sorry you didn't get your animal and hope the other guy haas use for the pair.

Hey BK; That wasn`t very nice of him to do that. Once you start selling something it wasn`t right to change mid stream, cause he already had your bid at the other terms. You done right, I would have done the same. Thanks Marc.

I wonder if you couldn't have bought the one you wanted from the buyer.

I went to an auction once where you had to figure 10% added to your bid. It was hard to follow. They were bidding on land for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

on a funny note,went to an auction with my dad.they had a box of old tools,in which there was a circular saw,that didnt work so well.dad said bid,so i did and got the lot for about $5.
i said we dont need another saw,as it dont work right/well any way. dad said look at the saw blade.it was on backwards.saw runs and still is today.

The horse auctions here in KY do something I never saw done in western horse auctions. They will bring a "pair" in ... team or mare and foal, etc.

They will announce as they start that they will take bids separately and then put them together for more bidding.

So each animal is "sold" separately with the high bid/ buyer announced. Then they say what the bid is for each one individually, give the total on the pair, then ask for bids on the two animals as one unit.

If anyone bids for the pair at a higher total price, that person gets both animals.

Otherwise, at most auctions, they announce "choice" or "X times the money" at the beginning of the auction.

I've seen that here, mostly at land auctions. They will sell a property as several smaller parcels, or one large one.

Most states require auctioneers to be licensed, I would report this incident to your states licensing authority.

Just so you are aware---an old practice of cutting metal roof sheeting is to install the blade backwards for cutting so that it is not so aggressive. They may have installed it backwards on purpose for a purpose.

I agree. What that auctioneer did is just unethical, and should be reported. If nothing else, it will make him think twice before pulling a stunt like that again.

never seen that happen around here, that seems fishy, especiall mid-auction round here they try to get the high bidder to take all of whatever they are selling but they dont require it. i do hate it when they have more than one of something, they are selling'em one at a time and they let the high bidder of the first one take as many as they want x their bid price.

I can feel your pain ,
We went to a Storage Locker Auction and I bid on a 10 X 30 foot locker that belonged to a trucking company , filled with hand trucks , appliance dolly's , load bars , and anything else they would use ,
Won it for $ 275 . then Auctioneer moved to the next two 10 X 30 lockers , a used office supply store and a used furniture store , both owned by the same company .
No one bid on them and He awarded all THREE to Me. My wife and Daughter almost killed Me , and the place gave us one and a half months to clean them out . Made $ 300 at the auction selling to the other dealers before we locked them up .
Bob
Darn , there goes My peace and quiet , the Helicopters for the Boston Marathon are over the House now .

I've seen it done when cutting vinyl siding also

It would really put me in a bind f they did that to me and I only had the cash to pay for one, or room to accommodate one in the trailer, barn, pasture, etc.

I don't go to many livestock auctions, but lots of farm stuff auctions.

It's pretty common for them to sell 'choice' of 2-5 items. If they can't get a bid, or much interest, they will switch to selling the whole pile for one money.

Never saw a deal like you had, where they switch from choice to 'times 2' in the middle of bidding. That's a pretty bad deal, doesn't say much for the auctioneer to pull that.

--->Paul

65284, I'm your "neighbor" in Callaway County. Would you please pm me with the name of that auctioneer? There is one northeast of you whose auctions we just refuse to attend any more because he's pulled such garbage when we were there. I just wondered if it were the same guy. The second and last time we went to an auction run by the man I have in mind, the argument between buyer and auctioneer got so heated, my husband indicated that we were to move closer to the door to leave in case trouble erupted. Auctioneer didn't represent an item as it stood and only on closer inspection did the bidder notice it. He asked to be released from the last bid so that the item could be offered again. Then when the bidder wanted to make a better informed bid, the auctioneer refused to accept his bids. There was error from both sides but both men had "back up" friends who entered the discussion.

Ive seen them sell it that way all the time at the sale I go to, and its amish also.

I have seen them sell say an item, and he starts the item out at say $10, and its an old sprinkling can. Nobody starts on it, so instead of asking what its worth to startt a bid, he ll throw some other stuff that a person wanting the can may not have a bit of use for.

Ive seen them sell say 5 cages of 10 chickens ea, sell them per cage, and then all thogether, and take the highest bid either per cage for all of them, or for all of them at once, Usually as to what the farmers want who own them

the most.

If it like some that I have seen, he may have been wanting a friend to have the cow, or he may have been having someone to buy it for himself. Do not put it past some of them. Not all are honest.

MOgal,

I don't know who the auctioneer was, if I caught his name don't remember it. We go to a lot of auctions and know a lot of auctioneers, but this guy was no one I had ever seen or heard before, nothing very memorable about him, sub-average at best. And I prefer not to ever see or hear him again. But I do think he is from the area you mention.

That's fine, as long as they announce the terms before any bidding starts.

Don't forget there is another person that scrwed. The guy that paid $190.
I've seen auctions where the final bidder disappears and the auctioneer offers it to the last bidder, at the last bidders price.
But, if you take that vanished bidder out of the process the bid might not have gotten that high. ALWAYS make them start over when there is anything screwy with the auctioning process.

In your case, at the end of the auction, the auctioneer realized that if he sold choice, no one would buy that last cow. The poorer quality cow should have sold earlier, higher quality livestock should sell last to hold bidders at the auction.

What he did, as we all agree, was wrong.

I know of aan auctioneer that does oddball stuff, but he gets the most money to the sellers, so he is busy. I'll give a couple examples:

Everyone is crowded up near the items being auctioned. You bid and a guy way in the back bids against you. Back and forth. You turn around and can't see who is bidding. Then the item sells to you. There wasn't any other bidder, just you. Once in awhile the up close bidder stops unexpectedly and he has to act like he can't find the last bidder and start over, but now he knows how high you'll go.

They have a 5 leg oak dining room set. This is a table, 10 leaves and 10 chairs. Auctioneer announces the he is selling just the table. He makes it clear, the chairs are not selling yet, just the table. So the auctioning begins. Finally the table sells for $500. The auctioneer announces that the leaves will now be auctioned. The table buyer complains that the leaves go ith the table, but the auctioneer counters that he had clearly announced that it was just the table. So he has to bid on the leaves that fit his table.

One thing I do that discourages monkey business is that I bid fast, and I stop bidding fast. No hemming and hawwing over the last few bids. I just turn my back on the auctioneer. They figure out real quick that they can't pull down air bids on me.

Auctioneer's talk way too fast for my old ears. I can't understand a word they say.
I would be willing to bet good money that if they slowed down and spoke clearly, they'd get a whole lot more people at their auctions to bid and probably make more money in the long run, I'm not the only one that feels this way as I have talked about this with friends.

I've been to hundreds of auctions.

I've seen this happen before, but it isn't common. If anything, when it does happen, it is to benefit the buyer, and they are clearing out the junk that isn't selling.

I think the auctioneer was very wrong in his actions.

I've heard many people over the years say the same thing.

I think it is an aquired ear. Just takes a little time or practice listening to understand it. In my estimation, most autioneers have a song, and also a style. Most of them have bid taking practices, too. Some will cry for an hour for another $2 bid, and some end it immediately when the bids end.

FWIW, if you really something at an auction, just ask the auctioneer to slow down. The good ones will do it for you, and not think a thing of it.

Not to offend BUT I have to disagree... :buds:

I've been to some auctions where the auctioneer is S-L--O--W. People tend to leave or not pay as much attention. I guess this would be good if you just came to buy but to sell... not so good...
A good auctioneer to me is one that is fast and honest yet clear at the start... I've also found that most people go wrong bidding when they never been to an auction... Those are the best. I saw a momma Guinea and babies sell for $20 x __(bunch of babies)__ because they didn't know what they were buying. The auctioneer was clear but the buyer ("s" because it takes 2 to up the price) didn't know what they were bidding on

i love hearing an auction if done well. i know, wacky.

that was a real dirty trick. i am really happy to hear you said it too, i think too much stuff gets 'hush-hushed'. and i'd bet there are plenty of others saying how it was a rotten deal and don't use so-n-so.

we have some great auctioneers here, one guy won some national award even. they know me enough from working at sales that they use me to talk about their stuff. once in a great while, if some pile of carp can't sell, they act like i bought it. i make no notion public or private that that is true, so its actually a joke. just this weekend i went to one and got a brand new tater bin for a buck, yeah for me! (sadly, that's about all i had to spend, what was i doing at an auction?! lol!)

I believe 65284 understood what the auctioneer was saying and the auctioneer tried to pull a fast one.
Way before anyone wants to buy at auction, one needs to observe. Easier to understand by watching than to be right in the middle of the emotion.
At horse auctions, a team can sell three ways, "all on" is a price for both horses, "choice" is a price for the one you think is best and you can buy both if you want and "two times your money" is the price you bid times the number of horses (almost always a team). So, a bid of $1000 could get you two horses or one horse or cost you $2000. Depends.

If you can sort out all the auction mumbo-jumbo, you should be able to hear the last bid and the amount he's asking for the next bid. Keep track of the amount you bid so you don't bid against yourself. Also, make sure your bid is current. Let's say you bid $1000 and the auctioneer is asking for $1100. " I've got a thousand, who'll give me eleven hundred?" After a few chants, someone offers $1050, auctioneer accepts it and continues to call for eleven-hundred. If you aren't watching close you might miss that and think you are still top bidder at $1000., but it sells to the $1050 bidder.

Often when two items sell together, one is junk.

On property sales and equipment that two items go together, they can sell twice. Say there is a farmhouse and 5 acres and a 75 acre field. They can sell seperately and then sell together to see what brings the most money. Say a tractor with a loader is up for sale. They can sell the loader by itself, tractor by itself and then together. Whatever brings the most money is how the sale finishes.

Another point to try and remember, always check your tags/items list before you leave the auction grounds, mistakes can be made that will cost you money. We went to a farm consignment auction this weekend, I bought a lot of shrubs. Was going thru the tags and found a mistake after we had paid, they had to reimburse us. I hate when they start to combine lots to encourage bidding, I buy a lot of box lots to resell individual items, hate when they start adding on lots I didn't want. Then I end up with more stuff to carry and sort, totally defeats all the careful searching I did thru the boxes earlier for the few good items that I can resell.

I wasn`t going to say anything, wanted to see where this would go. I was an auctioneer for 26 years, loved it, still do, just not enough business anymore. Retired two years ago, still do a few charity auctions. They still like to listen to me I guess, I was a good auctioneer and honest one also, had some people tell me I would never make a good auctioneer because I was to honest. It must be true because the dishonest ones are still at it. The auctioneer has what they call a chant, it is the words and rythum to keep the bids moving along, each is differant and not all are good. none the less they need it in order to keep things rollling along and interesting. You also have to understand that the auctioneer is working for the seller and not the buyer. We are there to get all we can for that seller, but doing it honestly is the auctioneers job. He is also the boss, what he says goes, he is educated in the auction process, and is schooled in that. Some auctioneers can`t be trusted anyfarther than you can throw them, but that generaly will catch up to them sometime. I never ran anyones bid up on an auction, if it wasn`t worth two bids so be it, it was sold. I always did my best to run a first rate auction, but you can`t make everyone happy and you never will. When I went to school to become an auctioneer I was taught it isn`t speed but, being clear and understandable. My biggest auction I had ,I kept track of the number of items sold per minute, we averaged two items per minute. Thats alot of stuff over several hours, when I first started we would take quarter bids, when I stopped we took nothing less than a dollar bid. I really enjoyed that time in my life and miss it some, but things were getting to cut throat. Thanks Marc

I had someone switch tags on Me at a rental store auction , I won a Milwaukee Saws-All for $ 40. , when I went to pick it up , the tag was on a Hammer Drill , and I all ready have two , they offered to refund My $$$$ , but I kept it .
Bob

We buy a lot of box lots to resell too . Two of My best buy's were .
# 1 Our first time at a Country Auction up North , there were two old wooden Coke cases with bottles ( sold for $ 20 ea. ) , and a box of some old junk from a garage ( empty oil cans , old polish etc. , wife bid $ 6.00 . When I went to pick it up the runner said , let Me give You a hand with everything ??
All the boxes along the wall filled with old hand drill braces and bits plus lots of old hand tools went with it about 8 ft. worth , even a 10 in. craftsman table saw around the corner . :happy:

# 2 An auction We go to all they time they have to have the hall cleared by 10:00pm.
I saw a old wooden tool box on the floor under a table with a power cord showing . I told thee Wife don't look at it ,but if it goes for under $ 5 . grab it . they ended up selling two tables full of glass and misc. knick knacs , plates , pans , etc. plus the items on the floor underneath , got it for all $ 16.00 .
The box had a Skill Drill , Skill Screw Gun , and a Ridgid Sawz All , plus a ton of old wrenches , punches and wood chisels . :kiss:
Bob

I'm at auction every Tuesday evening and what they did was wrong. You can't change the way the items are being sold in the middle of bidding. I know that auctioneers in PA need to be licensed and most of them are good people just trying to make a living. Of course you always have a few bad ones, but for the most part they are rare..

I don't have a problem understanding most auctioneers, once I learn their style/chant.. After you learn that you can understand them.

Funny thing that happened about a month ago.. I took a young lad that was back from Iraq to auction. He had to keep asking me what the auctioneer said.. He was embarrassed to have to continually ask me, I just chuckled.. He did managed to buy a Remington Rolling block rifle in 7 mm (circa 1890's)(7mm was special made for the NY State Militias)for a good price.