Another One Bites The Dust

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I have a general question about auctions such as this. I went to one (JJ Kane auctioneer) because I was looking to buy a vehicle and there were some other, smaller miscellaneous items I was interested in. When I heard what people were bidding on some of this stuff it pretty much told me there were no bargains to be had.

The one thing I remember in particular was a 12 year old F-350 that was BEAT, body damage, 212K miles, gas motor. I kind of needed a beater at the time and thought if I could pick it up for $800 it wouldn't be bad. It wound up going for about $2100.

Is this typical of most auctions? Do people generally just lose their minds when they are bidding on stuff and just get caught in the excitement of the fast talking guy?
 
ishium 80439 said:
...........Is this typical of most auctions? Do people generally just lose their minds when they are bidding on stuff and just get caught in the excitement of the fast talking guy?
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You got it!

Some people think anything sold at auction is a bargain no matter what the price is.

Years ago, I had a cousin pass away. His widow held an auction for all this stuff. I went there, and my uncle (his dad) told me, "See that Milwaukee drill and saw over there? Don't bid on them. I loaned them to Dan last year and now I'm going to buy them back."

Fine with me. Later that afternoon, I saw my uncle again and asked if he got his drill and saw back. "No," he said, "Someone bought them, so I just went down to the tool store and bought new ones for less than they bought my old ones for!"

I recall someone paying $54 for a string of Christmas lights. 25' of the old C-7 bulbs. And it didn't even work!
rolleyes2.gif
 
Sure is good to see someone with more "STUFF" than me! With the economy down i bet you could buy up some good deals here!
 
Sometimes you can get a good deal at an auction but you better know what the price of the material your bidding on costs new.
 
Gawd it hurts to see someone lose it all after working so hard and investing all they had time and money into a business...

Can't even imagine the despair. Saw it happen first hand to my old man when I was a kid though. We ended up in my grandma's basement. My old man recovered though, and he has made it all back with alot more to boot! It just took twenty years, that's all.
 
ishium 80439 said:
Is this typical of most auctions? Do people generally just lose their minds when they are bidding on stuff and just get caught in the excitement of the fast talking guy?
Click to expand...

the short anwer is... yep.

i was doing a lot of auctions in the early 1990's, mostly cnc machine
tools, and ended up at this one auction for a mobile home builder who
went bust....

and they were auctioning off finished mobile homes as well.....

and this guy, green as grass, was bidding on a mobile home against
3 other people, and they all folded, and the last $15,000 of bidding,
he was the only one bidding.... everyone just stood there kind of
stunned, as he kept his hand up.... it took about 45 seconds for
him to figure it out, and cost him $15,000 for the lesson.

pneumatic tools often bring out this dementia, and the "winner"
pays about new retail for tools that are totally thrashed.

i was looking at the tools, and they were full of metal shavings,
which tells me the 100 hp air compressor i was there to bid on
wasn't worth raising a paddle on. it was disconnected, so you
couldn't start it to hear it run... the guy who did buy it for $2,900
ended up selling it for scrap metal.... the roots compressor was
beyond repair. he bought a used motor and starter for $2,900.

auctions are fun, tho.... you get to watch all these people
posturing, and trying to psych each other out... great people
watching venue.
 
I went to an auction a few weeks ago and the stuff was pure trash. Rusty gang boxes, junk trucks, etc. The only good stuff was the stock - basic commercial stuff (EMT fittings and so forth) and that wasn't worth much. I can just imagine what people paid for that stuff.
 
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