Buying At Auction: 6 Hints to Make You a Successful Bidder - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Online Auction
>
Buying At Auction: 6 Hints to Make You a Successful Bidder

Buying At Auction: 6 Hints to Make You a Successful Bidder

Buying at auction, be it for stamps or coins, antiques or even cattle, can be one of the most exciting and profitable experiences possible. It can also be expensive and utterly frustrating. The best way to come out ahead is to learn the tricks of the trade early. Here are some suggestions that should help you get on the fast track to success.

(1) Do your research. Knowledge is your most important tool, even more important than money.

(2) Learn how to be inconspicuous.

(3) Beware of zombies, shills and lunatics. The best way to avoid them is

(4) Hire an agent.

(5) Be selective. Don't be afraid to spend the extra dollar when something especially rare or in exceptional condition comes your way. You may never get another chance.

To elaborate:

(1) Every experienced buyer knows how important knowledge is. Questions of authenticity, condition, and rarity are always the key considerations. If you are fortunate enough to have both knowledge and money, you have the world by the tail. But even if you have limited funds you can still do very well if you know something the rest of the potential buyers don't.

(2) Once you have spotted something you want to buy, fade into the woodwork as much as possible. The last thing you want to do is attract attention to yourself or the lot you are interested in. After you've been around long enough, your competition will find out who you are. Until then try to keep as low a profile as possible and guard your information. Use a code system to keep track of your limits. I'm constantly amazed at how careless some bidders are with their auction catalogs and what they write in them.

(3) Zombies, shills and lunatics are every auction bidder's nightmare. If a zombie knows who you are, he/she will follow your every move. Their motto is: if that person is willing to spend a hundred dollars for a lot, I sure can afford to spend a hundred and ten. Most people know what a shill is. It is someone working for the auction house or seller who artificially pushes up prices by bidding against you. In order for an item to get a good price, two or more bidders must be interested in it. Shills are especially skilled at figuring out how high you are willing to go. Lunatics are the ones who absolutely have to have a lot and will bid whatever it takes to win it. The best way to deal with these three worthies is to hire an agent to bid for you.

(4) Agents are professionals who have developed skills at bidding at auction. One famous New York stamp auction agent was so skilled at hiding his bids that only the auctioneer and a few other people ever knew how he did it. As strange as it may sound, paying an auction agent the extra 2-5% fee may save you many hundreds of dollars or more in the long run. The zombies, shills and lunatics won't know who is bidding against them.

(5) Finally, one of the most important skills of all is the ability to recognize when to open up the purse strings. Condition and rarity are the two most important determinants of price. The exceptional item is always worth an extra bid or two. One customer who was examining my stamps at a national stamp show remarked, "I've been looking for this one for more than 40 years and you have a very nice copy. But I never pay more than half catalog for anything." I wished him well. It was a scarce stamp and I expect he'll still be looking if he lives another 40 years.

To summarize: knowledge is the primary key to success at auction bidding. Secondly, develop your skills as a bidder and buyer. Then, learn to recognize the individuals you will have to deal with on the auction floor. Cross them up and use and agent. And finally, know when to pay a premium for the exceptional item.

Best of luck!

John Anderson has been bidding at auction for more than forty years and has purchased hundreds of stamps, antiques and collectibles that way. Now semi-retired from stamps he is a full-time writer. His first novel, The Cellini Masterpiece, was published under the pseudonym of Raymond John. He is now hard at work on his second, and an auction plays an important role in the plot. If you would like to contact John or read the first chapter of The Cellini Masterpiece, please log on at: http://www.cmasterpiece.com

In The News:

Wall Street Journal
Dead Artists Breathe Life Into Auctions
Wall Street Journal - 18 hours ago
By KELLY CROW Art collectors set a sales record during the summer auctions that concluded Wednesday in London. Yet buyers largely played it safe, ...
Ten Works Set Records at Sotheby's Contemporary Auctions New York Sun
Bacon Is Again a Top Draw at Auction New York Times
Bacon's portrait of lover fetches 13.7 million pounds at auction AFP
Economic Timesall 218 news articles

Storage Unit Auctions Have Some Looking for Treasure
WXXA, NY - 10 hours ago
Bidders peek inside a storage unit before it's contents are auctioned off. (John Gress, New York Times) That's what Wayne Blair says about storage unit ...

State was warned on securities
Boston Globe, United States - 18 hours ago
15, Lehman Brothers warned that brokerage firms were using their own money to keep auctions from failing. But it noted "severe constraints" on the firms' ...
Firms warned Mass. of investment market's failure CNNMoney.com
Firms warned state, but not small investors, of auction-rate ... International Herald Tribune
all 11 news articles

Michigan Business Review - MLive.com
2 auctions, 1 sale in Pittsfield Township, Mich.
Michigan Business Review - MLive.com, MI - 11 hours ago
by Dan Meisler | Ann Arbor Business Review Two commercial property auctions scheduled for the Ann Arbor area in late June exexemplify rare uses of the sales ...
Reward your doggie with a homemade treat The Ann Arbor News - MLive.com
all 2 news articles

CNNMoney.com
Oil profits help art market defy gravity
CNNMoney.com - 6 hours ago
By Eugenia Levenson, writer-reporter Record prices for masterpieces are defying expectations that art auctions would feel the impact of a slowing economy. ...

Namibia: Rare Game on Sale at Auction
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 10 hours ago
THE Ministry of Environment and Tourism has started catching game in Waterberg Plateau Park and Etosha National Park to be put on auction this month. ...

BBC News
Fed makes no changes to TAF auctions for July
MarketWatch - Jul 1, 2008
By Greg Robb WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Reserve made no changes to its schedule or credit to be auctioned under its Term Auction Facility in ...
Fed auctions $75 billion to ease credit stresses KRGV
Fed loans $75bn more to aid banks BBC News
AP NewsAlert The Associated Press
The Canadian Press - MarketWatchall 106 news articles

Garage sales vs auctions which is better?
WPTV, FL - 1 hour ago
The Palm City auction could be a good alternative. Every Wednesday---people scope out what's up for bid---and take a seat at 6 o'clock sharp--ready to buy. ...

3G auction likely by year-end
Times of India, India - Jul 2, 2008
NEW DELHI: Despite the hype surrounding potential 3G auctions, senior government officials have confirmed poor likelihood of 3G spectrum auctions taking ...

Notorious Fiddler Auctions Future Earnings On Ebay
RedOrbit, TX - 4 hours ago
Notorious Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has put half his future music earnings up for auction on eBay. The bidding starts at C$1.5 million. ...

auctions - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource