I Hate Hidden Reserves At Auctions.........

[yellaheep]

Caught a Craigslist ad for a farm estate auction and buried in the text of what they were selling was a '90 4x4 LWB MJ.  One grainy photo on the auction house website. 

 

Got to thinking that with the hundreds of antiques and other siliness being sold, not many would be flocking to this auction for an old MJ so I went.

 

Got there just before the auction started at 10 am.  Auctioneer said the "good stuff" including the MJ would be auctioned at 1pm.  Because this was out in the boonies, I just parked my truck close to the action so I could hear the auctioneer's PA system, fired up the A/C and hung out. 

 

Went back to the activity before 1pm and the auctioneer was hip-deep into the "smalls" still....... I groaned to myself thinking they wouldn't get to the MJ for a while but luckily an auction staffer reminded the Auctioneer of the time.  He promptly switched gears and headed over to the "good stuff".

 

He auctioned off a golf cart then got to the MJ.  I had seen a few others looking at the truck, but when bidding got started at $500, only 3 of us were in.

 

Now, the truck was a super clean bodied rust-free Pioneer with badly faded/burned paint and super dried out rubber and seals.  The engine ran, but had a poor idle and lots of the vacuum parts were missing as was the fan shroud and air box.  This had been the farm owner's ranch truck since new, but definitely treated like a ranch truck.  The interior was gross with dirt, dog hair matted into the pass side of the seat, etc.  It had new Buckshot Mudder tires...... but that was more of a turn off to me as those tires suck to drive on the streets.

 

In my mind, I valued that truck at no more than $800 - $1000. 

 

The auctioneer got the bids up quickly to $1000, then to $1200 where it stalled, I decided to throw better judgement to the wind and bid $1250.  Two others then got into a bidding war up to $1550....... I said no thanks and began walking when I heard the auctioneer say "Fellas, the owner has set a reserve of $1800 for the truck so I'll need that in order to sell it."

 

WHAT?!?!?!  I wasted hours out in bumble-fawk farm land to hopefully grab an MJ for cheap to reasonable money and the damn thing has a reserve?  GRRRRR.   They should be required to tell you that on the auction item list and at the opening of the auction..... then START THE DADGUM BIDDING AT THE RESERVE.

 

Rant off........ :fs2:

[AeroNautical]

Never heard of an estate sale where the owner was still alive, haha. That is a bit outrageous, though the reserve did its job. Get people interested, but if it don't go high enough, it don't sell. Did someone bid the 1800?

[yellaheep]

Never heard of an estate sale where the owner was still alive, haha. That is a bit outrageous, though the reserve did its job. Get people interested, but if it don't go high enough, it don't sell. Did someone bid the 1800?

 

Estate sales generally have a widow or widower, or next of kin involved. 

 

Nope, it didn't sell, they all walked after that.

[Automan2164]

Not totally uncommon. We are coming up to our annual municipal surplus auction, and there are some reserves there, as well as a few private sales peppered in. The auctioneer that is hired to sell it is decent about reserves though... While he won't come outright and tell you, he demands that the seller stands next to the booth as they auction the vehicle... If they are close but haven't reached the reserve, he will tell everyone 'It's going to take a little more than that fellas' or, as the case in this MJ, convince the seller to drop the reserve... At $300 away, I would have thought it would be an easy pitch to the seller to drop it if the auctioneer was worth his salt.

The thing I can't stand is buyer premiums... There is one that does the county auctions for the next county over that has an 18%(!!!!!!) buyers premium.

 

Rob

[buffalob]

That is a total waste of the day and your time. what a bunch of BS.

Where out in the plains were you?

[hassyfoto]

I find this is happening more & more. There is a reserve and it's not communicated. I did something similar & walked away from a reserve bid item & I was with-in a $100 of the reserve. They would not drop. I was asked after auction if I would still buy, mind you of the reserve price, and out of principle I said "NO". The owners ( family members) were shocked that I turned them down. I hope they learned a valuable lesson that day. Play games & you can lose!

[jimoshel]

I have been to a couple auctions where something I wanted didn't sell. After the auction was over I talked to the auctioneer, offered him half of what the highest bid was. About half the time I would get it. Usually when they state there is a reserve after the bidding starts, I just walk away.