How to get the best buys at auctions

Here are some strategies to get great buys at auctions, some are time tested classics, some are little known secrets.

• Get to the auction hall with time to preview.
• Make good use of a pen and notepad and write down your maximum bid amounts in interested items.
• If you're not sure how certain lots will be auctioned, ask. You will have a head start over those in the crowd that assume they know how items will be sold, only to find that they are lotted differently than they thought when the item(s) reach the auction block. For example, they thought that the "lot of baseball cards" they previewed will go up individually, but the auctioneer has lotted all 50 cards together. Now they are making a scrambled gambled bid, but you have "inside knowledge.
• Never bid on anything if you haven't previewed it. When you think you're getting a steal on something you haven't inspected, it usually turns out to be chipped, torn, or it's a reproduction etc.
• Find a seat where you can see what's being sold, but can also see the room.
• See if you can detect whether or not the auctioneer bounces bids off the walls, if he does and you're positive of this, leave. There's no reason to support a crook and the buys won't be that great at an auction like this.
• Don't wait until the auctioneer goes to rock bottom before you bid, at least not every time. It's okay to do that once in a while, but overuse of this technique makes you invisible to the auctioneer.
• Often if you start at a fair price, you will get the item for a single bid. Most auction crowds wait until the auctioneer goes to rock bottom before bidding starts, this referred to as getting "beat up". Auctioneers hate to get beat up. Make a bid in the lower middle range and you throw the rest of the crowd off, often you'll get the item for a single bid.
• Auctioneers love bidders who start the bidding quick and fair. If s/he is going to drop the bid fast, it's going to be on a fair buyer.
• There are other advantages to this tactic, it can be intimidating to others. Often if you use this technique, your competition won't even bid against you. Because this strategy carries the perception that you are a power bidder, competition will drop out when they see it's you bidding again. And when it comes right down to it, the item is going to bring what it brings no matter where the bidding starts, so why drag things out?
• Not all buyers will not be swayed by this strategy, but the idea here is to cut down the amount of competition. Like all potent strategies, there is potential blow back. For example, if someone sees you doing this several times, they could "jack the bid" on you, which means they are bidding against you just to make you pay more.
• Everyone gets jacked at one time or another, but there are two ways to combat it. The first is to use as many different bidding styles as possible, then your competition won't know when your ready to bow out. Since they could get stuck with an item they don't want, you've made yourself a risky bidder to jack.
• Most important is to remember to stay cool, and bid only up to the amount you planned on.
• Be kind to the runners. They work very hard & deserve your respect, plus they are a wealth of inside information at an auction. They know things such as: where lots came from, what other buyers are looking for, who your competition for specific items are. They often have some control over what goes up to the block and when.
• Don't request an item be put up early if you can help it. A request only draws more attention to your item, that isn't going keep the price down.
• There are reasons may want to make a request at a certain time, we'll getting to that soon.
• Keep the talking to an absolute minimum, crowd chatter is a bane to auctioneers. You can score points by being quiet during an auction.
• Keep a sharp eye on your competition. Let's say your buying postcards at a particular auction, you've got someone outbidding you on every postcard lot that comes on the block. Well they've gotta go to the bathroom sometime right? Or don't you think it would be useful to know when they get up to load their car early or get something to eat. If you've got a good relationship with the runners, maybe one of them will throw that last lot of postcards up while your competition is filling up with Shepard's Pie.
• Don't let your bids flow all the time, on occasion hesitate. This slows down the other bidders and more often than not the bidding will end after one or two hesitations. Caution: If you overuse this technique, a good auctioneer will combat it by dropping the bid quickly on your competition resulting in a lost buy for you. But if you use it sparingly, you'll be respected.
• Alternate your bidding style as much as possible throughout the evening. In many ways, an auction is like a poker game, the less you show your cards the better, just don't be too difficult for the auctioneer to read.
• Again, keep track of the competition, you can learn a lot by watching them. People are creatures of habit, you'll see that Joe the postcard buyer always blinks a lot before he stops bidding. Or Mary the lady that bids on all the porcelain ALWAYS leaves the auction before 7:15 etc.
• Like all businesses, the auction business is first and foremost a people business, study them five times more than you study the merchandise, and you'll be a master of the game.
• Thanks for reading and attend an auction this week. It's the only marketplace where you are the boss!