The Country Auction

(Estimated Savings: up to thousands of
dollars)
If you are looking for good deals on
furniture and household goods and
have more time than money, then an old
fashioned country auction could be the
best deal for you. If you haven’t been
to one recently you might be amazed
at what can be bought. The best prices
can be found at auctions at least an
hours drive from a city or large town. It
also helps if the weather is cold, too hot
or raining, and when the auction is held
in the middle of the week. The fewer
people at the auction, the lower the bid
prices are. The most people turn out to
weekend auctions on warm sunny days.
Here are a few tips to make
the most of the auction:
1) Get there early to register, look
the goods over and ask questions
2) Keep your eye on what you want
to bid on. Some dastardly bidders will
secretly move small treasures into
large boxes of junk that are sold off
at the end of the auction as box lots.
3) Watch for “plants” at the auction.
These people make comments to either
drive the price higher or lower. Many
years ago I watched this being played out
cleverly. An ornate commode (a glorifi ed
bed pan with a box around it) came on
the block. One fellow wanted to buy it
so he asked his friend to make some
degrading comments about it. The friend
started laughing out loud and said, “It’s a
toilet! Hey Mr. Auctioneer...show us how
to use it!” Everyone laughed but nobody
dared bid on it. Then the fellow who
wanted it said, “Oh, I’ll give you a dollar
for it.” And that was the price it sold for.
4) Decide on a price before you start
bidding, and stick to it. This will keep you
from getting caught up in bidding frenzy.
5) Keep an eye on the item on which you
won the bidding. Thieves are everywhere.
The best place to fi nd these country
auctions advertised is in weekly rural
newspapers. If the auction is also
advertised in the local city newspaper
then it probably won’t be worth
attending. There will be too many
people with too much money. Small
estate sales in remote communities
will almost always give the best prices.

Scrooge