On-Site Auctions. Items are cataloged and photographed directly from the home. Items remain in the home for the duration of the auction.
After bidders have successfully won items via the bids they placed online (not a live on-site auction) they come to the home on scheduled days to remove and load their items under the supervision of one of our employees.
On-Site Auctions are most suited for clients who need to sell everything, or nearly everything, in a home.
The process includes a phone call or email correspondence to discuss your project. We will talk about your timelines, what needs to be sold, your expectations.
If it sounds like we may be suited to meet the goals of your project, we'll schedule an appointment for us to come out and just do a walk through to view the items and talk things over.
If we feel that we have the capability to handle a sale for you, we will provide you a quote for our services, with all fees clearly outlined.
Unfortunately, we can't take on every project that is offered to us. There are quite a few up-front costs for our software, plus the labor costs add up quickly, even on small jobs.
It's rare that we don't have to devote, at least, 40-80 man hours to any auction (quite frequently, substantially more).
So, there has to be enough value in the "stuff" for us to be able to charge a fair commission rate to offset our costs.
There are no hard set rules, but the most successful on-site auctions usually have at least $10,000 in expected item selling prices.
Each project is unique, so each commission rate is unique. However, most of our projects result in commission rates somewhere between 25% and 50%, depending on values and required work.
Unlike many auctioneers who earn revenue from you AND THE BUYER! (in the form of buyer's premiums, a buyer's premium is a penalty charged to the buyer for them wanting to buy your items), we try to make our fees transparent and easy to understand.
If you accept our proposal, we will schedule off a week to begin our process. After a signed contract, you can provide us with a key. We will then go room by room to organize and group items. We group items into "Lots", a lot can be 1 item, or a group of like items. Those Lots are cataloged into our software and then photographed. We then upload the descriptions and photographs to our website which is viewable to anyone with an internet connection.
We advertise the auction on various auction listing sites, estate sale networks, social media, and will send out an email blast to our subscriber list. Those people can view your items from the convenience of their homes, they'll place bids, and if they win an item, they will come to the home to pick up their purchases.
Pick ups happen on specific dates under the supervision of our employees. The winning bidders are responsible for all of the labor and loading their items.
A few weeks after the auction, we will mail you your check along with a line by line settlement statement that outlines what each and every item sold for.