Is an Auction right for you?

Online Bidding vs Traditional Live Auction?

What are our options regarding holding an auction?

Is Bid On Estates the right company for us?

1) You know that some of your items are valuable, but are unsure of what things are REALLY worth?

2) Do you have too much to deal with yourself and you want it gone relatively quickly?

If you answered YES to either of the questions above, an auction might be a good fit for you.

Addressing Problem 1) You know that some of your items are valuable, but are unsure of what things are REALLY worth?

Prior to the above items selling in our auction, I knew that all of these things were "good", however, I never would have guessed that the final price of any of those items was going to be as high as they were.

Auctions allow items to sell to the highest bidder at the highest price that a large group of informed and interested parties agree upon.

Unlike an estate sale (tag, garage sale) where somebody sets a price and then usually negotiate down to a lower price, our prices only go up. I recall years ago that I attended an estate sale that had a very particular and special table for sale. Because we had to line up outside, the guy in front of me was able to purchase it before I had a chance to, it was marked at a SIGNIFICANTLY lower price that what I was willing to pay as it was manufactured by a little known but highly desirable manufacturer. If that item had gone to an auction it may have sold for an exponentially greater sum.

Furthermore, nobody knows everything about everything. I have been buying and selling for decades now, and while I do know a LOT about a LOT, I don't know everything about everything. One reason that auctions work is that it allows the two most informed bidders to go head to head, equipped with their own specialized area of expertise and backed up by their wallets. The chances of selling a very rare item for a very low sum is greatly diminished in a well advertised auction.

Issue 2) Do you have too much to deal with yourself and you want it gone relatively quickly?

Even for a professional like me, it is a lot of work to sort, organize, group, research, and present items for sale. Then there is the advertising required for a successful sale. Then logistics of handling crowds and collecting payments. It takes effort to get things right.

The auction process allows us to liquidate the contents in a controlled but speedy manner. Each project is different, but we usually spend a week or less in most homes getting things ready, then it's nearly ALL gone in just a few short weeks.

Options Regarding Holding An Auction

Typically speaking, we have 2 different types of auctions. On-Site and At Our Facility

While all of our auctions utilize online bidding (not a traditional live auctions with an auctioneer up front calling bids), we basically have 2 options. At your home, or at our building.

On-Site (At your home or business): On-Site auctions allow us to sell nearly everything that is worth selling directly from your home, many houses are nearly empty when finish up. This negates the costs and expenses required to move the items to our facility. Items are photographed in-place and the winning bidders come directly to the home to pick up the items they won. (This is a scheduled event and our staff oversees the whole process). On-site auctions allow us to sell those large and hard to move items like furniture, appliances, tools, and equipment at a lower overall cost, as we are not handling them as much and there are no additional costs for us to transport and warehouse them. Another benefit of an on-site sale is that we can make large groups of bulky and less desirable items and offer them for sale, think of boxes and boxes of old nuts and bolts. We are happy to sell those kind of items during an on-site sale.

Because of the time and staging costs required to get a sale set up, we can't accept every project that we are offered. Each project is different, but most on-site sales would have at least $5,000 of goods to be sold. Unfortunately, as each job is different, our fees do vary quite a bit from one project to another based on the quantity and quality of goods, versus the time and labor required for us to conduct a sale at our high level of standards.

At Our Warehouse: We are always accepting quality consignments. There is no specific minimum, but a typical lot generally should be able to fit on a shelf or hang on the wall and should sell for north of $25.00. There is some flexibility, but items should not be yard sale grade, instead we offer antiques, collectibles, vintage, or tools. For lots that meet our standards, we simply charge 25% of the selling price plus $2.00 per lot. (on a $25 item that is about 35%, on a $100 item, that is about 27%). We rarely are able to accept much furniture or general household goods, unless new or high-end quality.

Is Bid On Estates the right company for us?

The answer is Maybe... We are a fairly small company, 2-3 employees (added help is brought in when required for auction pick-ups). So, we know when we can be of service to you, and honestly, we also know when we are probably not the best fit for you.

Being a smaller company, we do have to be selective about which assignments we can take on. Each project is different, but generally speaking, there probably needs to be