Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with auctions

whatever happened to the "earlier auctions" function on ebay?

tangyraspberry — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:57:15 -0800

whatever happened to the "earlier auctions" function on ebay? can't seem to find it.

Where do I find local equipment auctions?

bengarland — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:42:11 -0800

Where do I find local auctions for construction equipment, misc salvage from demolitions, items from businesses that went under, etc? I've heard that there are auctions held to sell various types of equipment that companies, governments, and individuals no longer need. How can I get in on the local action? I am in northeast Georgia, about 90 miles from Atlanta. The closest towns of any notable size are Toccoa, GA, Commerce, GA, Athens, GA, and Anderson, SC.

I am primarily interested in:

-- light construction equipment such as a skid steer (bobcat), concrete forms (Symons Steel-Ply especially), and any shop tools (power saws, drill press, welders, etc...)

-- salvage from demolitions such as old sinks (Crane porcelain or similar, especially), doors, windows, tables, shelves, old hardwood of any kind.

-- stainless steel restaurant countertops, sinks, shelving.

I have no idea where to start, or how these types of auctions work. Any good tips from auction pros? Educate me!

What is the wheat pit like today in the Chicago Board of Trade?

tnygard — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:50:17 -0800

Is the place where the de facto price of grain is set world-wide, the Chicago Board of Trade "wheat pit," still a cacophony of live in-person bidders yelling and making hand signals while wearing platform shoes and bright jackets, or has it become electronic and silent? Or are both types of bidding possible? If it changed, when did it do so and why?

Where to find Storage Auctions? Need help with resources to find where they are at, best practices...

MMALR — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:09:12 -0800

Where to find Storage Auctions? Need help with resources to find where they are at, best practices... I'm a heavy EBay Seller, but also in the process of running a successful auction service. So far, we've been using personal property we've accumulated over the years for our auctions, but we want to add more to our consignments.

What are the big resources I need to look at to find Storage auctions? It seems like most people keep it a huge secret, but how can I find out where they are?

Anyone have any ideas?

Starting my own Auction service locally... what kinds of things do I need to think about?

MMALR — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:49:24 -0800

Starting my own Auction service locally... what kinds of things do I need to think about? Price points, consignments, fees, etc... any help appreciated. I've been mulling over the idea of starting my own Auction service within my local area. I've been an antique/collectibles dealer for a number of years since I was in high school helping my mother run her business and picking up a lot of information over time. Currently, I run the family business part-time with mostly EBay sales being our bread and butter, making some solid extra income on the side.

We've been to auctions galore in the past to increase our inventory to sell on EBay, but we've been disappointed at the selection locally within the 25 mile radius of our home. We live in a town of roughly 80-100k plus people and it is a twin city with anotherr 50-70k in the neighboring city. There are rarely any auctions in the area, and rarely any auctioneering services utilizing the Internet, online live bidding, and Internet marketing. Hence, the idea has come up to start some sort of gallery/auction service to entice collectors.

I'd like to dive into the minds of anyone who currently does this. Standard fees, where's the real money made, what's a standard way of renting out a space or buying a space, pricing, etc... any help would be appreciated.

I also need ideas on how to cut costs or what I haven't thought of yet in terms of costs down the road. Any help on any topic involving running a small business in the auctioneering world.

bibliomania

crazylegs — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:24:45 -0800

Looking for book auctions in Ontario and Quebec... I'm returning to Canada from the UK, and hoping to continue my book dealing. I used to live in Kingston, where the only 'auction action' is at Gordon's. Sometimes they have some good books there, but they don't specialize in them. I've gotten spoiled here in the UK, where one of the only things I like more than Canada is the book auctions. Now I'm trying to find auction houses that specialize in rare books within a reasonable distance of Kingston. I guess that means Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Any suggestions?

Gathering ebay infos.

SirStan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:48:29 -0800

cp /mnt/com/ebay/completed_auctions/ps3 ~/ps3.txt ?? I have the following pieces of information:

a. Search criteria
b. Date range.

And from this; I would like an Excel spreadsheet that has the following columns:

end price, end date, description, item #, seller, etc

Is there any way to do such a thing in an automated fashion without screen scraping myself?

Getting my money back from ebay auction?

joshuaconner — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:51:12 -0800

I bought an item on ebay, and almost 3 weeks after I paid it hasn't arrived. I've tried to contact the seller to get the package tracking number (since I paid extra for delivery confirmation) through his paypal email address (bounced back) and through ebay's messaging system (did not respond). I don't think I'm ever going to get the item, and at this point I'd like to get my money back as quickly and with as little hassle as possible. Should I initiate a dispute with my credit card company, ebay, or Paypal?

eBay sellers revolt!

yellowbinder — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:30:38 -0800

Whither Google Auctions? After the bomb dropped on eBay sellers today (Lower Insertion Fees! Free Gallery! Oh, and much higher Final Value Fees! By the way, you can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore. And PayPal may be holding your money until you received positive feedback, or 21 days. Sheesh.) me and hundreds of other sellers are looking for a way out.

In the past few years there's been talk of Google starting an auction site of its own. Anyone know the latest on that project's status?

And if not Google, where do we go from here? I've come to expect the worst from eBay, but this is beyond.

(My personal business is small but provides a nice buffer. I'm not really looking into expanding much, so my own website, buying advertising, etc. doesn't seem right for me. I'm looking more for established or growing marketplaces with decent traffic. Advice for those looking to build their own webstore will not be refused though.)

Bargain Shopping!

divabat — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:46:06 -0800

I love Velvet Garden and have been stalking LJ sales communities for bargains. Where else can I find cheap but good thrift/second hand shopping sites online? (Doesn't have to be clothes.) I've fallen into the thrift shopping trap and I'm not sure I want to get out of it just yet. It's quite fun to find things that suit me for far cheaper than I'll find elsewhere (particularly in my style and size). So far I've used Velvet Garden, GothAuctions, Etsy, eBay, and various Livejournal communities, but would like to know of more resources.

What other websites are great with thrift/second hand shopping? Some details of what I'm looking for:

* Accepts Paypal (eCheques mainly) or Australian bank transfer
* Inexpensive shipping to Australia (I don't mind if it's slow)
* Reliable, preferably with a way to check feedback

Types of shops:
* Clothes/makeup/accessories: I'm open to anything, but my tastes run on the mainstream end of gothic/geeky/businessy/saloon girl. Particularly looking for clothes for US12/UK14-16/L (too big for normal, too small for plus size). LOVE hair stuff and glitter.
* Books: Second hand's great; as long as it's readable it's fine. Prefer non-fiction.
* Also like crafts, creative stuff, anything that helps people
* Others: I don't tend to actively search for anything else unless it's a gift, but I'm open to suggestions.

Recommendations for specific sellers on eBay/Etsy/LJ/etc are welcome too.

thank you!

Getting an auto dealer license just to access dealer only auctions- worth it?

upc_head — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:35:23 -0800

Are there significant savings at dealer-only options for used cars? Enough to make the effort and cost of getting a dealer licence worth it? I drive past ADESA often, a HUGE car auction setup with super high turnover. I've learned they take fleet, trade in cars, and lease returns off people's hands and sell them off to used car dealers.

In order to bid, I need to have a BC dealer license. It looks to be several nights of work, 2 days of courses, and $500. Kind of interesting stuff, especially if it pays for ittself and more.

Is the BC auto dealer license much trouble to get?
Are the bid values at these dealer-only auctions obscenely low compaired to the open market/buysell?
Are there tax/regulatory restrictions to getting a license and buying a car for yourself?

Is it worth the trouble?

Auctioneer tips & tricks?

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:26:38 -0800

I volunteered to be an auctioneer for a charity event. All I know is that I have to acknowledge people's bids and try to nudge people higher, while talking really, really fast. What else should I know? There will be about 150 people attending and I will have an assistant. What's the best use of the assistant? Are there ground rules I have to enforce? Do people have to have paddles or just raise their hand? Can people bid by raising an eyebrow or giving a slight nod, like on TV?

Please tell me everything you know about auctioneer best practices & responsibilities.

What happens when Sotheby's London changes their mind?

FlyByDay — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:32:20 -0800

I sent my supposedly authentic Italian music manuscripts to Sotheby's of London (after their music manuscripts expert authenticated them in person in NYC) to be auctioned. After they received them in London, they told me they weren't sure if they were authentic and they wouldn't auction them. Problem is, it's going to cost me a lot to get them back, and it already cost quite a bit to mail them to London. More details within. A dilemma for all you thoughtful people: over a year ago, I realized that I had in my possession some old, handwritten music manuscripts (http://flickr.com/photos/amalkoff/sets/72057594096354317/). Many years ago, while in grad school, I worked at one of the libraries (this was a music conservatory), where people would often leave old sheet music as donations to the students. (No, they were not meant to stay at the school, lest you think I was taking something meant to be part of the school’s permanent libraries). I would pick through them and take what looked nice. I hadn’t thought about them much. But I started doing some research on these pieces in April 06. The pieces are by Italian composer Francesco Paolo Tosti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Paolo_Tosti).

I first sent them to an expert in New Jersey, who authenticated them and suggested I speak with Sotheby’s of London. I reached the head of music manuscripts at Sotheby’s and we agreed to meet in NYC when he would be there. He looked over the pieces and said they were the real thing. He suggested I send them to him if I wanted to auction them. He further told me that they’d likely be worth approximately $3000 total (there are 3 of them). After some thought, I decided to send them, and mailed them to Sotheby’s. It cost a little over $100 to mail them. I planned to use the proceeds of the sales as a downpayment on a car. Several months went by and I would check in with Sotheby’s periodically. Eventually, I was told that upon further review, they weren’t absolutely SURE that the pieces had been written out by Tosti himself. It was absolutely his music and it was absolutely of that time period, but there’s a chance that a music copyist did the writing, though the writing style matches Tosti’s own handwriting (several examples of which are available online). They told me they could NOT auction the pieces and they could send them back to me. So now, not only have I paid money to send them to London, it will cost approximately $250 US to get them BACK, with shipping and export fees. I asked them to cover the cost, since I sent them there only after their expert authenticated them in person and agreed to auction them, but they said absolutely not. I’ve let them stay there for several months, because I haven’t had the money to do this. I now have the money, but so many other things should take precedence, especially if ultimately they are worth nothing. There’s a chance another auction house would be interested in them, but that’s a gamble, and I need to have them back in order to show them to anyone and determine that. $250 is not a small amount to me, so I’m really struggling with what to do here. The only way I can get them back is to pay that amount, but I may be paying for something that’s of little to no value, but IS my property.

Perhaps the only options really ARE 1.) pay to get them back or 2.) leave them with Sotheby’s for good, but you guys might have other ideas. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Blackthorne alternatives?

chrisfromthelc — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:13:06 -0800

I'm looking for an alternative to eBay's Blackthorne software... We've had extensive problems with Blackthorne, however, the majority of our business is from eBay, so we can't just do it manually. We use Blackthorne to export auction orders to a CSV file to load into our billing system, so any alternatives should have that capability.

Has anyone out there used anything other than Blackthorne to manage a high volume of auctions?

What to sell on eBay?

bjork24 — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:39:54 -0800

eBayFilter: A friend is considering selling "stuff" part-time on eBay, but doesn't exactly know what he should sell. He's leaning towards consumer electronics, but I think that's a bit saturated right now. Do you have any suggestions on what he might be able to sell? I've heard toys are a hot commodity on eBay right now... anything else?

Reverse price auctions

Leon — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 08:28:27 -0800

Lowest-unique-bid auctions. What's the rational approach? Lowest-unique-bid auctions probably aren't auctions at all, but that's the common name for them. They work like this:

The seller places a high-value item up for "auction".

Each buyer makes one or more sealed bids.

Each bid costs the buyer some money (typically the cost of a premium-rate SMS or phone call).

The person who makes the lowest unqiue bid wins the item for that price.

So... as a buyer, what's the best approach? Bid low? Big high? Multiple bids?

Is there a "best" here at all, or is this a just a lottery by any other name?

Is a seized electronics auction site a scam?

TeamBilly — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 11:17:20 -0800

Is a 'seized electronics' auction site for real or is it a scam? I found a link to this seized electronics auctions website on Craigslist. From what I can tell, you pay a fee, and you get access to these auctions and supposedly find great deals, etc. on equipment.

Being a little broke this Christmas season, it seems like a good place to maybe find some decently-priced gifts. But is this really legit? Is there any way for me to tell this is really a good tool, or is this a scam, or am I merely paying a "convenience" fee for information I could find on my own with a little Google-Fu?

Woodwind = $?

ToasT — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:36:05 -0800

I have a flute. I don't play flute. I'd like to sell the flute. How do you sell a flute? I inherited a flute from my great-great-aunt. (I'm the only one in the family with any musical ability, so they gave it to me. But since I studied piano, it's not very useful.) It's old - 1929 - and in quite good condition. I took it in to have it cleaned up, and I was told it might be worth as much as $2,000.

However, I haven't been able to find a method of selling it. There aren't any local music stores that deal with "antique" instruments. I listed it on Usedflutes.com, but I didn't get any serious offers - just scammers. I contacted a couple places online that sell instruments through consignment, but they didn't think they could find a buyer. Similar instruments on eBay are not getting bids.

So. . . anyone know how to sell a flute?

Auto auction question.

NoMich — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:14:30 -0800

Have you ever been to an auto auction? I want to buy a used pick 'em truck and I thought maybe that the cheapest option would be an auto auction. Is that a viable option? Am I just asking to get ripped off, or to get suckered into a lemon? I live in Raleigh, NC and I have no idea where to look for them. I'm also not very proficient with a wrench. I'm not totally clueless, but I'm by no means an expert.

Is my personal name visible using a Paypal business account?

anticlock — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 15:42:40 -0800

I need some privacy! I recently upgraded my Paypal premier account to a business account in hopes that my personal name would not be easily accessible to buyers and/or others I'm in contact with in online auctions. I chose a business name but my personal name is still parenthetically listed beside it. So, now I'm wondering if my name will still be visible to buyers? Since I haven't gotten any response from Paypal customer service, I thought I'd ask here. I've recently sold some high-dollar merchandise on ebay and I've invariably been contacted by non-bidders offering to send "an agent" over to pick it up, if I would just give them my name and address. I'm imagining that if they had my name they could simply zabasearch it, find my address and then send "an agent" over to pick it up, perhaps when I'm not even there. So any suggestions about conducting secure auction transactions would be appreciated.

Online Auction Tips?

Shane — Sat, 14 May 2005 12:38:25 -0800

Cleaning house, looking to sell books, CDs, toys etc., and I'm LOST. Need advice both specific and general. Is eBay best for books and CDs, or are there other places to get better value? With the 'Net awash in Star Wars paraphernalia, how do I find a price for this elaborate 1998 14" talking Darth Vader? (I've checked books and they're mostly about "vintage" SW toys.) How do I value odd things for my uncle, like this pipe from Germany circa 1890 or earlier, or some Xmas cards circa WWII made by Chinese Xtian nuns in Tsing Tao? Is there a market for historical magazines and newspapers, for example with headlines about the first moon walk? Darth is in mint condition, but has been removed from and returned to the box. The cards are intricate paper cutouts overlaid on metallic embroidered background and could be considered WWII memorabilia.

I don't mind selling books and CDs cheap, but would like to maximize the $$ while not spending too much effort. Is something like a first edition hardcover of DaVinci Code worth more than other "just books," though?

Thanks. Any advice is welcome.

Making money on foreclosure, tax sales, and sheriff's sales?

Big Fat Tycoon — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 18:13:56 -0800

How does one go about researching and purchasing properties being auctioned or tendered because of tax sales or sheriff's sales? What are the kinds of things I should look for and is this a viable means of buying property? I'm based in Canada, but I'm sure there's enough commonality between regions that general advice will apply.

Free Powerbook Scams?

namespan — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 14:29:14 -0800

ScamFilter: what's the deal with the "bid on info on how to get a free powerbook" auctions? It seems like a scam, and yet, it doesn't seem like this would be anywhere near as profitable as, say, selling something expensive and disappearing. If it's real, what's the catch? If it's not, how are these guys doing well enough to make it worthwhile?

Real Estate Auctions

Recockulous — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:21:43 -0800

I am wondering if anyone out there has had experience with absolute real estate auctions. I have to sell a farm fast and am in a contract for one of these (long story i hope i don't have to get into). Anyway i need to know soon if i have to change it as advertising has not started but will start at the end of the week. What is the best and fastest way to sell, absolute, reserve or privately through a realtor. I have read several links from google but what i really want to hear is personal experience and advice.

eBay Secrets?

Grod — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 18:39:37 -0800

I'm sure many people have wondered this: Where do e-bay sellers get all their products? If the buy it now price on a barebones computer system, for example, is not significantly higher than the price of the individual components from an online retailer like tigerdirect or newegg, how are these people turning a profit? ~..MI..~ I'm almost tempted to buy one of those "Secrets of Ebay Power Sellers" just to prove to myself that there is no secret. But a regular person cannot get wholesale prices at a small enough scale to make an ebay shop practical.