Must be getting too old?? Skipped a auction today!!

There was a consignment sale in town today. Not more than three miles away. I did look at the items yesterday and planned to go. I did leave a bid on a few items with the auctioneer. This morning it was 25 degrees with light rain. It made things icy for a while. I did not even do morning chores this morning. My middle son and I have been taking turns on Sunday so we get every other one off. The weather turned warmer it got to 40 or so by 11 AM. It would not have been bad at the sale.

I just could not work up any enthusiasm to go. Their actually where some good clean items on the sale. A original IH 46 baler. If it had been repainted it was a show quality job. It sure looks sharp. Then there are two MF 180 tractors. They are locally from a cattle feeder. They where higher hours but the sheet metal was perfect and they ran and worked well. He had kept them in good working order. One of them would have looked real sharp restored. Also a Nice JD 720 loader.

Must just be getting older. I can't remember the last time I skipped this spring sale.

I have a lot of things I want to clear out this spring and summer. I am tired of the place looking like a salvage yard. I am also going to have to make the decision to either remodel the house and build shop or just tear the whole thing down an start over. The inside is just not like I want it to be.

I stopped going to auctions a few years back. Tried the new on-line auctions but things seemed to sell for a LOT more than what they used to. I was buying on CL for half the on-line auction price. Then I started noticing that a lot of the big ticket items on those on-line sales were appearing again at different locations. I happened to drop by the auctioneers building at some point and there was a room with the auction results live on tv screens. I'm thinking the staff sits in there and bids against you. If you drop out they re-list the item a couple weeks down the road at a different auction. I also found out that some of the on-line auctions have undisclosed reserves. That is to say, the seller gets a number and bids against you. I want nothing to do with that sort of thing. I want to see the guy I am bidding against. SOOOO...I am back at the live auctions. Already got a couple picked out for after the 15th.

Not being a smart arss here. Why does it matter where the other bid comes from? If you have a amount you are going to pay and the seller has an amount they are willing to take, why does it matter how you get there? You never tell the amount you want to pay. When it is more than you want to pay, Walk Away
We all like to buy low, just as we all like to sell high.
I like to see who is bidding with me also, but it should not matter.
Most people think it is easier to run bids on women that are buying for someone else, but I think not. Women will get to the set amount quickly with a poker face and stop bidding just as quickly. If someone is running the bid they will be left holding the bag.

What you are saying could end with some people in jail.

I appreciate the comment. Actually, I hate bidding against women. They hate to lose.

As to the other, I guess I will answer a question with a question...why is it dishonest to have a shill in the crowd bidding? Auction items should be sold to the lowest bidder unless there is a reserve specified. Many have lost track of that "lowest bidder" concept and look at it as a competition with a "winning bid". When an owner bids anonymously against someone it is the same as a shill. He is trying to run the bid up. He has no interest in buying it. He will just relist it later. This is NOT an auction and should not be represented as one. It is a private sale at a minimum, but unspecified, price. There is also the potential of someone being taken advantage of. Many people will tell you they thought they paid too much for an item, but feel as long as another person was willing to go one bid less, it must be worth it. Not true if the other bidder is the owner. It is a matter of ethics mostly and indefensible.

I agree that it does not matter who you are bidding against as long as you know where to stop bidding. At most auctions that I attend the auction service states that anyone can bid, including the auctioneer and his help. I seldom go to farm liquidation auctions anymore because the prices are often more than new.

For me most auctions this time of year are a waste of a day,seems like everyone and their
brother wants to go to an auction and buy in the Spring.I'll wait to go to those
95/95 auctions (95 degrees-95% humidity)in the Summer when I can pick up a few bargains.Best auctions for bargains are late Fall up to Jan.1st

In many states and localities, shilling is against the law. If it is caught, reported, and prosecuted, it can cost the auctioneer his/her license. At least here in PA that is the way it is. Even the auctioneer cannot bid at his own auction. Sellers CAN, however, set minimum prices under which they will not sell.
In any case, I have seen too many cases where a bidder gest what I call "auction fever" and overbids an item while being caught up in the "excitement" of the bidding. I have become immune to that over the years. I look at an item and decide what I am willing to pay for it and that is my last bid. Win or lose. Many items sell for more than they are worth while many others sell for way less than they are worth. Buyer beware!
I do consider shilling to be a dishonest practice, and if I see a shill at an auction, it is the last time I will attend an auction by that auctioneer.