Getting The Best Out Of Your Club Auction

Will_Heath

Most clubs have an annual auction where members bring items they no longer have a need for, no longer want or that they can not personally see a future for. These auctions serve many purposes as they serve as not only a place where members can sell items they do not want but also it supplies a place where members can pick up items they do want at highly discounted prices. These auctions also serve to beef up they bank account of the sponsoring club as most auctions are based on some sort of a program where the proceeds for a sale are split between the seller and the club. This can be a 50/50 split, a 70/30 split or a total donation of all proceeds to the club.

As a buyer you have a unique opportunity to purchase items that you need or want at prices far below retail with no shipping charges attached. In this short piece I will explain how I buy at these auctions and the logic behind my methods. I tend to do quite well at auctions and love attending them. Later I will post pictures of my purchases I made yesterday at our club auction.


Set A Total Spending Allowance.

Before you go to an auction you should set a total spending allowance for your trip. Whatever the price maybe, take that amount of money and no more, then challenge yourself to spend less. I take cash to auctions and never a checkbook, this eliminates all temptations to over spend and makes me a much smarter buyer.

Get There Early.

I always arrive early to auctions, this way I can help out with the setup and checking in of all the items, in fact it is a wise idea to volunteer for this chore beforehand. This way I can personally see and handle each item that is going to be sold and decide on the ones I will be bidding on.

Set Your Maximum Price.

While I am there early and looking at the items that will be sold, I write what I would figure to be a bargain price in the notebook I carry for this purpose. I spend enough time in the local bonsai shops and nurseries to know the value of stock, pots, etc. so I can gage value pretty good. I write a price that would be a good bargain and when bidding, I will not go over that price.

Nobody Loses

You bid on an item right up to your set price for it and the bids go higher still...stop, it is going for more than you appraised it for earlier before the heat of the auction got under way. No big deal, at the worst you bidded up the price and helped out the club, wait for the next item.

The Prices Get Better Toward The End.

When the first items go up for bid, the bidding is fast and furious. Everyone has money in their pockets and the excitement is fresh so the items sell for high prices, sometimes more than one would pay retail. Hope that the items you want don't come out first. I personally feel that bonsai clubs should put the worse, hardest to sell items first on the schedule, why they do not do this is beyond me.

As the auction progresses, people have reached their budget, the bidding slows down and the bids are less. This is the time where the bargains start happening.

Don't Pass Up A Steal.

This year I picked up seven two foot tall Japanese Maples and five overgrown yews for one dollar each, bid up from 50 cents. I have no real use for these items but I know the resale value in a couple years will be many times greater than the dollar each that I paid.

Listen and Pay Attention

Bidding at an auction can be fast paced and often an item is sold for an extremely low price before you know what is happening. A trip to the bathroom once cost me a very nice refined Black Pine that was worth a few hundred bucks, it sold for 20 dollars. I'll wet my pants before that happens again.

Be A Good Sport

Never brag about the steal you got at the auction while you are there. The person who I got the five yews from for a dollar each came up to me just sick because he spent a long time digging them up. I simply agreed with him and stated that I couldn't believe how cheap they went for, what a shame no one could see the potential. Thank every seller you bought from and be sure to mention how grateful you are that they brought such nice material to sell. Always mention how much the club benefits from their efforts.

Dancing on the table tops while laughing like a maniac is not recommended.


Will Heath

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Will_Heath

This year I set a auction budget of a price that I won't mention yet, instead I'll share my purchases with you and let you guess the total amount spent.

Here are my purchases...

1) 20 issues of Bonsai Today and a signed Kimura book as well as the first edition of International Bonsai.
2) Signature
3) Privet
4) pots including some very nice Mames
5) another view of the pots
6) Birch



Continued....

Attached Images

	books.jpg (39.2 KB, 19 views)
	sig.jpg (36.4 KB, 20 views)
	privet.jpg (35.6 KB, 33 views)
	pots 1.jpg (49.8 KB, 26 views)
	pots 2.jpg (52.3 KB, 26 views)
	birch.jpg (48.9 KB, 38 views)

Will_Heath

1) Juniper
2) Spruce
3) Wisteria
4) Yew
5) Some smaller trees including the Japanese Maples and overgrown Yews, there are also Honey Locust, Privets, and others mixed in.
6) Close up of one of the Yew Trunks



Will Heath

Attached Images

	wisteria.jpg (59.0 KB, 34 views)
	spruce.jpg (49.0 KB, 35 views)
	juniper.jpg (45.6 KB, 40 views)
	yew.jpg (62.0 KB, 35 views)
	trees.jpg (55.0 KB, 40 views)
	yew trunk.jpg (51.0 KB, 28 views)

Will_Heath

And that completes my purchases I made yesterday at our annual club action. I came well withing my initial set budget and obtained some of the items I wanted as well as a few that should pay for this trip when sold.



Will

Will_Heath

Okay, it was well under 200....




Will

RedPine

Hi Will,


It sounds like..err I mean looks like you made a haul! The pots alone I'm sure are worth the credits you payed out.Have fun with all of that stuff.

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robert1955

Nice stuff Will, What did your wife say?


Peace
Bob

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Will_Heath

I am not married, nor have I ever been, the problem being that I will never marry a woman who would go out with a man like me, I have much higher standards.

However, the woman that rules my life is the one who set my budget, based on some formula that only she understands and which can change in the middle of an auction.

Understand though that I can do anything that I want, as long as she lets me.


Will

Will_Heath

Besides, it is quite clear who wears the pants in my house.


She does. (Those Italian girls, geeeseee)


Will