My wife and I discovered the advantages and fun of going to auctions earlier this year. I must say though even from our experience we have noticed that there are often some of the same types of people that you will see at an auction, which sparked the start of my Auction Antics posts, 10 people you will encounter at auctions for reselling.
Why I go to auctions
As a few of you know or might not know, I go to auctions to gain new stock for reselling and to sell some other items. Please check out my post ‘An introduction to reselling‘ for more information about reselling. It is actually also quite fun to attend and bid at the auctions, which is a bonus. So far we have been attending auctions only a couple of months.
The Reseller
By far this is the most common person we have encountered at the auctions we have been to in our local area. Most you will only realize are resellers due to the amount of items they will buy or the fact they might have rolled up in a van or at the very least a large car. Many as well will be old hands at reselling and visiting auctions, so you can often end up getting some good advice and tips from them if you are sat next to them and you get chatting. For those of you that are worried about competition there is actually very little of it between resellers. Many are only interested in their own area of selling. As you know this is where myself and Emma fall.
The Socialites
These people are here for a bargain but also looking to be social with friends that also come. They will be chatting away near enough throughout the whole auction, I have even seen them end up missing an item they were after through not hearing their item being called up. Some of them will often even be resellers who chat away to other resellers, comparing items that have bought and sold lately.
Your new best friend
Sometimes you can actually end up finding a friend unintentionally at an auction. Though I can imagine a friend auction for some reason right now and must control my laughter. We have ended up with an unintentional new best friend at our local auction. A fellow reseller that has several years on us of visiting auctions and as such has ended up giving us a lot of useful tips and where some other really good auctions are held. We have ended up finding and sitting next to each other for several auctions, where we have ended up being Socialites and chatting away through the auctions.
The Boring Auctioneer
You might have seen all these fancy and fast auctioneers on Tv but the reality is most auctioneers are the same as you and me. This means that sometimes you can get an auctioneer that is actually quite boring or slow (which can make the auction slightly less fun). Trust me sitting and sometimes standing through several hours of a boring auction can make your enthusiasm go for a walk back home. Most though will still be good and they will be making sure you can hear exactly what the item is and its price.
The Rage Bidders
This is something we are guilty ourselves of doing but is so interesting to see at an auction. Although as I said there is little competition sometimes you will end up finding you and someone else really want the same items, and they have been that little bit faster or willing to go that little bit higher. Sometimes it can even be something else that is getting under your skin at the auction. The time that it happened to ourselves, as we said in our Youtube haul video, there was a guy next to us who had won several items we was after and shaking his leg that was annoying Emma. Emma quickly did a rage bid on an item that the guy wanted and won, though in the end there was some really useful items for reselling so it was a little blessing in disguise.
The Didn't Wants
In annoyance I think we have all uttered the words ‘I didn't want or need it anyway' when someone else has won something we wanted. It is funny to see the amount of people that will do this at an auction when they haven't won what they wanted. Usually it will be silent, an odd damn but I didn't want it anyway spoken and even expressions are actually quite common.
The Collectors
Auctions are a great way to get a hold of collectible items. As such auctions will always be like a flame to a moth for the collectors of such pieces. These guys are usually not afraid to bid and pay higher amounts for the simple reason that they are after a collector piece for their collection, or even if it is for reselling know if they can push that higher price and still have profit. They can be hard to spot before the auction actually starts, as most will make sure not to get excited over anything they want.
The bargain hunters
Everyone loves a bargain, and as such auctions can draw in those that want to see if they can grab something good cheaply for themselves. Many locals that know or are interested in the auction will come to see if there are any bargains to get from the auction that they are after. Many of the ones in our local auction that are bargain hunters are mainly there for the furniture that is sold during the auction, as sometimes it will drop to as low as a pound! My dad loves going to the auction for the bargains and will grab anything cheap that he thinks will help with the charity organisation he is a part of.
The reseller watchers
These can be a little bane at the auction sometimes. They will pay attention to anything that a reseller is showing interest in and if the reseller is working as a pair will listen in to try and hear what they will bid up to and if doing quick bit of research will try to look over your shoulder to see what the prices are.
Some of the reseller watchers will be people that just want to try and make some money by reselling it but are not professional resellers (sometimes barely even brief resellers), some are just curious and a few will be those that don't like resellers buying and reselling items, so will either try to outbid or push the price up for the reseller.
As you can imagine they can make it not as fun to be at the auction, as such myself and Emma learned to keep quite, tap each other the price and keep our phones tight to the chest when doing some quick research.
The family outing
Just like car boot sales auctions can attract families that not only want to see what they can buy but have fun as a family. The local auctions that we have attended have all been free to enter and also sell food and drink, so is a definite draw to some families. Anyone that does pick to do this though does need to realize that auctions can be long and the child will be bored (I am an adult, yuck, and I get bored too). We have done this, meeting up with our parents at the auction so we can spend a little time together out that isn't just visiting each others homes or a meal out together.
I hope that you have enjoyed this week's tongue in cheek post of the people we have encountered attending our local auctions. Please do comment if you have similar people in your auctions or different people.
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