MTFCA Forum

Spent the last month waiting for the estate auction of a deceased member of our chapter. Looked at all the photos of the parts and saw many Model T parts I was interested in. Arrived early with lots of money. Looked for the parts I wanted and guess what! Not one T part. Asked the auctioneer about this and he said " I made a mistake in the listing and no T parts were to be sold".

I went to a model railroad auction once, and sat thru 2 hours to get to what I came for, a live steamer.
When it ended, I went to the auctioneer and asked WTF?
He said they sold it private party before the auction.
When he told me he sold it for $4000, he crapped when I told him I was prepared to bid up to $10,000.

big2bird wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 26, 2020 10:55 am

I went to a model railroad auction once, and sat thru 2 hours to get to what I came for, a live steamer.
When it ended, I went to the auctioneer and asked WTF?
He said they sold it private party before the auction.
When he told me he sold it for $4000, he crapped when I told him I was prepared to bid up to $10,000.

What the Auctioneer did may have been a violation of his State license. Must be done with the express permission of the consignor. He probably crapped because he lacked the permission and was afraid that consignor might find out what you were willing to pay. There goes his commission & license

I once got up early and drove 40 miles of back roads over to the middle of the next county for an 9:00 auction because of advertised "Model T Ford parts". When I got there, I couldn't find any, so I asked the auctioneer about it. "Oh, there aren't any. We always put that in to get more people to show up."

We always put that in to get more people to show up.

I might show up — once.

I drove to an out of state 2 day auction over a 3 day weekend where they held part one the first day with a day in between to set up for the second auction on the third day because they had a 1912 engine listed along with several 1916's and others. They even listed the engine numbers so I knew they had the year right and was looking for a 1912 engine. The first day was a long day with a lot of junk parts and it was hot and we camped 20 miles away in the middle of nowhere but the 12 engine was not in part one so we stayed in the trailer for two more days to bid. When the sale was about to start I went down the row of engines looking again and still no 1912 engine with that number on it so I asked the auctioneer about it. He said, oh that sold in the first sale. I then told him no it didn't because I was here and checked and even asked about it and was told it would be in this sale. The listing also showed a brand new in the box brass radiator that never showed up and several other parts that were outright lies to bring people in. We wasted 3 days and a lot of money going to that sale and may have spent $20 on a couple of parts I bought for a friend. I wish some legal action could be taken when this stuff happens.

Call the state auction commission and file a complaint. Years ago I sold an item via auction and had problems getting payed. Their check bounced and no one would return my calls. I called the state auction commission and within days got a call from the auction company followed by my check. I guess the state commission threatened the auctioneer and he took that seriously. His last request in our conversation was that I call the state commission and advise them that the situation was resolved.

The guy that put in the comment about Model T parts in the add is same kind of guy that will put ‘bumpers’ in the back of a crowd to get people to keep bidding on an item to get the highest price. Not all auctioneers would do stuff like that but it does happen. Also using the term buyers premium fools some people into thinking they get something extra. It’s the other way around in reality. It should be buyers extra cost.

A local auctioneer advertised a collection of about 100 crockery items in an estate
sale. The crocks were anything from pickling vats to advertising liquor jugs, and
many were local. These were of interest to me, so I went on down and got a number.
As the crocks came up, one guy just hammered all comers into the ground and ran
the numbers into insane territory. In the end, he got every single one of them, and
dropped a hundred grand. I approached him after it was done and asked him who
he was and what was up. He handed me a card, said he "wanted to have them all"
(meaning EVERY crock ever made), and then asked me if I had any to sell !

I told him that I'd keep what I had, thanks.

Sounds like he may be a little "crocked"...

Depending on the state, you can go to the auction licensing board and file a complalint. We had a local auction house that would pull some shady as hell shenanigans from false advertising to switching lot items people bought to taking a pre-arranged max bid, not auctioning the item and selling it to the "sucker" for their highest bid. Finally people said enough was enough and complained, they lost their license and as such, their business, and ended up paying a pretty huge fine as well.

Usually what happens is that the owners sold the item to somebody who came to them and offered to buy it, telling them that "You'll never get that for it at the auction and this way you won't have to pay commission."

Everybody wants an absolutely straight up honest auction until they have theirs. Then they start bringing in their brother in law to bid stuff up, misrepresent what is being sold, etc., etc.

There are two sides to every business. Just like every other business from barbers to bankers.

We had an auction this last Saturday. Somebody loaded up one of the nice tables the Wise River Community Booster Club was nice enough to loan us to put glassware on. Thief!! Then they wonder why we require ID and on bigger auctions run security people and cameras. I doubt we have ever had an auction where somebody didn't steal something -- that's the only reason some people come.

A little old lady who would not steal a pack of Lifesavers from Wally will come to an auction, take 6 little silver spoons out of a showcase and put them in the bottom of a box of old dish towels so she can "find" them after she buys the box and not think she is doing any thing illegal or unethical.

There is something that goes on with the auctioneers that most people don't think of. There is usually a list of names, a non public photo share page on the internet and a phone call or two that circulates with warnings, photos of the scam artists, thieves and etc. that work auctions trying to cheat and steal.

One of the common things that goes on is during the inspection or while the auction is going on some where else somebody will lock up a tool chest and take the keys so nobody else can see what's in it. We pull the keys and give them to the buyer as soon as we have his number.

People switch plug wire in distributors caps, pull rotors, deliberately run batteries dead, unscrew a tire valve stem, take the keys to the clocks, pull keys out of cars, whatever they can think of. A lot of people are liars, cheats and thieves.

It is unfortunate that a few scummy people in the auction business give all the others a bad name.

It is unfortunate that a few scum bag people make us go through all sorts of security to keep the merchandise intact.

I drove 320 miles to look at my first Model T, the ad said the price was negotiable. I get there and suddenly when it's time to talk money the "price was firm" and there was a "mistake in the ad" blah blah. After it became clear I was leaving without the T the seller went on an unsolicited anti-semetic rant (I'm not even Jewish)...Needless to say I didn't buy her.

I could write a book of what took place at auctions years ago. Some of these trick sstill occur. One old time auctioneer here in central MN would knock down a good item quickly at a low price, always to the same number. That number was his. He loaded up an auction, usually at a farm, with his own items. The house would be a little two bedroom home, but there would be 8 bedsteads, loads of kitchen stuff, several tractors and a bunch of tools. It is possible that he had bought all the whole estate items before the auction, then loaded it up . He also was a real estate dealer.