Top 7 Reasons to Attend an Auction

After taking an informal poll of 100 people, the results are on as to what is the driving force behind the phenomenon of attending live auctions! We admit that our study may be somewhat skewed, perhaps statistically incorrect, and even scientifically  biased, but the answers were interesting nevertheless.

#7  Live Auctions are Better than Staying Home Alone on a Weekend Night

We think this one is perhaps self-explanatory, unless you are a person who prefers to be alone a lot or are a hermit.  Also, unless you bid and win, for most live auctions, there is no fee to attend, which ties right into #6.

#6  Free Attendance

Unless you bid and win (and what fun is going to an auction if you never bid on anything?!) attending a live auction in most scenarios, is an activity that is free to attend. There are exceptions, such as for real estate auctions and some private auctions where your attendance may be contingent upon providing an upfront deposit in case you do actually win the high dollar items.  Who doesn't love free?

#5  I Might Win Something at a Really Great Price

In order to win you have to bid.  There are auctions for just about every type of material item you might wish to purchase somewhere in the world. If you have been shopping for something specific, you might find that the auction bid price is far lower than the price you can purchase the item for in a retail shop--because auctioneers have consignors and also access to wholesale purchases, they can pass the savings on to their auction audience!

#4  I Might Win Something I Didn't Know I Wanted

As noted above, just about every material item you can think of is for auction somewhere.  If you don't attend the auction, you wouldn't even know what sorts of goodies you are missing out on.  If you don't bid, you can't win.  I especially love going to auction and finding the exact perfect orange wing back chair I've been unconsciously seeking or that delightful mid-century sun-in-glory mirror.  And I didn't even know I wanted that mid-century sun-in-glory mirror for my home!

#3  It is Entertaining

Not only is it sometimes like a three-ring circus at an auction, sometimes there actually are three rings to the auction.  As merchandise is moved out of the auction ring and new merchandise brought in, the audience is picking up their winnings, taking care of checking out and all the while the auctioneer continues to chant and bidders to bid.  It is the perfect venue for people watching as you can see a plethora of unique individuals at any live auction.  One of my favorite past times when I attend an auction and am watching the crowd is to "story tell."  I pick a person out and I create a story for who they are, why they are there today and what they are looking for--what their top bid is going to be.  It is never dull.  It can get intense when two or more bidders are determined to win an item. The competition can become somewhat like the tension I imagine occurred in a Colosseum at a Roman Gladiator battle. Though it, thankfully, rarely erupts in bloodshed, the winning bidder is usually quite proud of their purchasing power.

#2  It is EnChanting

While I am not an auctioneer that does a fast or elaborate chant (I prefer for my audience to understand what I'm saying and know where I am in the bidding), there are many auctioneers whose main interest for their audience isn't the merchandise they are hawking but the hawking itself.  There are actually championships held for auctioneers to compete in chanting--the more rapid, the more unusual, the more entertaining and enchanting. When I was in auction school, one of our teachers, who was definitely old-school auction, was focused mostly on teaching us to chant--badabingbadabong, ittybittybumperbuggies, it'sachanceyacannamiss.  He would string words together into the most interesting babble that was just fun to listen to and watch his hand actions as people bid even though they had no idea what price they were bidding.  In school, it was definitely helpful to learn tongue twisters.  There are even software games for auctioneers to practice and improve their chant!

#1  It is Fun and I Get Great Stuff

Some people attend their local live auctions religiously because the merchandise at most auction houses changes every single auction.  It's fun to be in the hub bub of the process of the auction and fun to be in a group of people who are competing in a friendly and fun way.  It's fun to see the oddities that sometimes come up for auction, fun to see what people will actually pay for that three eyed moose head, and fun to bid and see if you win. It is especially fun if you do win!  I once won a box of 100 packages of cookies for the high bid of $7.  My church was grateful for the donation. There are bragging rights.  "I won ten jars of mayonnaise for 50 cents each," all the way to "I am now the proud owner of an original Pablo Picasso piece of artwork."

If you have never been to an auction and are worried you might bid when you don't want to and end up with that three eyed moose head, stay tuned.  Next week I'll be covering the basics of what to do at an auction.

If you do go to auctions regularly or do online auction bidding, I'd love to hear from you about what it is you are bidding on, what motivates you to attend and what you love (or hate) about auctions.

(c) 2017 SZing, Nifty Groovy Auctions. All Rights Reserved.  Photographs Nifty Groovy Auctions and courtesy of Pixabay public domain images.