Aug 31 Auction Summary

some behind the scenes statistics for you!

Thanks once again to everyone who attended the Aug 31 auction.  Another good sale, and I have to admit, this has been a very good year for us so far!  A record August sale for us, and a record number of visits to our web site.  I would have to think there is a connection between the two. One of things I enjoy is breaking down the auction statistics.  This sale we had 195 registered bidders, and 145 buyers.  74% bought something at the auction, and this I believe is due to the incredible variety of items we offer.  Because we are selling in two rings we can offer this sort of variety.  We sold everything from a gas station pump to Moorcroft pottery…I think that constitutes variety! It also amazes me where everyone comes from.  52% come from within one half hour drive of Cookstown.  The GTA accounts for 9%, and the remaining 39% come from all over the province. Orangeville, Goderich, Uxbridge, Guelph, Oshawa, Sundridge, Brighton, Ajax, Kitchener, Port Hope, Sudbury, to name a few, plus other places I have never heard of! There is no doubt people will drive a couple of hours or more to an auction if something interests them. We sold a total of 826 lots, which so far this year, brings our total to 5050 lots.  We have only held seven auctions so far, so it averages 721 lots per auction.  Of course they will be a little smaller when we are back to Bond Head and selling in one ring throughout the night.  But not much smaller! This year I decided to hold larger auctions in Cookstown using two auction rings and making full use of the space we have.  I did fewer sales in Bond Head, but concentrated on quality rather than quantity, and that has worked out very well for us.  It is expensive to put on the kind of auctions we do, so you have to go big to make it pay! I started moving items to the hall myself on Friday and Saturday, and then the full crew came in on Sunday.  There are six of us who set up on Sunday along with help from some of the consignors.  We start at 8:00 am and by around 3:00 pm I send most of the staff home and Mom and I work for a few more hours.  Mom and I come in Monday morning for another four hours, take a couple of hours to eat and get changed, and then come back to the hall for 3:30.  The preview starts at 4:00, and by the time the auction is over, and the cashiering complete, we leave the hall about 1:00 am.  Tuesday morning back to the hall for 10:00 am to help people pick up and load the purchases from the night before.  Then the hall has to be cleaned and put in order, and usually we leave around 2:00 pm.  After this there is another 8 hours of paperwork, and finally the sale is “put to bed”. Done! Now its time to start picking up and getting ready for the next auction! And I still have people ask why I only do one sale a month?   On the scale we operate on, one sale is plenty! Hope you can make it for our Sept 25^th auction. Rob IF YOU WISH TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE OR ANY OTHER ARTICLE YOU CAN EMAIL ME AT robs@robsageauctions.com   YOUR COMMENTS WILL NOT BE MADE PUBLIC