and I thought last month was a big auction!
Wow…ok where to start concerning our Feb 13
th sale? Sale lasted 9 ¼ hours and we sold 854 lots!!! Longest sale we have ever done and the most lots. Even more lots than we do in Cookstown with two rings and 3 times the space!
This was a situation where I had two large consignments that had to be sold, plus several other consignments of furniture that had to be sold. We knew it was going to be a big sale, but I wasn’t quite expecting it to be this long! And, I took thirty boxes of items back to my storage the day we were setting up, because there was just no way it could all be put through.
We had customers who started buying at the beginning of the auction and were still buying 9 hours later! Make no mistake, I realize this is a tough day for all involved…customers, my staff and even me, but we just kept going and people kept buying.
Prices overall were strong and fair all day long, despite the length of the auction.
For the last few hours of the sale I was selling items knowing that the consignors simply wanted the merchandise sold. There are situations, and this was one of them, where the directive from the consignors is…”just sell it!” Of course we had several consignors in this auction, and as always, the sale is planned out in such a way, that the key items and the best items are sold during a certain time frame. I am not going to have a consignment of high end items, and be selling them nine hours into the auction! So despite the quantity and length of the sale, I believe almost all consignors, got fair market value for their items.
However, hopefully this is going to be the first and last sale I do in Bond Head with this many items. I had visions of a staff revolt…perhaps Dave, Donnie and Brian wrestling me to the ground, taking away the microphone, and saying…”that’s it…show over!” lol
Now the other question I get from people is….how do you do it? How do you go for over 8 hours without a break….and how come you don’t have to go to the bathroom? Truly, I was getting compliments on my bladder control! Oh well, I guess a compliment is a compliment so I will take what I can get.
The truth is, I don’t know how I do it either…but I just seem to be able to keep going. There are a few tricks to keeping your voice strong, and that isn’t too hard. The bladder thing I don’t understand…I guess I will leave that up to the medical sorts to explain that!
So now I start planning for the March sale. I will try and keep it smaller in terms of volume…but that is almost 6 weeks away (March 27), and maybe I am just better not to promise anything!
Have fun on the auction trail!
Rob
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