I would agree. I saw merchandise going for retail or more. There was a LOT of harbor freight stuff there going for more than new in-store. The 3 ton jackstands that are always on sale for $18 a pair were going for 50-100 a set of four.
The most absurd stuff there was the mobil 1 oil. They were selling lots of 2 cases (12 bottles) of mobil 1. The auctioneer stated "they tell me these cases are $400 each, let's start the bidding for these 3 lots at $1000." That's 36 quarts of oil bottles. How about a 10X markup? Sure why not.
The 15K lifts started at $5500, then a few sold lower than that, and they finished around $2500.
The 9K lifts started at $1500, sold a couple, then quite a few at $1300, then a few more between $1150 and $1300, then the auctioneer seemed to get tired of the chaos and stated that they wouldn't go any lower than $1000, since they had a "basement bid" of $1000 for any remaining lifts from someone. They started to try to get some more at $1100, then gave up and the basement bidder stepped up and purchased 58 remaining lifts at $1100 each.
Now some opinion. I attend a LOT of auctions, granted not that many of the more industrial type, more along the farm / estate auction lines, and in my experienced opinion, the auctioneer, Maynards, did an extremely poor job managing this auction. There were LOTS of mistakes with bidding, many bidders were getting cut off, with the auctioneer attributing bids to the wrong people / out of order, etc. I was sitting in the front row, i heard a lot of what was really happening.
Then you add in that there was no real lunch wagon there, you had the potential for angry patrons. The lunch "lady" was a single person cooking out of the old lunchroom with a microwave and a steamer. She ran out of food at about 11:30am. She closed the door and ran to the grocery store. She still wasn't back when i checked around 1:30pm.
The auction company seemed to think that everything was gold encrusted and i rarely saw a lot sell for less than $200, and they started almost every lot at $500.
Now I know that the auctioneer wants to make money, but 15-18% buyers premium on everything means they will be making serious money anyway, you'd think they could at least pay to get a chuck wagon on site.
In summary, i was very NOT impressed with this auction. I really didn't see much for deals at all. A few here and there, but the reason for me to go, a lift, was not really a deal at all. By the time you get one for $1100, add in buyers premium and tax, then take down charges, and you are at a typical craigslist price anyway, so it's really not worth it.
A waste of my day anyway. YMMV.
