what to do with a auctioneer

went to a auction on Saturday first tractor came in the ring auctioneer could not get it started sold tractor I was high bidder auctioneer said it did not meet the reserve but I and the owner and auctioneer would get together after sold the rest of the tractor to work out a deal auctioneer push the tractor out side and the auction went on 3-4 items later they pull tractor and it started right up auctioneer bought it back in the ring sold it again they got 50.00 more for it but not the reserve how can they sell the tractor again with out me and the owner not trying to work out a deal is this right or did I miss something

I thought if they don't get the reserve, it isn't sold...

but when the auctioneer said sold to number 103 that my number but not meet the reserve but the own and auctioneer and me would work out deal later the auctioneer can not do any thing until we can or can not work out the deal before he sell it again right

Strictly wearing on my lawyers hat (i.e. thinking like a lawyer) my legal reasoning and arguments would be:

1) When you were the final bidder at this "reserve" auction, the seller was free to accept or reject your offer, once he rejected it (didnt meet reserve) there's no contract and no cause of action ITS OVER (Auctioneer will argue)

2) HOWEVER you can argue the Auctioneer (Sellers's Agent) in his language extended what amounts to an option or first right of refusal i.e. you had the first right to purchase (or turn it down) provided you were willing to pay whatever price the seller came back with (Thats your legal argument, i.e, auctioneer gave you an option or first right of refusal)

BUTTTTTTTTT auctioneers counter argument to that is estoppel or laches i.e. after you didnt raise your rights or demand satisfaction immediately, you are barred from raising them now, kind of like a kids nah nah na boo boo argument lol

You ask how can they sell it?? The legal answer and their argument is your offer was rejected, no contract took place, seller still owns it and is free to do as he wishes, so thats how he sells it. You had your chance, you made a bid/offer, it was rejected CASE CLOSED (not withstanding your first option argument) now if you wanted to buy it when it was re offered you had the opportunity.

NOTE what Billy Bob may say is you have certain rights by golly and its yours or isnt yours because thats the "law" or what brother Bubba did HOWEVER there are always counter arguments that could be made AND ONLY AFTER A COURT ISSUES A FINDING OF FACTS AND THEN APPLIES THE FACTS TO YOUR STATES LAWS CAN THE FINAL ANSWER BE DETERMINED!!!!!!! THATS NOT WHAT I SAY OR BILLY BOB OR BUBBA SAY, ITS A LEGAL QUESTION NO ONE (lay or professional) CAN DETERMINE HERE.......

If I correctly recall (No warranty its been a while) the law (in some states at least) says the final bid at an open auction is a legal OFFER which the Seller is free to ACCEPT OR REJECT, however if he accepts it and the hammer falls and its sold, its then the Buyers property, because to form a valid binding contract, you need BOTH an OFFER and an ACCEPTANCE..........if the seller rejects the offer its over you have no more rights.

What can you do in a practical and real world PROBABLY NOTHING If I were your lawyer Id advise you sure throw money at me and I will sue buttttttttt you will likely loose AND EVEN IF YOU WIN WHAT DAMAGES CAN YOU PROVE??????????????????????????????? Most lay persons dont realize the Plaintiff needs to show and prove damages, just because you prevail at law HOW WERE YOU HARMED ???? You can win the case but receive no cash award!!!!!!!!! Think about it

So, now see why myself or any lay or even professional person CAN NOT ANSWER THIS HERE, and "opinions" lay or professional and including my own, here are TOTALLY WORTHLESS. However I have laid out the arguments and counter arguments that might be made in a Court of Law, thats "thinking like a lawyer" its a curse and I cant help myself lol lol

Best wishes n God Bless

John T BSEE, JD Country Lawyer

Sounds like it didn't sell either time per the reserve the owner put on it.
If you really want it then go talk to the owner and try to come to an agreement.
Otherwise move on and find another one. I'd rather by from a privite sale then from an auction any day. Hard to check them out good at an auction.

I had a friend who went to an auction here in Southern Illinois to bid on a pretty nice 70 or so HP John Deere. He was the winning bidder - auctioneer cried SOLD - then somebody got the auctioneer's attention and informed him that a couple of amish guys were interested in that tractor, and they were involved in something else and hadn't gotten to bid (weren't paying attention). Amish came trotting up, and the auctioneer started the bidding over on the tractor he'd just sold. Friend was ticked off and refused to bid again on his tractor. Amish got the tractor. Lotsa shouting, lotsa people left. Lotsa reasons to dislike auctioneers.

File a complaint with the state board that licenses the auctioneers.

Geesh John I'd sure wish the USA as a whole had your knowledge. There wouldn't be any arguments or forums to help out the lesser brain quality. I always like reading YOUR posts !!! Very sharp guy. You were a Lawyer, and a Electrical Engineer !!! WOW !! Thanks

This is why they have a person sign now, around here, all sorts of fine print that basically they can do anything they want and you are ok with it.....

I'd guess they didnt sell it the first time, they never say 'sold' on a deal where the reserve wasn't met. So that is odd.

For the other fella, yea they should not reopen the bid after they say 'sold', that s wrong. But, they likely have the wiggle room to get away with it. It does affect their sales tho, people do walk away when that happens.

Was at a dealer auction years ago, they started no saling some items, they said to one fella if you raise your own big $300 it is yours. Fella said I have the high bid, are you having an auction or what? Turned into a shouting match between him and the auctioneer. Very little sold after that, not many bids, one no sale after the next. They had tried to make it sound like an absolute auction to start with, THRN slipped in just a few items had reserves.....

Paul

just my thinking is if it didnt meet reserve and is being resold owner can do whatever he wants, including to resell it then you can bid again . you just have to stick your hand up a few more times if you want it.
i probably would have run it through the auction a second time also once got it started.

meant to add that in this case the auctioneer did not say "sold"! the first go around.
i have also been to sales when the auctioneer points at me and says sooll....d then see another hand up and then takes the other guys bid, thats when i quit and the auctioneer know it!

Thanks for the kind words, I dont consider myself all that smart, just had a lot of experiences and sure, plenty of book learnin at Purdue Engineering and IU Law, but Im gettin too old for this stuff lol my old hard drive brain is stuffed

John T

Once the hammer fell,,,,,,,no reserve,,,,,,auctioneer announced SOLD,,,,,,it was legally the buyers. Had they tried that with me I would have sued their A$$ off and reported it to the Auctioneers licensing board and the attorney generals office........

John T

When the auctioneer said you could negotiate with the seller, he was offering advice. He was not giving you the exclusive right to negotiate with the seller.

if he said sold then it is a binding verbal contract, either way it is not very ethical, Dad always said auctioneers were a "king for a day" most of them are pricks and few are honest, I don't respect any of them around here for the things I have seen them pull, a few even keep taking bids after saying sold, shame, shame!

Didn't sell the first time. The owner could negotiate a non-auction sale with you (or anyone else for that matter). When the tractor started the owner decided to sell HIS TRACTOR to the highest bidder - only this time with it running. If the auctioneer sold it for less than stated reserve the seller has an issue with him.

Good chance the seller lowered his reserve when it didn't sell the first time across the block. You'll see that a lot - the auctioneer looks at the seller to get the nod to take the highest bid he has.

I could see the seller not wanting to lower his reserve when the tractor sold as "nonrunnning" when he knows it should run. If someone messed with it while it was in line it probably took a few minutes of tinkering to get it running. But when it was running and the bidding had run out of bids he knows he getting all it bring with that group of buyers.

There's really nothing you can do against the auctioneer.

that's totally wrong, haven't they heard the saying "the sales today"? wet to a sale on labor day the auctioneers announced 3 times that RR ties were sold by the tie, 16 to a bundle, some joker bid them to $29 and took them all, 5 items later he said he thought they were $29 per bundle so the re-sold them for $11 a tie, then the sold a 60jd orchard for $34,000 the winner then said he thought it was $3400 so they re-sold it for $17,000 in both cases I would have told the auctioneers they owe me some money

If the auctioneer told you it didn't meet reserve you know you didn't own it. The fact the owner decided to let you negotiate the price with the other bidders isn't the fault of the auctioneer.

the bad part about this sell was about a hour before this happen they sold a car trailer it did not meet the reserve but they did not run it again in the ring and seller had a motor home or rv and a airplane on the sell bill but sold them day or two before the auction

You say, "sold it again", which is not correct. The tractor did not sell the first time it was in the ring. The auctioneer did not say "sold", therefore there was no sale. All the other chatter between you and the auctioneer was just talk, not binding and not a sale. You could have bid when it was in the ring the second time. You have not got a leg to stand on.
Tom

He said he was high bidder but he didn't say the auctioneer said sold. Perhaps he could clarify that improtant little bit of information for us.

First off, the auctioneer works for the seller, not for the buyer.

Second, you didn't bid the reserve, so the seller was free to accept or decline your high bid. Sounds like he declined it. Neither you nor the buyer had a binding contract at that time. Regardless of the auctioneer's suggestion that you meet up after the sale, neither of you were under any obligation to do so.

It sounds like you thought the second round of bidding was already trumped by an implied contract you had with the buyer, so you refused to bid the second time around. Bad assumption on your part. If you wanted the tractor, you should have bid on it.

A binding sales contract requires one party to make an offer to buy or sell, and for the other party to accept that offer. You made an offer and the seller rejected it. Someone else made a slightly higher offer and the buyer accepted it. Fugetaboutit.

Was at a sale last Saturday and several of the tractors had reserves. One particular somewhat rough IH 454 with a loader and a 7' finish mower was bid up to $1,400, the auctioneer stopped and said there was no point going on begging for bids a $100 at a time. He said it takes another $1,000 to buy it, was anyone interested at $2,400. No one spoke up and he said no sale and moved on.

At the same sale there was a JD A, early restoration, nice condition and decent tires, no reserve, that they couldn't get started, but it had run earlier, the auctioneer guaranteed it to start and run. Only brought $1,500, in fact the auctioneer said I'll bid $1,000 on it (not sure that was kosher, but earlier he did announce that he or his workers might bid on items for their personal use so at least everyone knew about it), he had that much confidence in it but maybe felt bad for the consignor. Thinking in the crowd it should have brought more than $1,500, and would have, had it been running (I'm no JD fan so I don't have any idea what they go for in our area). I saw the buyer later start it up and drive it off.