OT Estate auctions

I am trying to arrange for an estate auction to sell off my parents estate. I was wondering what auctioneers typically charge? This would be a small farm auction on site rather than moving everything. I figure there is at least 60k-70k between vehicles, antiques and lots of stuff. Any suggestions or lessons learned would be appreciated.

Thanks

I would guess that the auctioneer will charge around 7-10% plus advertising for an auction of that size. The smaller ones would be 10%. Larger farm equipment auctions are usually around 6-7%.

I would advertise the auction well locally. Then only more if there is some highly collectable things on the sale bill.

I personally dislike buyers premiums. So I will not go to an auction that charges one. I now it is the norm in some area but it is not here yet.

I held one for a friend years ago. The auction company wanted 10% off the top which did not seem all that bad. But I had to do all the moving or things and cleaning up an area to park etc

In s.e. Ohio and western W.V. they are charging 15 to 20 percent + advertising. When I was doing auctions full time, I charged 10% + advertising. They have to pay their help out of what they make as well as cover any bad checks written to them until they clear the bank. (don't have the checks written to you, let the auctioneer handle that and he can write you 1 check for the final settlement. WE always waited till Monday after the sale to settle up with the owner. That way, the wife who is my cashier can sit down quietly in our kitchen and go over all the bid sheets without distraction and go to the bank Monday morning and get a cashiers check for the settlement. That way there is no question about any check not clearing the bank. You'll just have to check in your area & see. Keep in mind that advertising is rather expensive, BUT if you don't advertise, no one will know about the auction and you will not realize much for the auction. Most reputable auctioneers will talk this over with you, give a few a call. Just my thoughts, Keith

get an auctioneer that accepts credit cards and don't charge extra for using them. it will cut down your bad check problem to almost nothing and allows people who may be short of ready cash to pay more for an item!

Judging by the crowds at most auctions around here, most people aren't put off by the buyer's premium.

What the buyer's premium does is allow the auctioneer to charge you less. Instead of charging you 20%, he charges you only 10% and the buyer pays the other 10%.

Still, when you step back and look at it, it sucks that some douchebag in a cowboy hat takes 20% of what it took your folks' entire lives to build for yammering on a microphone for a couple hours.

Don't know what your situation is, but when my parents died, I handled the small estate myself.
I checked with two auction companies and would not give them their high commission.
I advertised in two local newspapers, marked everything with a price, hired several helpers and I sold everything in two auctions over a period of two weeks. I sold everything for cash and handled the sale as though it was a large yard sale. The home was sold the second week.
You just have to price everything low because a lot of people are reluctant to pay cash without the convenience of giving you a piece of paper promising they have the money!
This may be beyond your capabilities.

The auctioneer who did my parents estate charged 1/3 of the proceeds. This covered all fees and taxes and the auctioneer was responsible for any problems that occuered with bad checks, etc. That seems to be the going rate in this area.

In my area of Ohio there is one local fellow in particular that has a good following. Have not bought much at his auctions as things do seem to go higher and he does get larger crowds.
Better prices for buyers are with the little known auctioneers.
So if selling I'd say look for the most popular guy in your area. It may cost more ? but should also bring in more to offset it.

Bigger auctions have lower percent, so it is somewhat negotiable.

I would expect around the 10% mark for here for that size auction, maybe 12%, perhaps more if they advertise more than normal - if you have rarer stuff that can be a good thing.... Or advertising on top of the commission, you decide how much you want it advertised is another way they go.

Buyers premium auctions are hated around here, a good auctioneer with a good farm consignment auction of tractors, wagons, combines for decades, went to buyers premium, and he sold household and shop junk is all this past year, think he had 3 tractors and some scrap iron for farm stuff is all. Really sad, I liked them, but I avoid buyers premium sales if I know about it. I didn't attend.

Some say its the same difference just bid less, but its the principle of the thing, if you get it you get it if you don't you don't, they are just wrong.

Anyhow, a buyers premium seems like less hassle to you, but it will keep some buyers away. It especially hurts a small odds and ends auction, its those casual auction attenders you want there to bid on that sort of stuff. The auctioneer represents you the seller, so you should be paying the fee, and make buying stuff easy and simple for people.

Bad checks and such should be on the auctioneer, not your concern, that is one of the services he provides. Unfortunately one of the reasons commissions have gone up, so many people are thieves these days. The auctioneer will screen people, ask for bank name, has list of bad people, and etc to deal with this. Not your concern.

Good luck with it, shop around.

Paul

That is absolutely stealing, In these parts anything over 10% is out of line. No problem getting full service auction for 10% , that is they come in sit the stuff out, conduct the sale, collect the money , help load and pay the seller.

(Central Ohio, Columbus area): A friend had a number of items from his mother's estate to sell. He checked around and 25% commission was the best he could find given it was a small consignment. When we closed out our antiques business several years before that they charged 25%, that was before the days of widespread buyer's premium so there was little option if we wanted a quick sale.

W_B- We also ran an Antique business for years and was in Ohio very often to buy stock. We found a auction house in Newark that was a great place. You ever been to AppleTree Auctions in Newark?

Greg

Every consignment auction I've seen in ohio charges around 5%-6%.Household auctions are mostly junk so they charge more for there time.

There's one that gets a shop closing, and several estates, and hauls them all to the 4-h building at the McCook fairgrounds. Usually plenty of tools, but they don't organize anything by what it is. They'll sell cookie dishes, tools, appliances, tools, furniture, tools, you get the idea.

So you end up missing a lot when you get tired of watching people clamor over a cookie jar, then when they put another up, no one wants any of the 5 or 6 on the table, and keep trying for bids.