Saturday auction in a small town, Drama, bannings, and more!

So I live in a large metropolitan area, and saw a Saturday auction in a town about an hour away.  I figured hey why not, another opportunity for me and my wife to take my daughter to one.

Wow.  Just Wow.  about a dozen people, so a lot less then I expected.  Some comments were made that my wife overheard saying that we were basically there because of the shows, and were going to overbid etc.  I advised her to ignore them.  I suspect it was caused because I accidentally put my badge on from work this morning.  LOL.  Apparently they assumed anyone working at Intel has more money then sense. 

Anyways I learned that the prior auction only had one person show up so they cancelled it.  3 units out of the 6 advertised were up for auction.

1st one...a older stove, a small tv (not flatscreen), and a big box, marked with $100 that appeared to be for a crib.  sold for like $20.  With the distance from home this wasn't worthwhile for us to bid on.

2nd one...and the DRAMA!  smaller unit, owned by the same person as the 3rd locker, but being sold separate.  So as its being shown, a couple commented it was a staged unit and got overheard by the manager.  Claimed they had been there last auction and this unit had been up for sale, but had been cancelled by the manager who was running the auction because the owner had paid.  The manager took exception to this, some words were exchanged, and she banned them from the auction and told them to not come back ever. 

Now...was it staged?  Only if the person staging it was dumb.  *I* didn't see anything.  This was a mistake as I later learned, wife said some of the statues in the front on the floor were worth some bucks, but didn't bid because she thought I knew.  So-some discussion afterwards led us to the decision we would bid to the highest either of us thought, not the lowest in case one of us saw something the other didn't.  We shall see how that goes.  This would have gone home with us if my wife had continued the bidding.  ended up going for under 50 I think.

So manager is upset and almost crying, and as she calmed down we went to the next one.

Now this one...10x20 I think?  Saw some older furniture, LOTS of stuff.  Some of it worth some money.  we figured about 1K (more if we would have been located closer).  Its dusty as well, been in storage for a long time.  We can see a grandfather clock in the back, but some suspicion it was not mechanical.  we took it up a couple hundred, then got to watch two local folks go up.  at 700 the one guy says "you're gonna get this cause you want the clock, but I am going to make you pay for it".  Really?  The other bidder just kept going up.  Went past our limit near the end.  Sold for a little over 1,000

So we walked away with nothing, some regret on not taking the second locker. 

Lessons learned:  Daughter learned to NOT say numbers discussing price during the bidding as I told her afterwards that that was a bad plan.  lol. 

I learned I talk too loud when discussing units with wife.

We learned we're better off going to the max that either of us thinks rather then the minimum.  Obviously more discussions will occur as we decide the best method. 

But WTH?  all the auctions I have attended here in the city are all pretty polite, no obvious bidding up of other people, etc,  this place, had bannings, people crying, and some pretty obviously stated bid up.  Wow.  They've watched too much storage wars.  What funny is...that was their comment towards me when I showed up.  what the heck?

at 700 the one guy says "you're gonna get this cause you want the clock, but I am going to make you pay for it".

I really hate douche bags that do that.

I really hate douche bags that do that.

So do I!! You just wanna smack em upside the head with a 2x4! 

If everyone wasn't so busy trying to make other people pay, we could all get back to buying units at a reasonable price and making some money.

I'm going to stick to my system, I pick a number, bid up to it, and if I win I win.  done.  If someone tries to bid me up beyond my chosen number they're going to take the locker home. 

Me and the wife were talking though, and we realized something.  The couple got banned because they accused that the lockers were staged.  The locker had been there for over a decade we were told...and..I realized something I should have realized there.  The glass on the side of the grandfather clock was clean.  no dust.  Zero.  Sooo...maybe something there.  dirt roads outside, dust on some things...but no dust at ALL on the grandfather clock on its side from what I can recall.  Course maybe my memory is faulty.... 

Was it cleaned while they were cataloging it for sale?  I just dont know.  But...its something to remember to look for and bid accordingly.  Its not proof though.  But we will pay special attention to that facility when we see auctions there.  Might have just been a side effect of the inventory, or?  I dont have enough experience to have a definitive answer. 

i hate that