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Post by span870 on Mar 8, 2019 21:57:40 GMT -5
Always try to connect with all of my customers in some way. Today had an ol boy we got to talking about hording wood. Plywood mainly keeping the smallest piece just in case. Anyway got to talking about going to the local auction and all the "deals" we've gotten. Anyway takes me into his barn and gave me some odds and ends that he got. So he says, look at this set of golf clubs. Got the bag, cart, and all the clubs for $20. Said, yeah that's not bad I reckon. Asked him, you play much. Says no, but it was $20. No one else was bidding on them. Just couldn't pass it up. That led to all my stories about, well no one else was bidding. So what's the dumbest stuff you've ever bought at an auction because, well no one else was bidding.
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Mar 9, 2019 6:27:45 GMT -5
I bought a three compartment bagger for a riding mower. No one would bid and it was $2. Didn’t even fit my mower and then realized the box said broken which was why no one would bid. That thing was brand new and all the parts were there and untouched. I ended up selling that and a pancake air compressor I bought that same day for $150. That paid for my whole day st the auction and then some.
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Post by HighCotton on Mar 9, 2019 8:13:36 GMT -5
Good topic! I can’t recall any finds but I probably have something hidden in a dark corner. I keep visiting this thread though, just to see how soon before scrub-buster posts something!
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Post by nfalls116 on Mar 9, 2019 9:16:43 GMT -5
I bought a thermofusion processor at an auction the other day because no one else was bidding.
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Post by span870 on Mar 9, 2019 9:17:12 GMT -5
I'm going to wait until everyone else posts to tell some of the stuff I've had to have. Will say if anyone needs any finishing nails I have easily 20,000 in numerous sizes and colors. Ain't used a one.
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Post by welder on Mar 9, 2019 9:45:04 GMT -5
I was bidding on a 5 gallon gas can several years ago and an Amish person and I were the only ones bidding. I ended up paying around $25 for a gas can I didn't even really need just to prove a point. Go me! LOL!
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Post by scrub-buster on Mar 9, 2019 10:15:40 GMT -5
I love a good auction. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of aluminum nails for $1. I think I'm going to sell them as scrap because I've never needed an aluminum nail. I paid $10 for the contents of a maintenance room at a fancy golf course clubhouse. No one else bid on it. I made over $300 on that room. I bought a bunch of white oak, walnut, and osage boards for $15. I sold the white oak boards for $285 three days later. I bought an old grey fox hide for $1. all of the hair was gone off the face which made it really creepy looking. I traded it away at an archery event. I'm ready for auction season to pick back up this spring.
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Post by Russ Koon on Mar 9, 2019 11:39:22 GMT -5
I'd been to the Saturday auctions at the sale barn a few times with an uncle when we were both mid-teens, but had never gone to another auction until I'd been married a few years and though it might be interesting to see if I could pick up some bargains.
Bought a single-mantle Coleman lantern for $5, which I later discovered was about what they were going for at the time anywhere, and then outlasted another bidder for a used well-used single bit axe that needed the handle replaced. Stopped at the hardware store on the way home to get another handle for the axe and found one for just $5.99, and another axe complete with handle, brand new, next to it for $7.99.
Figured later that I got a very good lesson on my bargain-hunting skills at a much lower price than I could have paid, so that was my bargain of the day 8^)
Sometimes restraint is the first thing lost at an auction, and a 'win' there can end up like a 'win' at the midway booth where you finally get that big teddy bear after spending ten bucks throwing baseballs at stacked bottles, and find out later that it's a really cheaply made item that cost the booth operator about fifty cents.
I went to a few more auctions over the years, but mostly just for the fun, and rarely bid on anything else. I tend to get too caught up in winning the bidding and lose track of the price of my "bargain".
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Post by scrub-buster on Mar 9, 2019 11:41:38 GMT -5
I set a price limit on something I'm interested in. If it goes over that amount I stop bidding. That has kept me out of trouble so far.
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Post by span870 on Mar 9, 2019 13:52:42 GMT -5
I was bidding on a 5 gallon gas can several years ago and an Amish person and I were the only ones bidding. I ended up paying around $25 for a gas can I didn't even really need just to prove a point. Go me! LOL! Spent a whole lotta money on, "just to prove a point". Did it once at a D.U. banquet. Even went as far as telling the other bidder ain't no way he was going home with the decoy. Well he had deeper pockets them me on that one but I digress.
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Post by duff on Mar 9, 2019 14:57:46 GMT -5
A metal based table with a ply wood top for $1 about 20 yrs ago.
My wife wanted an enameled pot in a lot of junk. We won it and included a bed pan.
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Mar 9, 2019 15:25:02 GMT -5
I once bid on a lot that had a tackle box in it. Never looked in it before I bid. I won and when I opened it there was a bunch of fun cleaning supplies in the tackle box. It was all great except the pair of fruit of the loom undies in there.
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Post by firstwd on Mar 9, 2019 16:02:54 GMT -5
I bought a pump action Remington 22 when I was 12 (dad had to bid). The only other bidder was a collector from Fort Wayne area. No one else in town bid on it because they new the guy that passed away that July had already gotten permission to give it to me for Christmas because I mowed his lawn. This guy just kept needling my dad and one of the deceased friends told him to give up because I was going to go home with that gun. The collector said no kid could out bid him. The old guy pulled a 6" wad of $100 Bill's out of his pocket and told him that I didn't have to. I got it for $135, less than 1/10th its value in 1985.
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Post by ms660 on Mar 10, 2019 15:43:14 GMT -5
I was a regular at every Friday night Dinky's auction for 10 years. I could go on for hours telling about things I bought because nobody was bidding. I have got some pretty valuable items because people didn't know what the item was, sometimes I didn't know but took a chance. With everybody having smartphones and Google access at their fingertips those days are over
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Post by jman46151 on Mar 11, 2019 10:08:21 GMT -5
I was a regular at every Friday night Dinky's auction for 10 years. I could go on for hours telling about things I bought because nobody was bidding. I have got some pretty valuable items because people didn't know what the item was, sometimes I didn't know but took a chance. With everybody having smartphones and Google access at their fingertips those days are over I went to Dinky's once...only thing I came home with was a smelly hand because I pet the wrong goat.
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Post by jbird on Mar 11, 2019 12:11:31 GMT -5
Not an auction buy, but I bought a 6' box/blade grader once for $150. Everything was there just sort of ugly. It was too big for my little 30 hp tractor but I used it for small stuff for about 2 years. Had a guy at work ask me if I had one he could borrow. So I loaned it to him. He comes in the following Monday and asks if I would sell it. I asked what he was willing to give for it. He spouted out $500. "Sold" I made money and got 2 years of use out of it...not a bad deal.
I got a wife, been married 20+, just waiting for someone to make me an offer! No bidders currently so...will go cheap!
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Post by jjas on Mar 11, 2019 12:44:10 GMT -5
jbird
I would imagine my wife would give me away for free....LOL
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2019 12:48:22 GMT -5
jbird I would imagine my wife would give me away for free....LOL You're doing good. My wife after 25+ offered a bonus award for a free make an offer. LOL
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Post by jbird on Mar 11, 2019 15:25:19 GMT -5
I joke of course...considering the path we took to get where we are now..either the man up stairs knows what he is doing (with a bit of sarcasm and irony) or we got really lucky (with some stubbornness)... Best "find" I have made to date...
Back on topic - it amazes me sometimes what people pay for some things at sales and the like. The thing is it's stuff most folks tossed out long ago. Most of the stuff folks kept because of future value...just don't have much value because everybody kept the same stuff. Strangest thing I ever saw bought was an old wooden box with a bunch of metal junk in it. Guy jumped out at $1,000 right off the bat. Nobody contested..."Sold". I had to know what was worth so much. I was informed that there was a rare old tractor part in that box...and he was tickled pink with his prize. Like was mentioned...that was pre-internet days.
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Post by ms660 on Mar 11, 2019 21:06:51 GMT -5
I went to an auction Saturday and seen a Colt 1895 Lightning 22 rifle bring a 1000 bucks and it was in what I thought average condition. Probably didn't cost 15 to 20 bucks I'm guessing new
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