My first auction

[dennis thompson]

Went to my first auction yesterday, they had a Delta bandsaw about 15-20 years old . I determined (upon no basis ) that I'd pay up to $200 for it. It went for $450. I spoke to another guy there who seemed pretty knowledgeable & he said $450 was a fair price. A Rockwell 6" jointer went for $500,would you consider that a little high given that you can get a new Grizzly for that? I didn't buy anything but it was interesting just to go. A conclusion I reached was that I am not knowledgeable enough to bid at these but I still plan to go to any in the area just for the experience
Dennis

[Gene Howe]

If the auction is specific to "tools", or, even more specific "wood working tools", you'll find more knowledgeable bidders and auctioneers and the items will usually sell higher. Like you, I've seen machines, and even clamps go for as much or more than new.
OTOH, an estate action or the like will usually not attract such bidders as describe above. And, usually, tools will go for less. Most serious tool buyers will not want to stand around while the silverware and boxes of clothes are auctioned. I don't mind standing around...you never know when something interesting, other than a tool, will appear.
Naturally, a lot will also depend on the area, too.

[CPeter James]

Those prices seem way too high. People get carried away at auctions and figure they will go just one more bid and then another and pretty soon you could have bought a new one for less money.

Peter

[Josh Rudolph]

Dennis,

I would agree that about $200 would be a fair price...even a little on the high side for me. $450 is way too high in my opinion. The only logic would be that the people knew who owned it and knew how well it was taken care of. Even then, $450 is too high for me.
$500 for a 6" jointer is also extremely high! Especially when a decent 6" jointer can be had for cheaper than that brand new! I have seen 8" jointers sell for that.

Keep at them though, you will eventually get some good deals.
I was at an auction and they were selling a bandsaw. The guy helping went to start the bandsaw and the auctioneer yelled not to....it was too late. The banging and crashing noises that came out of the saw scared everyone for bidding. Turns out, they had not tensioned the blade at all and it was only sitting on the wheels. No one has taken the time to look and see this. I got the bandsaw for a song...had zero problems with it.

You also want to try and get to know the auctioneer's reputation. Certain one's will draw a certain crowd that always have the same faces. Some of those auctioneers can and will have bidders that will run prices up on things. They have no intentions in buying the item, just running up the prices for a higher profit. Other auctioneers aren't as organized and will not advertise as good as they could have. They don't draw a huge crowd and you can find some real gems at these sales. It takes a little bit of time on your part, but can pay dividends.

Auctions are addicting...a few years ago I had great success at them, but things have really slowed down, at least for auctions that I am interested in. I enjoy the bidding process and learning how people act when they are bidding or being outbid. You have the slow rollers that try and make you feel they will stop bidding any second. They are the one's who think you are running up the prices and they want you to feel like you may end up getting stuck with the item. Then there are the aggressive one's who jump in quick and bid hard to their limit and then will walk away. They can be quite comical.
Auction fever is hilarious to me. It always tends to happen with clamps. The bidders are so set on buying something at the sale, they will pay more than retail for clamps. They want to buy something and then there is the pride issue of being outbid. Another entertaining thing is the auctioneer will try a starting bid of say $50...no one bids, when he finally drops to $5 every body bids, the ending price ends up at $75. This seems to happen with 90% of the items I am interested in. I have family members who will bite on the opening bid. It tends to scare away a lot of other bidders cause everyone is there for a bargain and here is this person who bit on the opening bid, they must really want this item and they mean business.

Auctions can be such a game of psychology against other bidders, I really enjoy it.
Just set your limit for the item and bid up to it and let it go if it goes higher. Don't get wrapped around the axle about "losing" the bid.

Good luck.

[Lee Schierer]

Auctions can be hit or miss. I've seen numerous items sell for retail for a brand new item. I was at an auction before I purchased my TS and saw a TS there. I had tucked a Craftsman and Woodworker supply catalog in my pocket before leaving home so I was fully aware of the cost of new items. Like others I started in the bidding, but when it reached my limit for a used tool, I dropped out. This happened several times for various tools I was interested in. As we were leaving a guy that had outbid me on several items came by to gloat over his "bargains" and I casually showed him similar new item prices in my catalog. He was shocked that he had paid retail or higher for his items.

It pays to go prepared.

[Stephen Cherry]

It all depends on who else shows up.

[Jim Laumann]

My own auction story.....

There was a commerical shop that went out of business - they made sun rooms. On the auction bill were a pair of drill presses - one of them was the current (at that time) Delta model. Checked out the retail price at my local big box store - am thinking it was about $225-235. Hit the auction - they finally got to the drill presses. The price soon hit my $160 limit, and I dropped out. One of the auction assistants came over - "you're going to let that go? Keep bidding or you'll loose it...." as the price was hitting $200. I asked him why I should, when I can get one new at the XXX store for.....

The assistant was all over me - lest I say it to loud and run the bid war they had going....

Jim

[Ryan Mooney]

Heh, so true. Last auction I was at there was a really nice set of amana dovetail bits (roughly $200 new) that went for just over $100 (it was a bit over my pain threshold, but an ok deal as they were essentially new), then they brought out the discount tool store of choice 50 bit set (worth maybe $50 new) and it was bid up to almost $200 because - hey those router bit things must be worth something. Same auction a Jet 14" went for $500 (roughly $650 new and this was no peach), the fellow who bought it bid it up that high against another fellow because "he had been outbid on the drill press and so wanted to get back at him" (really!!?!?! ok sure thing buddy).

OTOH I snagged the two bookcases of woodworking mags and books for ~$40 including a steel cabinet, and furniture dolly as the base on the other crappy cabinet (the metal one is now my paint cabinet, furniture dolly salvaged and excess cabinet donated to charity). The downside is that she-who-must-be-obeyed is moderately grumpy that every flatish surface in the house is covered in boxes of fine woodworking, american worker, shopnotes (back to ~16 through this year), 10 years of popular woodworking, more intarsia and scroll pattern books than I'll ever read (sadly i don't really do much scroll work and haven't found a local home for them yet) and two crates of books.

I also scoped the competition and partnered with the one other person interested in bidding on the woodpile, didn't get a stellar deal but we weren't bidding against each other and each got a few nice pieces at below retail.

Advice above is all good, my basic strategy is:
- preview and pre-lookup prices where possible. Plenty of examples above, knowing what you're buying is KEY.
- regardless know or get the price for everything you can (a smartphone helps because you can look stuff up fast if you can't preview or missed something in the preview).
- if its cheap enough, go ahead and take a chance. A few years back I picked up a brand new GE over the stove microwave for $10 ($300 new). It was in the wrong box so no one bid on it and replaced our old failing microwave perfectly.
- scope the competition and see if you can split things up instead of bidding against each other (doesn't always work.. and requires you to be able to figure out if they "look like reasonable folk").

[Mike Wilkins]

Estate sales are your best bet for finding real deals/bargains without the hassle of waiting for an item to come up for bid. You also avoid dealing with auction attendees who are there to pump up the bid just to get a higher price; I have seen this in action and it is a real turn-off.

My best find was at an estate sale I attended after my night shift ended. I purchased a collection of wide pine boards and some odd pieces of molding. While paying for this, the lady stated that there were some old boards in a shed out back that I could have just for hauling them off. What I 'hauled off' was about 120 board feet of 8/4 Walnut, mostly 8" and wider. I have never found a deal like this since.

[John Toigo]

I've done very well at auctions and estate sales but it's hit or miss for both. Sometimes I come home empty handed and sometimes with the van stuffed to the gills & have to go back for the rest. I went to an auction a few weeks ago which had some interesting handplanes & they all went for (I thought) stupid prices. However - same auction - I picked up a lot of vintage Rockwell & PC hand power tools for almost nothing and they were all in near mint condition. Best deal ever at an auction - a 30" L. Powers bandsaw, complete with all the parts, in operating condition, from the great grandchildren of the original owner for $20. Now that's an auction!

The price for the Delta bandsaw was high. If the jointer was an old one w/ CI base & all.... some guys get a little nuts for those. If it was a newer model - way high.