IRS auctions

[Nate Rogers]

Hey,
Any of you every purchased anything from these IRS auctions?
Industrial recovery services is the name of the company..

Nate

[Bill Simmeth]

I've bought quite a few items through IRS over the past five years. I think they have single-handedly liquidated the assets of the entire furniture industry in North Carolina and Southwest Virginia. I've had some good experiences, I've had some bad experiences. You just need to understand what you're getting into up front. A few things to consider...

1. You have to pay a 10% buyers premium. They don't take plastic and they don't do online payments. They expect a cashier's check or money order delivered to their office within 48 hours. That usually means expressing it to them. Oh, they will also accept a wire transfer. All of these involve a little more money and time on your part.

2. On many of their auctions, they clearly state that items must be removed by their approved rigger. Depending on what you buy, this can get expensive fast. When they allow self-removal, they typically expect a copy of an insurance certificate in the amount of at least $1 million. Now, having said this, I have yet to pay a rigger for an item I purchased through them and only once had to produce an insurance certificate. But, I have heard some horror stories from other buyers.

3. Most of what is sold through IRS are machines that were used on a factory floor for many years. As Lou would say, "they are wooped". The issues some of these machines have can not be seen in the little pictures on their web site. It is most definitely "buyer beware". If at all possible, go to the physical site and inspect items of interest before bidding. This is not to say that all of the machines are beat. There are many nice machines sold, too. Some come from outside the factory floor like prototype shops and maintenance shops. You just need to think about what you're buying.

4. Their bidding process is a bit awkward IMHO. They have a rather hefty bid increment in most cases. You can load a proxy bid, but you can not do any sort of snipe if that's what you prefer to do. Bidding continues for 5-10 minutes after the last bid to counter that sort of activity.

Just understand the costs and logistics involved and know what you're bidding on and you'll do fine! Good luck!

[nic obie]

I bought a MM sliding TS through them. It came from a shop that went broke before he even got the doors open. It had never even been set up. It was missing a few parts but I was able to make them.

The deal went smooth, but like the above poster mentioned be aware that they want their money NOW and that there is a 10% surcharge. I didn't have any insurance problem, the guys I bought it from fork lifted it into my truck and I was down the road.