What are
Consignment Auctions?

How do you find consignment auctions? What will you find there? What should you do while you are there? You will find the answers to these questions and more right here. First of all, what is it?

To consign is to hand over, deliver, to entrust. A consignment auction is an auction where the consignor (the person with items to sell) entrusts the consignee (the seller, in this case the auctioneer) with the items for sale. The consignee pays the consignor after the sale of the items.

The auctioneer may charge the consignor a commission or they may charge the buyer a percentage of the sale price. This is known as a buyers premium. Sometimes both the consignor and the buyer are charged a fee. If the auctioneer accepts credit cards they may charge a convenience fee, usually a percentage. This is above and beyond the interest rate the credit card company charges.

I have also seen auctions where they charge sales tax. Make sure you know what extra charges are being applied and how much they are as these will be added to your bid price. It would be a shame to think you are getting a bargain only to find out that added fees, premiums, interest, and taxes negated your good deal. Bid accordingly.

As a bargain hunter you will want to avoid as many of these additional charges as possible. Seek out auctions that do not charge a buyers premium. Use cash or check, avoiding credit card interest and convenience fees. These things are not bargain friendly.

Sometimes the consignor may have a reserve price or they may be allowed to bid up to their reserve price. Most of the time however, the item is there to sell at any price. If you are the only person interested in that item you are going home with a bargain. I have yet to leave an auction without a bargain or two, usually more.

A consignment-auction is one of my favorite bargain sources. You can find just about anything there. A wide variety of items are brought in by many different people. And you may find more than one of an item, giving you more opportunity to bag a bargain.

This type of auction may specialize in items like construction equipment, farm equipment, used cars, new cars, collector cars, antiques, coins, jewelry, recreational vehicles, livestock, furniture, produce, plants, and even real estate to name a few. If you are looking for something specific, specialized auctions are the ones to seek out.

You can also put it in front of consignment auctions (eg: antique consignment auction) in your favorite search engine to get more information on a specific type of auction. There are also search sites that can give you auction information for your local area. Many consignment auctions are conducted online, but we’ll hunt that bird later.

You may find this type of auction advertised in the classified ads in your local paper, bulletin boards, fliers, and if you’ve signed up, mailing lists. Some auction houses send notices automatically if you’ve registered at one of their previous auctions. They can even be found by signs along the road.

This type of auction can be very large and may run most of the day with two or more rings going at the same time. I like to bring my bargain buddy along as I just can’t be in two places at the same time. But believe me, I have tried, only to see a bargain slip away. I’ve even tried to be at two different auctions at the same time. That didn’t work out to well either.

My philosophy is, “So many consignment auctions, so little time.” Well, it’s time to “pick and click” on another bargain source and I’ll see you there my friend.

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