Auction / Rigger / dealer horror stories ??

[JRivera]

Any one care to share the worst auction buys , dealer sales or rigging experiences ? Iv been buying and selling for about 12 years and using my own supply to fuel my costly hobby of making chips . Iv seen some really messed up stuff .

One of my favorite things is when auction company’s drive up their own prices . Then they will send out a list of stuff after the “ buyer “ didn’t pay .

I talk to a lot of shop owners most of them always say : I told them it was a parts machine , but they sold it as used

 

[BobH]

Had a problem with an auction co once, now long gone. I tend to stand near the back of the crowd at auctions and was bidding on a VMC. Every time I bid they got a higher bid right away from someone vaguely behind me. Something felt fishy so after the next higher than me bid came in I turned around a called out "who is in at $xxx". Crickets, no answer. Turned back to the auctioneer and asked him who he had, same response. All the while the "spotters" were closing in. Well I was pissed and started getting loud and told him B.S. and start over. This time I went up and stood right in front of the auctioneer looking out at the crowd. Funny but this time I got it for about a third of what it ran up to the first time. I'm sure that auctioneer had a rather uncomfortable time for the rest of the day. Bob

 

[RC Mech]

Had a problem with an auction co once, now long gone. I tend to stand near the back of the crowd at auctions and was bidding on a VMC. Every time I bid they got a higher bid right away from someone vaguely behind me. Something felt fishy so after the next higher than me bid came in I turned around a called out "who is in at $xxx". Crickets, no answer. Turned back to the auctioneer and asked him who he had, same response. All the while the "spotters" were closing in. Well I was pissed and started getting loud and told him B.S. and start over. This time I went up and stood right in front of the auctioneer looking out at the crowd. Funny but this time I got it for about a third of what it ran up to the first time. I'm sure that auctioneer had a rather uncomfortable time for the rest of the day. Bob

They got caught because this must have been before web bidding, eh?

Now there’s no in-person oversight because they just run it up with a Bidspotter account.

 

[reggie_obe]

Had a problem with an auction co once, now long gone. I tend to stand near the back of the crowd at auctions and was bidding on a VMC. Every time I bid they got a higher bid right away from someone vaguely behind me. Something felt fishy so after the next higher than me bid came in I turned around a called out "who is in at $xxx". Crickets, no answer. Turned back to the auctioneer and asked him who he had, same response. All the while the "spotters" were closing in. Well I was pissed and started getting loud and told him B.S. and start over. This time I went up and stood right in front of the auctioneer looking out at the crowd. Funny but this time I got it for about a third of what it ran up to the first time. I'm sure that auctioneer had a rather uncomfortable time for the rest of the day. Bob

Auctioneers like that should suddenly contract lead poisoning.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

I've noticed that web bidding seems to have an instantaneous high bid from "somewhere" whenever I place a bid on anything, even if it's been a no bid for days. Pass.

 

[DanASM]

I've noticed that web bidding seems to have an instantaneous high bid from "somewhere" whenever I place a bid on anything, even if it's been a no bid for days. Pass.

Usually you can put in a max bid like on ebay. When someone else raises the bid and your max bid is higher, it will automatically put in another bid.

I do not like to put in a max bid, because I think somebody can see that and know what I am willing to pay and raise the bids. I put that I will only spend $1 when joining an auction so they dont know how much I am willing to spend (when being verified).

When bidding, I make sure to do it live and only bid just above the last one.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

Usually you can put in a max bid like on ebay. When someone else raises the bid and your max bid is higher, it will automatically put in another bid.

I do not like to put in a max bid, because I think somebody can see that and know what I am willing to pay and raise the bids. I put that I will only spend $1 when joining an auction so they dont know how much I am willing to spend (when being verified).

When bidding, I make sure to do it live and only bid just above the last one.

Good idea.

 

[F35Machinist]

When bidding, I make sure to do it live and only bid just above the last one.

Bidspotter shows the auctioneer what everyone's max bid is, so you should never use that feature. You will always reach your max bid if you do.

I have had good luck at auctions when I went to them. The best deals were before online bids were a thing. I bought my first mill and lathe at an auction. "Phantom" bidders are a real problem and I bid against them when I bought my first mill. When the price got close to my limit, I asked who I was bidding against and the other phone bidder magically "disconnected".

The other practice that really irritates me is when auctioneers start the bidding at some absurdly high price and go down until they find a bidder and then start going up from there. This doesn't happen anymore since everything is done online, but they would have a 10 year old mill and start bidding at 60k to try and hook a sucker and then go down by 10k increments until they finally reached 5k and got a bid.

The worst I have been burned is on a surface grinder that turned out to be missing some parts and damaged.

 

[GregSY]

I've bought expensive guns at gun auctions by turning in an absentee bid, which of course let's the auction house 'know' what your max is. The only time I've paid the max is when my max was a kinda low price, an "I don't care if I really win or not" number. But I saw no appearance of any misbehavior on the part of the auction house.

 

[Chips Everywhere]

I once made the mistake of bidding on 2 large surface plates 3x6 and 3x4. Bidding started at $1, so I bid on both, expecting that I would get outbid. I was just curious what large plates went for. Long story short, I paid $452.36 for the surface plates. $2.36 for both plates and 450 to have them loaded.

 

[Bondo]

I sign up for auctions with a $100 amount. Basically it's more then a dollar and less then a million.

I put my max bid in at about 40 to 50% of what my real max bid is. My max is usually no where close to the huge prices that are there now.

I always like the 10 minute extensions. It allows me to figure out things I wouldn't know. I would bid on say 3 very high items at low prices, but I get to see all the bids and price increases. You'd be surprised how many different up bidders there are.

 

[tomjelly]

If there is an entry for a max bid, the auctioneer can see it and they have a responsibility to get their seller the highest possible price, and their buyers premium realized is also dependent on that. Too many factors to think you are going to get a bargain unless you just put in your bargain price or bid live and do the same

 

[???]

I saw a machine advertised as "loved" the other day. I'm a bit worried that the shiny look isn't rust preservative.

Rigging story. Coworker was working at a contract toolroom where they allocated a day to move the machines to bigger premises. Riggers dropped a big Colchester and snapped it in half. Boss was on the line immediately to the insurer. Luckily 600 Group had one on the floor. Up and running the next morning.

 

[Garwood]

I attended a live machine shop auction where I knew the building owner pretty good. The "recommended riggers" sent their B squad and they were slow as molasses. I tried giving them advice and even offered to run the forklift as they sucked at it. They refused and proceeded to move even slower.

I walked out to the parking lot and backed my truck and trailer right into the building and up to the lathe I bought completely blocking them and everyone else. They started screaming at me, threatening me, etc. I told them to calm the fuck down or they can leave. I told them the building owner gave me permission to load my machine myself and this might take a couple hours so go find something to do for awhile. I hooked a chainfall to the lathe I bought and slowly started pulling it towards the trailer. They called their bosses and the auction co and realized I actually did have the upper hand.

Their demeanor changed. They wanted to talk. I told them I'd let them load me out for free if they did it my way and they loaded the rest of these guys out my way too. Instead of milking the clock wasting everyone's time. 10 minutes later I was out of there with free loading and everyone was happy.

 

[???]

Good riggers are worth their weight in gold unfortunately most aren't worth their weight in dog turds.

 

[true temper]

When I bought my lathe and mill the seller wanted them gone and rented a forklift to lift them on my trailer..
before I paid him I made sure I was in charge of the move or I wouldn’t have bought them.
He let me run the forklift and it went flawless.