I have heard of investors using public auctions for a last step in trying to sell their inventory, especially with all of the attention and hype the public auctions are getting in this market. My company has a system for selling our inventory, but when it makes it through the whole system, and is still sitting on our books, instead of sending it through the same system and paying costs…we are thinking of implementing a public auction service to sell the inventory that doesn’t sell through our system. What feedback can you give me as far as price, I know it would be a % of the sale the auction co. would receive, but how much? Also, what are the pros and cons of implementing this into our system, and what co. would you recommend? Thanks.
As far as hiring an auction company, you can expect to pay at least $1,000 up front for marketing costs and then usually 3-10% on the backend for commission. The one live auction company that I see the most in our area is williams & williams.
Another option is to take more of the marketing effort on yourself and use an online auction. They don’t usually cost as much as a live auction and can be just as successful. It all comes down to marketing.
Thanks Tom. The main one in my area is Hudson and Marshall. What are some good online auctions you guys can refer me to? Has anyone actually used an onine auction and been successful?
Yes, we’ve been successful using online auctions, but it always comes down to the effort you put into marketing and how good a deal it is.
Realtybid.com is one of the bigger ones, but you need to be a realtor to use them. Ebay, bid4assets are a couple of others and, of course, we have our own auction site that we are working on growing.
That’s great, thanks!