Please plan ahead

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Harold_V
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by Harold_V »

Patio wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:54 pm Once the family has taken what they want, I told mine to hire an auctioneer, as he will get the most out of it.
Yeah, in more ways than you might desire.
When Lee Carlson died, an auctioneer was hired to liquidate the majority of his shop and household goods. That was a huge mistake. The auctioneer ended up with the vast majority of the money. No, I don't know how that happened. I wasn't the one to make the arrangements, but it would have been better to have sold the stuff on the cheap.

I'm not suggesting that it can't work, but check the details before committing.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
SteveM
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by SteveM »

Around here, the companies that do estate sales take a 40% cut. We have a local tool consignment store that also takes a 40% cut.

The auctioneers I've bought stuff from take between 15% and 18% (actually they ADD that to the gavel price, so they are really taking between 13% and 15%).

It's possible that because of the size of the estate and the fixed costs incurred by the auctioneer that the cut might be higher, but there's no way they should end up with the vast majority. Heck, you could donate it all to a trade school, take a write off and make out better.

As Harold says, check the details first.

Steve
Marty_Knox
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by Marty_Knox »

Steve, when you bought Allen Models you got SEVEN locomotives - wait, actually eight!
There was the Chloe, the FN, the Mogul, the Ten-Wheeler, the American, the Consolidation, and the 0-4-0.
The Harpur 2-4-0 was with the stuff but we weren't marketing it.
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NP317
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by NP317 »

Steve:
Thank you for all of your successful efforts.
I suspect Gene Allen would be proud.
~RN
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Steve:
Glad to hear the business is doing well. I wish I had the easy answers to your questions. As I wrote in another post here recently, a "cost of doing business analysis" is a most valuable exercise for the self-employed person or small business owner. Realizing the little things that you don't otherwise think of is the trick.

Some people used to complain about the cost of Barry Hauge's parts, but he once told me about one item that cost him over $50,000 total, including research and design, molds, tooling, foundry, and so on, before he had even one of the item available for sale. And that cost has to include not only the aforementioned, but the cost of the money that fronted it as well as the cost of maintaining the inventory on the shelf.

Sometimes it's worth it to pay a lawyer and accountant for their expertise.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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gwrdriver
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by gwrdriver »

Auctions now commonly impose a "Buyer's Premium" of 10%-15% (to the buyer) on the gavel price, thus taking a commission on both the buyer AND the seller. It might be 20% by now.
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
rrnut-2
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by rrnut-2 »

The typical machine auction is 18%. Just bought a cabinet on auction and in this case 18% auctioneers fee plus sales tax.

Jim B
thunderskunk
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by thunderskunk »

It’s weird how close you get to the suppliers on this forum, I guess I’m still getting used to it.

A machine my company just purchased was listed at 55k for a few years, and they offered it at a bargain price of 45k to us. We declined and waited for it to go to auction; came off at 24k with another 5k in premium. It was surprising to hear they took another 5k from the seller, which to me sounds like an even worse kick in the pants... at least for them anyways.

I’ve heard ebay isn’t much better.
"We'll cross that bridge once we realize nobody ever built one."
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gwrdriver
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by gwrdriver »

Well, they typically contract with the seller to conduct the sale, for a percentage of the take, (the way it used to be) and then impose the "Buyer's Premium" on the buyers . . . a double dip.
GWRdriver
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SteveM
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by SteveM »

What generates the premium or premiums is the transaction, it's not the buyer or seller.

If you were going to spend $100 on something and there's a 15% buyers premium, you're not going to go over $87.

They might have something on both ends, but it's like selling a house - it doesn't matter who pays it - the transaction pays it.

I just won a bunch of stuff at auction and I have to cough up, between sales tax and buyers premium, about $100, but that was all figured into my bids.

Steve
James Powell
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by James Powell »

Steve Bratina wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:35 am All my stuff is going to geocache. I thought this was the way to go after seeing all of those guys looking for "the BIG W".
Just give me the GPS #'s so I can go collect...

(next to be seen running over the hill with a 3.5" loco under each arm...)

Dad's got it fairly easy, when he pops off, I have to have a cage match with his S.O. over who gets what now. Except I think I get the tooling. As for me, well, while I am young, I am not a whippersnapper myself any more, and the thought has crossed my mind that I have more in hobby materials than in house...so my wife knows who to get ahold of club wise for the Lego, and if I beat dad into the box, he'd get the steam stuff back.

I have a fairly extensive OO scale railway, the value of which to most is about $0.01...if you didn't understand my idiotsincricities, then you'd be fairly hard done by. That being said, with 2 boys, I'd hope that my wife would just tidy stuff up and leave stuff for them, even if its only the little one who is really interested in trains.

We're currently dealing with a family member who had 15 years notice to draft a will. There is no will. Some people won't recognize the apparent when it beats them over the head. Would have made things easier...even if said will was "you get everything, signed Unka Bob".

James
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Please plan ahead

Post by Greg_Lewis »

James Powell wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:01 pm
...
We're currently dealing with a family member who had 15 years notice to draft a will. There is no will. Some people won't recognize the apparent when it beats them over the head. Would have made things easier...even if said will was "you get everything, signed Unka Bob".

James
This is sad. We all tend to put things off. But it only takes an hour or less to scribble something down and tell your family where it is. (Don't forget to include any life insurance policies.) If you haven't done it yet, set aside some time this weekend to get at least the basics taken care of.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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