Stay Tuned...

Tomorrow I am going to a live auction and promise to show you how it went in my next blog post:)

Auctions

A warning is in order here. I feel the need to begin this blog post by saying that auctioning may be hazardous to your health. Expect a rapid hearbeat, sweaty palms, and general neuroses. Understand that you may find yourself spending money on things you will never have a use for but can't pass up because A) It's red B) You've never seen one C) Everyone else seems to be bidding on it, it must be valuable.

After only having done about ten auctions I am certainly no expert,  but I have learned enough to at  least give a beginner's tutorial.  Today I am going to concentrate on local online auctions which I believe are a terrific way to get acclimated to the auction world with little risk and minimal funds.

Ok, so, Step 1: Find a local online auction. If you pick one that's too far away you will spend a lot of time and money in travel costs which pretty much defeats the purpose of getting items on the cheap. You can pay the auction service to ship your items but it's ridiculous expensive.  They make it that way because they want to be in the auction biz, not the shipping biz. They want to be on to their next sale. I have been working with Hines Auctions with main offices in Ellsworth, WI. Their offices are about an hour away from me, but so is everything else, and Hines' employees are so nice and easy to deal with. They call me by my name when I come to pick up my loot and, let's face it, we love the sound of our name! Seriously though, even the owner and chief auctioneer talks to me and asks me about my main interests so he can keep an eye open for me -unreal, huh?

Step 2: Register. You will need to have payment methods on file for obvious reasons, but when you pick up the items you have "won", they actually prefer you pay with cash or check (yes, check - that vintage method of payment your grandma uses) and they give me a discount for using cash or checks, so of course that is how I pay.
Registering is simply entering your name, mailing address, email address, credit card info, and phone number. You will also come up with a password to use when logging into the site. This allows you to bid on your gotta-have-ems.

Step 3: Find out what auctions are going on. Hines has a sports memorabilia auction going on right now and I am in a bidding war over this Cal Ripkin jersey with a certificate of authenticity (important if you are buying as an investment). Cal Ripkin is Mark's all time favorite baseball player. He actually has a framed jersey already, but this one looks really cool.

Step 4: Start Bidding. Once you find an auction with the stuff you're interested in, start going through the catalog of items. When you see an item you are interested in, try to make yourself decide on the MAXIMUM amount you would ever spend on it. This will prevent you (in theory anyway) from getting whipped into a frenzy when somebody outbids you on that item and you find yourself with a $200 jar of marbles. If you don't have countless hours to spend perusing the auction everyday, Hines lets you enter your maximum bid for that item. For example, I would like to get the Cal Ripkin jersey for $100, but I don't want to pay more than $200 for it. I could enter $200 for my maximum bid. If nobody bids over, let's say, $147, my end price will be $147.

Step 5: Stay posted and keep track of time remaining in the bidding period. I signed up to be emailed and texted whenever I am outbid on an item, but some might find it ridiculous because toward the end of the bidding time my phone nearly blows up. I'm weird, I dig this stuff, so I don't mind. A DIFFERENT STRATEGY, but one I don't use, is not to bid on anything until the remaining moments. I think part of the fun is the bidding process though, so waiting to bid until the end seems too logical. In my world, logical equates with boring. For me, auctions are filled with passion. It is my form of deer hunting. I wait in my blind for the perfect item to pass by and when it does - I take a shot at it. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  In my hunting nothing gets hurt, that is if you don't count the slivers and bruises I have from hauling furniture.

Once the bidding closes you get to see your winnings and scroll through while you dream of the perfect place to put your vintage Lite Brite. I think you should spell out Merry Christmas with it and out it in the entryway.

http://homedesign.marthastewart.com/2010/12/my-favorite-things-about-christmas.html

I hope you will try out an online auction or two and tell me about it! In an upcoming blog I will devote space to the discussion of what happens when picking up auction items.

Until next time, stay classy.

XO Christine

Christmas Goodies

My idea of Christmas goodies aren't of the confectionary kind. Sure, I love decorated gingerbread men and spiked apple cider as much as the next gal, but my favorite kind of goodies for Christmas are typically made out of wood or fabric and most of the time have the aged patina that brings about feelings of Christmases long long ago.

Six o'clock last evening brought the end of the bidding wars on some gotta-have-ems at the online auction and today I got to go pick up my winnings, which to me feels like Christmas mornings running down the stairs to scope out my loot. Mark scoffs at the way I refer to my auction hauls as "winnings" considering I do pay for them. I've got to face the fact that he just hasn't been bitten by the auction cootie bug. Not yet. It'll happen though, mark my words.

Today I scored a black cast iron horse, two beaded purses, two vintage coloring books, a framed wall mirror that is super heavy, and some old sheet music, but my three biggest goodies were a pine corner cupboard, a red and green table, and the piez de resistance - a red and white antique rolling tool chest!

Ta da! Isn't it just too much? And the inside is darling with its penciled notes from a friend dated 1953. If tool chests could talk, what would this one say?

I haven't forgotten about my promise of a post or two dedicated strictly to auctions.I am headed to one tomorrow and I will try to remember to take some pics. In my clamor for more goodies I often forget to document my journey.

Signing off for now - may visions of vintage teakettles dance in your head.

Bella fortuna!

Christine