wheeler dealers and del boys

RFW

soolin wrote: »

You can tell the ones registered and the ones not though. when film cameras come to the auction houses, which they do all the time for various TV programmes, some will rush to stand behind the filming line where they are guaranteed not to be shown on film.

Not too many regular buyers rush to appear on TV, that's why there's the same bidders shown on most of the auction programmes, I wouldn't be surprised if they've never actually shown a real bidder on Bargain Hunt.

In an auction I was running a few years ago I had a student who had asked if she could take some pictures. I announced near a break that she would be taking their picture and to move out of the way if they didn't want to be photographed. Pretty much the whole room ducked below tables! A quick way to clear an auction room is to take a camera out.

It isn't necessarily a tax dodging issue that some don't want to appear, they also wouldn't want others to know where they buy from and the type of prices they are paying. If you're buying something for a penny and selling it for a pound you wouldn't want anyone finding out how you were doing that.

porto_bello

I found it very interesting. It seemed to be a game of to halves, with on the one hand, those having a good knowledge of specific types of items and knew when to stop bidding... and those who were pretty clueless and trying to emulate success by bidding too much for things they were unsure about.

The Gucci watch was particularly interesting - the 'pro' guy who knew his stuff also knew exactly when to stop bidding and let the woman win the auction. Then she had to go to the trouble of working out that it cost her £49. She listed it on eBay and it failed to sell, so she sold it at a boot sale as a last resort. The eventual buyer was tempted to buy for £80, which I thought would prompt an offer of £75, but the seller dropped to £70 for a sale. [Mind you, perhaps that was just for the tele: would anyone in their right mind spend £70 on a 'real' Gucci watch, bought in good faith, at a boot sale?]

The seller may have made £21 on paper, but she spent money buying selling on-line and off-line and at least 2 days of her life trying to squeeze a small profit. Surely, if making £21 over a week is a prominent success, wouldn't it be easier for her to scavenge her local charity shops and list a few dozen items on eBay, making on average, a couple of quid on everything?

[By the way, one thing that crossed my mind was that the 'pro' Del Boys' would know the best market to sell their purchases, whereas the random copycats didn't really have a clue where to sell the items they didn't know about!]

This_Year

porto_bello wrote: »

The Gucci watch was particularly interesting - the 'pro' guy who knew his stuff also knew exactly when to stop bidding and let the woman win the auction. Then she had to go to the trouble of working out that it cost her £49. She listed it on eBay and it failed to sell, so she sold it at a boot sale as a last resort. The eventual buyer was tempted to buy for £80, which I thought would prompt an offer of £75, but the seller dropped to £70 for a sale. [Mind you, perhaps that was just for the tele: would anyone in their right mind spend £70 on a 'real' Gucci watch, bought in good faith, at a boot sale?]

Yep. First rule of car boot selling is obviously "I'm looking for £100 but I'll take £80. £70 then" :doh: [/sarcasm]

Buyer didn't even attempt to haggle, seller was perfectly willing to do that for her! I was beginning to think the seller would say, here you go, have the 'genuine' Gucci watch and here's £20 for your trouble. :wall:

Way to make your fortune. *rolls eyes*

kendall17

sequence wrote: »

I think they'd do better to just spend they're money on lottery tickets. Much better chance of a big win, than at those tat auctions.

One man's tat is another man's treasure!

Couple of decent results for me, £2+fees on a mixed lot of 4 items. Sold them individually for £40.

£15 for 15 untested printers. 9 worked = £20 each.

My mate just bought a Royal Doulton Dinner Service for £12+fees and has sold 2 items from it for £200.

There is money to be made if you know what you're buying/done some research.

Tomorrow's auction for me has 2 lovely swimming pools in it. Suspect there may be a battle for them!

oldone_2

Having now watched the programme, I am puzzled as to why anyone would want to buy a 'lost' suitcase after the auction house had gone through the contents and removed anything of interest.

soolin

4771_Miles_To_Caracas wrote: »

Do the buyers know it has already been stripped of anything of value?

Yes they seemed pretty clear it was just clothes and the value of the case.

porto_bello

kendall17 wrote: »

There is money to be made if you know what you're buying/done some research.

That's exactly the point - for me at least, the programme especially highlighted that there are people trying their hand at this without either the knowledge or the intention of gaining it before throwing their money at this kind of high risk venture, where knowledge is essential!

There was a couple who bought a Japanese print for £250, who only afterwards researched it's value and discovered it was £80-£150, to which they said "oh, well..."

I'm guessing the smart, knowledgeable folk who do have the knowledge and do make a profit do it quietly and off camera.;)

kendall17

porto_bello wrote: »

That's exactly the point - for me at least, the programme especially highlighted that there are people trying their hand at this without either the knowledge or the intention of gaining it before throwing their money at this kind of high risk venture, where knowledge is essential!

There was a couple who bought a Japanese print for £250, who only afterwards researched it's value and discovered it was £80-£150, to which they said "oh, well..."

I'm guessing the smart, knowledgeable folk who do have the knowledge and do make a profit do it quietly and off camera.;)

I've spent all afternoon at work doing some prep work for tomorrow's auction as I wont have time after tonight :cool2:

There's some lots that I can see going for £1 that will reach £15-20 individually on eBay.

RFW

4771_Miles_To_Caracas wrote: »

Do the buyers know it has already been stripped of anything of value?

They're lotted as a "suitcase and contents of ladies clothing", whether the buyers think there may be other stuff in there is always possible. I've always found that members of the public are deceived more easily by themselves than anyone else.
There will always be someone who'll claim they found a genuine Rolex in the lining of a suitcase. Oddly enough there are very few people who will tell you they paid £40 for a suitcase and didn't get a tenner back. It's a bit like gambling, you rarely find a gambler on a losing streak unless he owes you money.
In that respect it was quite good they showed people not making it pay, a little bit of reality compared to the Storage Wars programmes.

K9crusader

I chatted to a dealer recently and he pointed out that if he spent £100 on something and sold it for £120 after a week he had got a much better interest rate than he would have done anywhere else. Its not bad if you have another income, much more difficult if you want to live on it.