Auction house contents ?

lincroft1710

The auction houses used by TV programmes Flog It and Antiques Road Trip seem genuine, are there any of these near you?

Ausernamenotinuse

I don't know whether they are local? I live on the south coast. Yes I thought they looked reasonable and trustworthy. Thought of writing to BBC to get a list, but does anybody know the names and contact details of these companies ? I wouldn't mind investing in an auctioneer's visit ? :-)

pathtofreedom

Depending on what sort of items you're talking about somewhere like cash convertors might buy things if you're not wanting to ebay them yourself. You might not get the most cash as they have to make a profit reselling the item, but I have been using them to declutter my house to downsize, and something is better than nothing especially if you haven't the time to list everything separately yourself.

There are a few people that will list all your items on ebay for a cut as well but again it is finding one in your area. Do you have any young relatives who might help you with ebay, if you're not used to it, and you could give them pocket money or something out of the profits for helping.

Charity shops will come and collect some furniture, or even other items if you bag it up for them. If it is something like a couch though it needs to have a fire saftey label still attached or they can't take it.

walwyn1978

If you have time, go to one or two of their auctions as a fact finding visit. Are the lots 'pushed' ie given a bit of spiel and their rarity highlighted, or is it just announced as 'box of miscellaneous' or 'mans bike'?

When we were just married and very poor, I used to go to the auction in St Albans where we lived at the time regularly - they were the second kind of auction house, where things were sold at a huge pace and given very little attention/detail. There were things that looked decent sold for buttons because it was all done at breakneck pace and onto the next one - quantity over any kind of quality.

Two years ago, we auctioned off some of my late Grandmas' things as part of her house clearance. We visited three auctioneers around her house and went with the one where the sale was conducted at a pace which included salesmanship, the catalogue included detail about the item (eg 'Georgian mantlepiece clock, gold leaf trim, wear to mechanism' rather than 'clock') because we felt they would aim for a higher sales figure and thus make more money for us (and of course them). Too far for you, I'd imagine, but that was East Bristol Auctions. I'd recommend going to a sale to see what their setup is like.

If you can't/don't have time, try looking on their website/getting a catalogue - again, are there photos? Is there detail, or simply a one word description?

Good luck with it - a time consuming task however you look at it.