Auction Types
There is a great deal of consideration, thought, preparation and even knowledge necessary for auctioneers to understand all of their options in what type of sale to have. Those options should be carefully considered for pros and cons prior to making a decision on what type of auction you’ll choose.
Walnut Creek Auction College teaches you how to operate a huge assortment of auction types, including:
- Live Auctions, where you host an auction at one location and all attendees appear in person to bid at the live event.
- Timed/Live Auction Broadcasts, where you expose your merchandise to a national audience who spend several weeks bidding from the comfort of their homes and then you take the merchandise, or a portion of it, to a live format where all attendees from across the country and those in the live audience compete with one another to get the final highest bid.
- Timed Auction Broadcast, where you expose your merchandise to a national audience who spend a predetermined amount of time bidding from the comfort of their homes. At the conclusion of the auction, the high bid wins the merchandise and can either pick it up or have it shipped.
- Live Broadcast Auction, where you digitally broadcast an auction event across the country so bidders can bid instantly from the comfort of their homes. There are no live audiences at these events and you can conduct them from wherever you choose.
- Silent Auction, where bidders attend an open house and view the merchandise, leaving bids on a sheet of paper per item to be sold. Often used in conjunction with a live auction at fund raisers, this is a special auction type that maximizes income for the benefactor. At the conclusion of the event, the high bid wins the item (lot).
- Pre-Priced Sales, where you simply gather the merchandise either in one location and pre-price every item. This is usually a multi-day event with items with declining prices each day.
At Walnut Creek, you’ll learn everything you need to consider about how to set up each of these types, how much work is involved and the pros and cons of each.
Learning Auctioneering Methods
There are many ways to call (or cry) a sale through your personal auction style. It’s not about saying numbers rapidly. Learning starting points related to value, crowd size and auction type is crucial to getting top values. Learning how to use “filler” words to make a smooth cry, what letters to use and not use in those filler words will determine just how smooth your auction voice becomes. The effect on your auction chant of cold drinks, atmosphere, crowd size, weather, environment (indoors/outdoors), using a microphone and many other considerations will be taught.
A rapid-fire, exciting method and a beautiful sounding rhythmic chant will both be taught and you can select the one you feel fits your personality and voice type the best. There is a great deal more to learn about professional auctioneering than learning how to repeat numbers quickly…in fact, if that’s all you do, you’re going to bore a lot of folks.
Learning the Auction Business
As we’ve stated repeatedly, running an auction business isn’t a simple act of auctioneering. In fact, learning to cry a sale might represent 10% of what it takes to operate a professional auction house like the ones we’ve operated in the past.
We’ll teach you all the topics outlined in our section Auctioneer Training Courses.