When considering whether an auction is a good fit for your liquidation needs, it’s important to consider the topic of reserves. In a traditional auction, there is no minimum starting bid. Bidding starts at just $1. If you are thinking, “Wow, that sounds like the worst idea ever! I’m just giving stuff away!” then allow us to direct you to our closed auctions here. You can get a sense of what items are selling for.
Auctions do one things really well, which is to sell a large number of items in a short amount of time. That means we aren’t listing items individually on eBay or Facebook marketplace, haggling over every single thing and waiting for the right buyer to come along. We rely on market driven results and that’s ultimately determined by the bidders showing up to the sale in a given week. Our job is to present the items you have for sale in a well run, professional, nice-looking auction so bidders want to line up to get what you’re selling. We track down collectors and niche buyers so they know what you have on offer, and we do our research to ensure we have accurate, SEO friendly titles that get clicks and buyers.
When you add reserves on items, it pretty much stops the auction machine in its tracks. It’s not the format buyers expect, and often it means either zero bids or just one bid to someone who really wants the items and is willing to pay the listed price. Where you lose out is on the competitive bidding side. There will be fewer bidders trying to get the item, and less interest kills demand. Too many reserces means most people won’t even bid in the first place, which is why we restrict the number of items you can place a reserve on.
With that said, we’ve had clients place very reasonable minimum reserve amounts on items – they just didn’t want to see a certain few items sell for $1. Reserves can also be a good option if you have items of sentimental value – we totally understand that letting things go is hard enough as it is, and feeling like you’re giving away a cherished possession feels even worse. Keep in mind that higher end items sell for more, lower end items sell for less. Sentimental value doesn’t always translate to monetary value, and the concern over the selling price may be a sign that you’d be happier keeping the item in question.
We always encourage our clients to consider the final sale results. There will be items that sell for more than you expected and items that will sell for less. At the end of the day, you will have far less to donate or trash, a check in hand and the knowledge that those items are off to live happy lives in their new homes.
