Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Estate auction with guns for sale. Ridiculous prices?

I know a guy who is an auctioneer and also owns a gun store. He takes every cheap M94 that comes in the store and puts them in the estate auctions he does. Then when he advertises the auction he purposely doesn't get into detail about the M94's, he just says "old Winchester lever action". It brings them in everytime!

Before my father passed away he put a value on every gun he owned (lots) and let any of the 8 kids buy anything they wanted with the money going to the estate. None of them wanted any so we all agreed on a total price and I wrote out 7 checks, one to each of my brothers and sisters for 1/8th the amount. We've seen way to many families ripped up over the estate of a parent to let it happen to us.

First auction my wife and I went to we were bidding against each other for the same pistol....until I got her to shut up and let me buy the damn gun! Probably paid too much but still have it ....and her although...................

Cousins?

I've had 2 cases locally where I found out that the damn auction house was bidding against me.

I lost a friend last year that had an extensive collection of 250 long guns mostly pre64 Winchesters and Savage 99s. I filled a pocket with cash and went to Fairbanks intending to buy a nice 99 and a Marlin 39A......Most of the guns sold at least 50% higher than I expected....The sons were very pleased even after paying the auctioneer 15%.....AND the buyers paid a 10% fee plus $20 FFL transfer fee.

One bidder showed up with a large satchel handcuffed to himself and wearing a gun.....in the front row, of course.

I don't believe I'd attend an auction where the family is allowed to bid......

in the cases i spoke about, small town and was well known what was going on well before the auction date

plus it was announced by the auctioneer at the beginning on sale day

Sorry you feel this way. Truth of the matter is, at a public auction, how do you know who you're bidding against at all? Auctioneers could bring folks in to drive up prices or family members could bring folks in to do the same. Point is ... if there's something there you want; you'll most likely end up paying too much for it. It's the nature of the beast! I know I'll pay more for Pops guns than they are worth to the average fella, but I have no choice. Just like I had no choice in his passing earlier this year. Hell, if I had it my way he'd still be here carrying those guns into the deer woods with myself and his grandson by his side.

It all depends on the agreement that the family makes with the auctioneer. If they want to bid, that's fine, but if they bid the prices up past the point that the item doesn't sell, they still owe the auctioneer his commission.

It also depends on the various laws of that particular state. Some states have different types of auctions, (reserve or absolute), some states let the house bid, some don't.

Auctioneers take the same ethics courses that attorneys take.
GW

Dont get mad at auctions, its capitalism. Sellers, buyers and agents. Hoping to: get more than it is worth, semi steal it, and make as much as is legally if not ethicly possible.

My dad goes to auctions I think to just kill time. Yesterday he bought a hydrostatic JD mower for $200 because "the transmission was out". He flipped the valve from the pump open and drove it on the trailer.

So, good deals can be found. If you know what your buying.

I sure do not understand the stance against capitalism on a conservative message board!

I hear folks bitching about local farm equipment auctions where the auction house bids on the equipment. Then the auction house puts the equipment on their own sales lot or sells it again later at a different auction.

What's the big deal. If the house thinks they can make more money buying the gun, tractor, etc, good for them. This is America, still, in some ways.

And if the previous owner thinks it is in his best interest to bid on an auction item, so be it. He is the one paying the auctioneer. One sees that happen all the time at livestock auctions.

Personally, I try to hold a pretty good poker face when I bid at an auction. I know what the item or critter is worth to me, and I know how high I will bid it up. If someone tries to bid against me just to raise my price.......they better be ready to buy the item, because I will definitely drop it on them.

It is easy to read the exited smile vs the frown on the other bidder's face when I fail to make the next bid.

Thats my point. i may show some cynicism in my statement but it is the ugly truth. I am usually the one wanting to buy cheap. Notice i state it different when talking about myself.

As to driving the price up I do the same. I know where i will go and keep bidding, when i get there I stop.

if you had something to sell, like we will when Mom passes... Dad always said have an auction... get as much as any idiot will pay, put reserves on some stuff, and what doesn't sell, then have a garage sale or give away so to speak.....

of course there will be things passed along to friends for nothing too.

But for all the other stuff, why not seek what you can?

Heck folks on here build guns and charge twice what they are worth and they sell all day long....

thats capitalism the most successful economy known. not always pretty not always nice or "fair" but how it works. and if you dont understand why things arent settled in the family before auction you are very fortunate

One of the easiest ways I have ever seen to settle an estate was my Grand Parents'.

First all the cash assets were settled up and divided equally between their six adult children. Then a private auctioneer was hired and went through the estate with those six heirs.

Every item in the house and equipment shed was auctioned off to the six kids. Then the proceeds of the auction were also divided up and distributed between the heirs.

I don't see how any estate dispersal could be more fair than that.

thats an almost perfect deal. fair split, whomever wants dads ____ pays for it. explains why "owners" are bidding.

Seems like a lot of people get uptight on prices of whatever. I guess I'm odd man out. Doesn't matter who is selling it or why. To me it's either worth what I'm offering or not. Really don't care what someone else is offering or whatever. I'll offer up to what I feel like spending and what it is worth to me at the time, then stop.