October is auction time again!

General Information

• You don't need to be a RARS member to buy or sell - everyone is invited.
• We suggest you bring enough cash to make change for any items you buy or sell.
• Buyers pay sellers directly. RARS is not a party in any sale or purchase.
• RARS does not "take a cut" or charge any fees.   However donations are welcome. Donations are tax exempt and reciepts will be available.
• As usual, refreshments will be available at about 7:00 followed by a short meeting at about 7:15. The auction will start after the meeting.

SELLERS

Before leaving home

• Figure out what to sell. Generally, it should be ham radio or computer related or of clear and obvious interest to this audience. For example, in addition to ham and computer gear, good choices would include a pay telephone, emergency warning beacons that could be used in public service, a digital camera, a lamp made from a broadcast transmitter vacuum tube or a power meter, etc. Don't bring your Aunt Mae's spring dress or cousin Jimmy's bicycle, or any other ordinary household item. It simply won't be accepted. The auctioneer has the final decision to accept any item for acution. - see rule #1.
• Pre-Register it! - Use the Auction Registration Form on the website to register your items. Note that registration ends Monday night at midnight..
• If you failed to pre-register - Bring your items to the auction early and see the auctioneer. He will have forms and labels available before the meeting starts.
• Have the information indicated below with you when you arrive.

At the Auction:

• Check-in and Registration starts at 6:15 PM - Take you items to be sold to the auctioneer or his assistant. He will give you your labels and registration forms based on the information you provided on your registration form. Put the labels on your equipment and put the equipment on one of the numbered tables. Write the number of the table on the registration form and give it back to the auctioneer or assistant.
• If you failed to pre-register - The auctioneer will have blank registration forms and labels available for you to fill out showing the following information:
  • Your name and callsign.
  • Description - What the item is (Frammistat 1000 analog kibitzing decoder)
  • Condition of item (It worked the last time I tried it, about 10 years ago)
  • Minimum bid accepted (reserve $ amount -or- "NO RESERVE")
• The auctioneer has the right to reject any item. - In general, all items should be radio or computer related.
• Hang around in case any potential buyers have questions for you before the auction start. Wearing a name tag with your call is a really good idea for this event.
• When your item comes up, be prepared to give a short description of the item. The auctioneer will read the info from the registration card. After this, he will probably ask you to quickly describe it in detail, or may ask you a question about it. At the very least, we need to know who and where you are in the audience. Be alert. We need more lerts.
• Reserve Prices - If an item has a reserve price, or minimum bid required, the auction will start BELOW that price. If the bidding does not go above the reserve, the auctioneer will ask the seller if he will accept the highest legitimate bid that has been made (see below). If the seller does accept, then the buyer pays the seller. If not, the seller takes his item back. If the bid goes over the reserve, it will sell.
• SOLD! When an item sells, the buyer needs to pay the seller immediately and then takes possession of the item. The auctioneer's helpers will help get the buyer, seller, and item together. Don’t forget to bring Cash, ones, fives, tens and twenties. The auction will continue while this is going on. If the auctioneer wins something, this will be done at the end of the auction, so wait until then, unless he says otherwise.
• After the Auction - If you brought something that did not sell, take it home. Please don't leave anything behind. We will not clean up or throw away your treasures, that's your job. Also, please help us clean up the room afterwards.
  
  
• RARS and Donations -- The club does not take a "cut" of the transaction, however you may donate part of all of an item's proceeds to the club if you wish. Donations to RARS are tax deductible, and the treasurer will give you a receipt.

BUYERS:

• Come in early (6:30 - 6:45 if possible) and look over the items for aucton.
• Ask questions BEFORE the auction starts!  We can't stop the proceeding while you read the manual.
• Buyers pay sellers directly.  Expect to pay cash, and bring some small bills to make change.
• Read the Seller's section above so that you understand what's happening.

What Sells?

You never know who's buying what. "Big Ticket" items are sometimes a hard-sell, especially if you're looking for "market price." This is bargain-time. You might sell an HT or two-meter mobile at $50-$200, but probably not a $400 HF rig. Conversely, if something is a real bargain at $500, or someone is really looking for something you brought, it may sell easily! It all depends on the buyers that are there. This is not to discourage anything, but to set expectations.

On the other hand you'd be surprised at the junque, err... ummm... treasures that do sell. We sometimes hear people say that they were disappointed that there were not many radios for sale, so if you have something to part with, bring it on! If it doesn't sell, it still may provide some fun. We have a lot of fun with this stuff, especially if it is unique! For example, we once had a bidding war on a pay telephone! (It is sitting in the Auctioneer's shack right now.)

Lot sales vs. single items

When you're getting your treasures together for the auction, please think about the event. We usually go long on time. If you have a box full of computer components that you would like to sell as a single lot, great! But, if you have 12 floppy drives, five 486 computers and 3 dot matrix printers that you want to have auctioned as individual items, it's not going to happen. Please think carefully about items of very low value. Lots are OK and can be fun, but we probably won't have time to piece out a "box of treasures" item by item. If you have a large number of items, it is ok to group them into 1, 2 or 3 lots. (Think carefully before going more than 2 lots.) Treasure boxes are always fun! If in doubt, ask the auctioneer before we start.

A word about bids during the auction:

During the auction, you may find that you have bid on something and you didn't know you did. Usually, this means that the auctioneer has an item with a reserve price and he is getting the bidding going, but the bid is well below the reserve, so don't worry. He knows what's going on and you won't be held responsible for this bid. It does lead to a lot of fun though sometimes. Other times, it means that you were running your mouth too loud in the back of the room and he took notice of your "intent to bid" so get your wallet out! If you don't believe this, read rule number 1.

Along with some buying and selling, this is about having lots of fun!

The auctioneer will go over the auction rules before the event starts. Just remember rule number 1:

The Auctioneer is always right!