Doing their bidding: Local auctioneers rebound in era of eBay

DECATUR, Oct 05, 2008 (Herald & Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- EBAY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- If an auctioneer's technique is so good he can even squeeze money out of a rock, the chances are he can also turn whatever you want to get rid of into hard cash, too.

It's a philosophy that's paying off for Decatur auctioneers Les Crandall and Dean Rhoades, who recently opened their Central Illinois Auctions Center on East U.S. 36.

The rocks, some as big as a compact car, were knocked down recently at a sale and are popular with landscapers. What's increasingly popular with everybody else in these tough economic times is turning to auctions to transmute anything from collectibles to houses into money, fast.

People who don't always have a lot to sell but need to offload what they can to generate cash are welcome, too, and the new auction center offers a convenient location to combine their stuff with others and create a sizable sale.

"Now, comparing auctions with rummage sales or whatever, if you have a backyard sale and you set a price of, say, $5 on an item, that is what that price will be at that time," Rhoades said. "And if the item's price is too cheap, it will sell quickly, and if not, you might be left with it."

Crandall said the auction business model works better because, even though the seller is paying commission, he's winning overall. "A person can't know the value of everything, but at the auction, you let the people decide," he added. "You might be sure that antique chair should sell for $100 and it only gets $85, but that other thing you only thought would sell for $2 or $3 sells for $50 instead. The seller comes out ahead overall when you look at the bottom line, and that's what counts."

There was a time when it looked like Internet auction sites such as eBay would eat the lunch of local auctioneers, and that did happen for a while, especially siphoning off lucrative antique sales. The Web still claims a good share of those lots, but rising commission rates and tougher selling conditions amid hard times have taken some of the sheen off of cyberspace's appeal, according to experienced auctioneers such as Decatur-based Mike Hall.

He's been in the business for 38 years and has seen a lot of trends come and go. But he said auctions endure because they offer fair value fast, as long as the auctioneer does his homework.

"You've got to advertise the sale right and get the people in there to buy the stuff," he explained. "We make calls when we get certain things in to make sure we've got the right people there to buy it. That's our job. We had a train set the other day that sold for $1,400, but if we hadn't done our homework, the right people wouldn't have been there, and it wouldn't have brought that."

Auctions aren't just the choice for smaller items, either. Hall said when people lose jobs and need to off-load their homes quick to move on to other opportunities, the auction is becoming a popular sales choice. He said turnaround from advertising to closing can be as little as three weeks, and his commission rate is very competitive.

"We've had one of our better years in the auction business this year," said Hall, 59. "And real estate is becoming one of the dominant parts of what we do."

One other big demographic trend driving the auction business is an aging population looking to downsize their lifetime accumulations of stuff. Andy Black, who runs Oakley-based Andy Black Auction Service, sees a lot of big collections go under the hammer but is still occasionally surprised at just how much stuff people can pick up down the long corridor of the years.

He recalls the two-day sale, back in May of 2007, when he sold 12 wagonloads, plus assorted other goodies too big to fit on a wagon, for Argenta collector Charlie Kaufman, who has since died. Kaufman had been ill with cancer at the time and wanted to see his estate sale happen "while I can enjoy it." Black said he sold for seven hours straight the first day and 12 hours straight the second day, but there was plenty of untouched inventory to go, and the sale isn't over yet.

"I'm still selling his stuff," said Black, 48. "He passed away last winter, I was at his bedside, and he wanted me to just keep putting a little bit of his things into each sale I do, and I am doing that. Old Charlie always loved a good auction."

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