How to Find Auctions in My Area

An auction is a manner or system to buy and sell goods or services by providing them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the top bidder. The open rising price auction is debatably the most common form of auction in use today. Participants bid frankly against one another, with each subsequent bid needed to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer basically declare prices, bidders can call out their bids themselves (or have a proxy call out a bid on their behalf), or bids may be submitted electronically with the highest current bid publicly displayed. It doesn’t matter what type of auction you seek online and print-based publications list upcoming events in your area. Some auctions are advertised in a classified ad and auction-listing sites like Locate Auctions and publications, while fundraising auctions designed to help a non-profit agency may be promoted with flyers or on the agency’s website.

General Estate Auctions

This type of auction is advertised in local newspapers in advance; many papers offer the same classified listings on their websites as well. Auctions to settle an estate might involve personal belongings, the contents of a home, farm or even the property itself. Auction listings and ads basically include the name of the auctioneer; the auctioneer’s website typically shows or lists some of the items being sold at any given auction. Just, contact the auction company directly to find out more auctions they are managing, to be put on a mailing list or an email subscription if the company has one.

Government Auctions

Government auctions, held by a local school district, police department, city hall or county administrations, occurs when a government entity has surplus, unwanted or unneeded items. The whole thing from office furniture to overhead projectors and unclaimed bicycles may be found at government auctions. In some locales, auctions are held once or twice a year, while some organizations may hold auctions more frequently. Inspect your local free weekly newspaper for news of imminent government auctions, or look at the notice boards in local government buildings where public information is posted.

Police auctions

It’s not always easy to find police auctions. They are typically advertised very cheaply in the classified ads section of newspapers, and very few people know when and where they take place. This is good for you, as that means less competition at the auction. To find them, you can call your local police stations. Look in the front of your phone book, or in the “blue pages” for the number of the precinct. Also, try to call the police stations in surrounding counties and cities. They will usually tell you the dates and places of the auctions coming up, and some even have a mailing list you can get on for future auctions. Some of the more modern police precincts have begun posting their auction information on the web. Just search Google for your local police station website.

Storage Auctions

Storage auctions occur at a lot of storage facilities, although they may happen only once or twice a year at a number of facilities. At a storage auction, you bid on contents within a storage unit based on what you can see from the entrance to the unit, so you may not know exactly what you are bidding on. Verify local classified listings or call local storage services to ask the date and time of the next auction. Some storage auctions are greatly attended, so the competition may be intense.

Auction Houses

In some communities, auction houses host their own auctions on a regular basis, such as once a month or bi-weekly. Items at these auctions may be specialized, such as a toy auction, or include more general merchandise such as household belongings or antiques. Normally, an auction house allows you to appear at and choose up items being offered before the auction begins. Visit the auction house’s website or inspect local auction listings in a local newspaper or online classified-ads site. Calling the auction house or auctioneer is another technique to find out about an imminent public auction run by the auction house or auctioneer.

Online auction

The increase of the internet has taken a lot of activities that once necessary a physical presence into the realm of the digital. It has also opened up activities that were once the region of a well-informed and well-placed few, by removing barriers of access and distance. Auction sales are one of these activities, and as a result, they’ve become a popular way to shop online, with a surplus of sites devoted to just about any kind of consumer goods you can think of. Bidding on items, rather than simply purchasing them at retail prices, can give you the opportunity to score big savings. Online auctions come in different forms, however, and it’s helpful to know what to expect when you start looking around.