Should auctioneers be ethical?
We have held for decades that auctioneers should be ethical — without possibly expressing that exact wish on this platform. …
Category Archives: Contract law
Commissions, fees, and uncertainty
Auctioneers take on a number of diverse projects — maybe contract bid calling one day, cleaning and readying farm equipment …
Can a government stop an auction?
Most auctioneers in the United States probably don’t think so, but it’s likely any government can stop any auction and/or …
Is this auctioneer licensed?
It’s early morning Saturday and I’m driving to our auction. I stop at a stoplight and glance over at the …
Good faith, diligence, reasonableness, and care
Or, if you prefer, I suppose, “Bad faith, negligence, unreasonableness, and carelessness?” As a frequent auction expert witness (over 40 …
Perfect, flawless … or is it?
We’ve written about this issue numerous times. Something is held to be a certain type, condition … only to be …
On any given Sunday …
As one who teaches classes to auctioneers all over the United States, one thing stands out: Many auctioneers are looking …
Auctioneers, cents, and seconds
We sell cars, trucks, boats at auction and have for over 25 years. We charge the hammer price, buyer’s premium …
Does “No Reserve” mean absolute?
Our phone rings regularly from attorneys all over the world. A few days ago, this particular attorney asked the same …
The auction exceeded expectations?
These days we see it all the time: “Our auction exceeded all expectations,” or “The auction was twice what we …
Online bidding and no shipping?
We sell personal property at auction live and online. For our live auctions, pickup of purchases can take place that …
“Sold!” to the previous online bidder
This issue arises not only in online auctions, but live auctions as well. The high bidder prior to the lot …
Auctions and disclosing the auction total
We recently wrote about the disclosure of a “sale price” such as one real property or other personal property item. …
Are there bad auction laws?
I’ve often said state and federal legislatures don’t do a very good job legislating. Laws are written and/or adopted and …
Auctions and disclosing the sale price
Kathy is an auctioneer at an onsite real property auction and a good crowd is in attendance. She opens the …
Auctioneer: I’m lying but you know it?
Could an auctioneer lie about what is being sold, the high bid, shipping charges, provenance, and a bunch of other …
The auctioneer really doesn’t pay less
We wrote about auctioneers purchasing and not paying any less nor more than anyone else, despite charging commission. That treatise …
There’s no buyer’s premium?
Buyer’s premiums are charges added to the buyer’s “hammer price” to constitute the total purchase price — plus any other …
Open combination, multiple owners, at auction
Many auctioneers and sellers choose to sell large lots of land in an “open combination” (also known as “multipar,” “multi-parcel” …
One lot, multiple owners, at auction
We had been in the auction business only a few months when we received a telephone call from Larry who …
