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I am interested in getting more information about having you conduct an estate auction, what do I do?

 

The first step is to contact John Russell at Top Bid Auction to evaluate your items at no cost. There are multiple ways you can contact us:

 

How long after having John look at our estate does it take to have the auction?

 

We can usually have the auction within a few weeks, however we work on a first come, first served process.  If you need items removed from the home quickly we can usually make arrangements to have items removed in as little as a few days and store the estate in our 15000’ foot building until we hold the auction.

 

How quickly do you pay your consignors?

 

Top Bid Auctions prides itself in prompt payment to its consignors. Within 10 days following the sale, consignors are provided a statement of the auction results and a check with their proceeds if it was a commissioned auction.  96% of our auctions are commission based but if you require cash be paid for your estate we can do that when we pick up the items from the home.

 

How many people work for you?

 

We currently employ approximately 12 staff members including family members.

 

Where do you promote your sales?

 

For each and every auction, we customize a marketing and advertising strategy to assure maximum buyer participation including Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, physical signs placed strategically around Pueblo, and we send out approximately 3000 emails to interested parties that have requested information from us when we have auctions.  Through social media we reach approximately 20,000 local potential bidders for each auction.  This is one of the reasons we have new bidders at every auction.

 

Do you specialize in a particular type of auction?

 

We specialize in selling total estate liquidations.  90% of our auctions are complete estate liquidations and we do not pick or choose items from an estate.  We take everything that is sellable from a home including antiques, collectibles, linens, tools, garden tools, canned goods from the pantry, outerwear, cleaning products, pots, pans, holiday decorations, coins, jewelry, dishes, pottery, china, furniture, appliances, outerwear, toys, vehicles, boats, auto parts…and almost everything from the home.  Because we have a live auction rather than an online auction we can sell box lots of items that can not be sold online.  Our minimum bid is only $2 so everything gets sold.  EVERYTHING SELLS AT OUR AUCTION with the exception of some furniture which gets donated after two attempts to sell.  

 

Where are your sales held?

 

Our auctions are held at our auction house located at 2850 O’Neal Avenue in Pueblo, Colorado.

 

How many sales do you conduct per year?

 

We conduct auctions 3-4 Saturdays 10 months out of the year, taking two months off in the summer.

 

Do you set minimum bids for items?

 

There are no minimum bids on items which creates a lot of excitement in the auction house.  Because there are no minimum bids, the bidding starts at the starting price someone is willing to pay and it goes up from there.  It really doesn’t matter where an item starts, it only matters where it ends…

 

How many people attend your live auctions?

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We usually have between 200 and 450 people attend the auction in person and we also get people who leave bids online, leave bids on Fridays (when we have previews), and we also allow phone bids.

 

Is there a preferred time of year in which to sell?

 

We strategically plan our auctions to maximize buyer participation. We have found that if we offer quality items that are fresh to the market and in good condition, the time of year does not influence an auction's success other than the summer months which is why we are closed in the summer.

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Why do live auctions instead of estate sales or online auctions?

 

We began by holding estate sales until 9 years ago when we started live auctions.  We always had items leftover at estate sales and it is sometimes hard to determine prices on items at an estate sale unlike an auction where the price is determined by the bidders.  We find the best way to get fair market value is through the auction process.  The reason we hold live auctions rather than online auctions is we have always thought we get more money per item doing it live and we were proven right as we had to do online auctions during Covid and we got 22% less money per item selling online.  We can also sell items (mainly small items and box lots) at a live auction that we could not sell online.

 

What is a buyer premium and do you charge one?

 

We do charge a 5% buyer premium to all of our buyers, which is between 11 and 21% less than our competition.  The only comment we get on our buyer premium is usually “Wow, only 5%!” as they are used to most auction houses charging between 15% and 25% buyers fee.  We find 5% does not affect the purchase price of the consignor’s items but over 10% tends to affect the hammer price of the seller’s items which makes your check smaller.  You should always ask an auction company what their buyer premium is and take that into consideration before making the decision about what company you want handling your estate.

 

Do you only handle complete estates?

 

No, we also handle partial estates and consignments.  Just call John at 719.242.8928 for more information.

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