Hiring An Auction Company

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

How To Remove Wallpaper Borders

So you bought a new house. You love everything about it except for the ugly wallpaper borders in almost every room. Time to get them off the wall. Removing wallpaper borders is not an easy task, but with a few good tips and some elbow grease, you can get the job done.

The best way to remove the wallpaper border depends on what type of wallpaper was used, what type of surface it was glued on and what type of adhesive was used. One of the easiest things you can try is to use a hair dryer to heat the wallpaper border which may loosen the adhesive enough to let you peel it off.

Usually if the border has been glued to wallpaper, it will come off fairly easy. Slightly mist it down and use a plastic scraper to remove it from the wall. If the wallpaper border has a vinyl covering that won’t let the water or any commercial wallpaper remover soak through, use a perforation tool over the entire surface of the border to allow it to soak in.

If the wallpaper border has been glued directly onto a painted wall, use warm water and some commercially available wallpaper remover and give it plenty of time to soak in before you try to scrap it off.

Steaming also works well for removing wallpaper borders. Steam the entire surface of the wallpaper border. Start from the bottom to the topmost part in sections. If the adhesive is very strong, steam the boarder twice or more until the wallpaper boarder starts to loosen from the wall. Use a plastic or soft metal scraper to avoid damaging the wall. Scrape the border off the wall working from the bottom up. Use warm water and a clean sponge to remove any remaining adhesive from the wall.

Instead of using a commercially available wallpaper stripper, you can also use a mixture of fabric softener and water. Mix 1 capful of fabric softener with 1 quart of water. Pour it in a spray bottle and spray it right on the wallpaper border. For very strong adhesives, you can also use a sponge and soak the boarder with pure fabric softener.

Another “homemade” option is vinegar. Mix water and vinegar and pray it on, or use an old paint roller and roll it right on the wallpaper boarder. The stronger the wallpaper adhesive seems to be, the more vinegar you should use. Use the vinegar option as a last resort, since it will smell pretty strongly for a few days. Wipe the walls down with a damp rag after you removed the wallpaper boarder to get as much of the vinegar as possible off your wall.

Are You Killing Your Small Business?

What you do and do not do on a daily basis has a long term compounding impact on your Small Business success. Depending on the approach you take and the level of self-sabotaging you engage in will have real effects on the outcome of your business, including whether or not you are actively killing your Small Business.What does killing your Small Business mean?Killing your Small Business means that you may be making decisions that are sabotaging your business success and unwittingly committing to a course of action that will eventually see you fail.
It is about the self-sabotaging behaviours that people employ on a conscious and subconscious level to stop themselves from being successful, to slow things down or to completely undermine their goals.
It is a bad habit that can cost you your Small Business;
It is a bad habit of ego-centric, failure enduring decisions etc that do not serve your highest purpose;
It is allowing fears to drive your Small Business direction and kill it from the inside out. Often this is a slow and painful death – one small decision, action or inaction compounding over time.
What does killing your Small Business look like?Imagine that you decide to put on an event to show off your services and bring in more clients/customers, more money and build your business. As a result of this decision, you go about setting up the event, sorting out the details, thinking about the costs and considering what profit you will make. You’re excited and ready to go, but, then something strange happens and you lack the motivation to do the basics well to get the message out there to your niche audience. You find yourself unwilling to step out of your comfort zone and be vulnerable.
Worries begin to fester about your ability to pull the event off;
You worry that people will see you as an imposter;
Fear takes root and all your decisions and actions are now run through this internal filter;
You think about giving up;
You think about retreating because it all seems to hard to get off the ground;
You may even worry that you will have too many people show up for the event and what will you do then?
Fear burrows deeper in your gut and whispers, “Who do you think you are? You know you can’t handle it, you’re not ready, you need more time. You’re a fake, fraud and you’re not going to cope if they all come.”Subconsciously you sabotage your every effort to grow your business through inactions and not following through. You now live in Excuse Central! You feel overwhelmed and the last thing you want to do is take action.You may be asking, what person in their right mind would be doing this! It’s insane and it doesn’t make sense.But from an emotional safety perspective it makes perfect sense to the Small Business Owner who fears too much success too soon. They may fear not being able to handle the abundance and prosperity that could flow from their awesome idea.I never said it was rational.Internally their subconscious seeks to keep them safe through avoiding situations that have the potential to be successful.Say hello to procrastination!This kind of self-sabotaging behaviour may not even be something that they can see themselves, however, anyone around them who is trying to help them get off the ground and grow their business can see it. Bystanders are often fraught with frustration as they watch you abort your best efforts.If a bystander tries to intervene when the Small Business Owner is not ready to receive their message of how to help, it can lead disagreements, resentment, anger and parting of ways.Fear and an out if balance ego that feels threatened are insidious weeds that, if left unchecked, can become an out of control jungle of compounding self-sabotage behaviours that have a flow-on effect, resulting in you actively killing your own Small Business.Where to from here?If you have begun to see yourself in this scenario, that is a good thing to acknowledge. Admitting that you have a fear that holds you back is an empowering step forward. It is an opportunity for you to explore what is really going on inside you.
Check in with yourself to see if your ego has flared up in response to help and give humility a go, you may just end up being more successful than you thought and experience greater support from like-minded people;
Reflect on what you are doing or choosing not to do. Ask yourself the hard questions to get to the deep reason as to why you do not want to be successful right now;
Consider what might be holding you back from success and nip fears in the bud because honestly, having too many people want to attend your event and know about your Small Business is a good problem to have!
Daily reflection on your thoughts, behaviour and resistance will help you to avoid killing your own Small Business.