26 Jan
2019
26 Jan
'19
6:52 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Grant Taylor via cctalk once stated:
On 1/26/19 6:26 PM, William Donzelli via cctalk
wrote:
I remember attending an auction at a local university some twenty years
ago [1] with some friends, hoping to score some computer equipment. There
was a sizable crowd there, but two bidders stood out. One was a guy there
with a young kid, and another was an older gentleman. The older gentleman
had a bankroll and was *continuously* outbidding *everbody* and seemed
pissed that there were other bidders there [2]. The man with the young kid
started bidding on an old fusball table for his kid and the older gentleman
was determined to get it---drive the price up something fierce and I'm sure
he priced the other fusball table according to the driven up price at the
auction.
He outbid me for a pile of equipment (I was really interested in one item,
not the lot as a whole). I approached him afterwards, offering to buy the
one item and he blew me off, not wanting to bother to even part with the one
item right there, for cash.
It ruined the auction for me, the father, and others I'm sure.
-spc
[1] I was a former student at said university.
[2] How dare these civilians bid on stuff!
Learning how to judge scrap value is the first
thing to do. Do research
and gain experience.
That sounds all well and good. Until you something unexpected and
unknown when you are at an auction for something else. There's only so
much self education you can do on a smart phone 10 minutes before the
auction.
I've found the best policy is to be honest with people in such
situations. If a scrapper is planing on getting $200 in raw materials,
I'm not going to waist anybody's time bidding $50.
Be polite, ask questions, don't take anything personally. Try not to
insult people.