Welcome to Gavel Talk!

I am pleased to introduce Gavel Talk – a place to learn about strategies for buying and selling at auction.

I think this is as good of time as any to make a very important clarification about me and this site. While I will address online strategies on this site, this site IS NOT a how-to use ebay site, nor is my experience and qualifications related in anyway to ebay selling.

So that begs the question, who am I and what is this site about?I am a professional auctioneer… yes one of those guys who “talks real fast.” As a matter of fact, that is me in the banner up above doing my thing.I have been in the auction profession for over 20 years and have performed every task possible related to the business. I have owned several companies that have specialized in various asset types and sale methods. I have dropped the gavel over 200,000 times, selling everything from computer equipment to machinery… vehicles to real estate… antiques and collectibles to motion picture making equipment. I have even sold dates with firemen, which raised tens of thousands of dollars for families vitimized by 9/11.

For as many property types I have sold, I have used as many auction strategies, including various iterations of live auctions, sealed bid auctions, bulk sale auctions, online auctions and live webcast auctions. I even earned more than my 15 minutes of fame, selling during a live television broadcast with bids submitted online and by telephone.

With this diversity, you can see why most auctioneers have experience and expertise well beyond the art of the chant. As a matter of fact, to be an effective auctioneer has nothing to do with bid calling and everything to do with being an expert marketer.

Every auction decision made is about catering to the target market. Type of auction (live, online, sealed bid, etc.), advertising approaches, auction venue, merchandising, terms of sale, etc. The reason these things are so important is simple… an auction only work if the market is represented at the sale and is willing and able to participate.

So this site will be dedicated to helping the public understand how and when an auction can be used to (1) sell quickly, (2) establish market value or (3) simply to find the market.Using an auction can be a huge decision and you deserve all of the help and direction you can get.I will also help buyers to participate in auctions with a clearer understanding of the process and more reasonable expectations.

I welcome your questions and will do my best to incorporate what I receive via email into this site, or otherwise respond to you directly.

Feel free to ask about any type of auction (yes, including ebay) and any type of property. If I cannot answer the questions, I’m sure I can direct you to someone that can.