Auctions seem like straight forward businesses: You give the auctioneer an item; they promote it, sell it, and charge you and the buyer a percentage of the hammer price. Done.
Because auctioneers are work for a percentage of the sale price, it’s in their best interest to do everything possible to increase the hammers on the lots they’re bringing to market. Or at least it should be.
Many times, though, this isn’t the case. Whether through ignorance, negligence or just plain incompetence, a lot of auctioneers do a lousy job of describing, photographing, and selling items — especially firearms. The end result is a lot less money for them – – and you.
The listing for this Lefever is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. This is all the seller says about it:
LE FEVER SIDE BY SIDE SHOTGUN SET CALIBER: 16 & 20 GAUGE SERIAL NUMBER: 65428
This gun comes up for auction tomorrow, 1/11 at the Lewis & Maese Auction Company in Houston, TX. With lousy pictures and limited information, the auctioneer is doing the seller a disservice and costing everyone money.
But there is an upside to this. If you’re a buyer, you may be able to get a deal. This listing will scare off a lot of people. If you’re brave, or lucky enough to be able to inspect the gun for yourself, you may be able to buy it cheap.
