These liquidation sales thangs...

bugler

Hello.

Just the other day I got a flyer in the door advertising a super liquidation type sale in Clarinbridge...in a reputable hostelry in the village. I'm naturally cautious of these things, as you should be when looking at supposed super-sales of the type offered by travelling companies. I'll give more info on the morrow, when I go look at said flyer, but has anyone experience of these type of things?

For anyone who has no idea what I'm on about, these are basically auctions where all the stock is said to have to go at whatever price..no reserves afaik. They had all kinds of electronic stuff advertised, inc computer consoles/digi cameras/fax machines etc, al at low reserve prices.

I think the companies name involved is Direct Sales Ltd, and I believe there is a Carlow address on the flyer, but if anyone has any news relating to exactly how reliable these affairs are and how safe purchasing at these things is re:warranties etc is I'd be mucho grateful, for curiosity's sake as much as anything.

Spunog UIE

went to one... you very rarely get the reserve price.

What happened was they gave away something nice for next to nothing at the begining while there explaining how it all works, of course people are a bit aprehensive and miss out, which they kick them selves for the night.

The rest of the stuff is bid on and with wild women flappying n waving their hands it all turns into a frenzy which will see stuff fly up in price. Lots actually going above retail price for anything less than <400. With some prices they have a service charge in % which is added on to the bid price you make which keeps some people confused and thinking the price is lower than it is, really adds up with the expensive stuff.

Advise, go reallllllyyyyy early and get a seat in the front two rows, will increase your chance of getting seen by the pickers and can get something if you want it. The best bargins to be hand are with the expensive items, like really nice digital cameras, and stuff that starts off with a 'high price' some nice tv's too but they have to start off high of the frenzy takes over people.

I went and bought nothing had a small budget of 160, my friends had loads and ended up buying a plastic clock, some ****ty shaving thing and some tools :S All crap really.

I actually think it was by sales direct too, got the leaflet in the door a good while back and had the sale in the standhouse in kildare. The prices on the sheet like €5 were too tempting had to have a look.

OH after its over, go up to the guys after people have cleared out and ya might get some stuff ya want a good price.

So be ready to bid the second your in, have a good seat and set your price before ya start to bid. Handy knowing how much stuff is worth too.

BigEejit

Gideon is spot on there .... I've seen 3 or 4 year old absolute crap computers selling for 2/3 or 3/4 of the price of a reasonably specced new machine at an auction ... as Gideon so eloquently put it:

wild women flappying n waving their hands

I may add that there are plenty of wild men at these as well..........

oneweb

Gideon put it very well. Went to one of these before and they hype the goods up soo much it's unbelievable. Also they were giving people black bags with the "buys" in. They were told not to open them 'till they were outside 'cos they'd block up the place. I'd reckon a lot of the stuff is prolly dud. The price you bid is not what you pay. As mentioned, there's a service charge slapped on. Worth going maybe for the spectacle.

sceptre

Gideon's spot on with his summary (as Big Eejit already said)

The service charge is usually about 15% IIRC. It's usually not charged on the cheaper items (stuff going for under a tenner - trust me, you won't be getting playstations, videos or Tvs for under a tenner). Then there's VAT as well.

There were some quite good digital video cameras going at a good price when I was there. Bit above my nno-existant budget though (a nice still digicam would have been nice but they only had crappy spycam ones)

Krusty_Clown

OneWeb: Also they were giving people black bags with the "buys" in. They were told not to open them 'till they were outside 'cos they'd block up the place.

Rememer going to one of these in Oxford Street in London..
The fact that they had look-outs at the entrance to the shop (presumably to keep schtum should the filth be passing by) should have suggested that this was somewhat less than a bargain opportunity.

Luckily, we got wise. And were only fleeced for the price you had to pay for staying in the 'bargain sale', which was £5, for which we got a set of cheap crappy pens! But for a few moments, we got caught up in the bargain frenzy, until we realised the kind of crap they were actually putting into the black bags..

Avoid at all costs! Particularly if you are open to suggestion/easily persuaded.

gogo

Direct Sales Ltd are from carlow, i went to there last auction in portlaoise, and it as a rip off, he makes out you are geting the deal of the century, but there is a 15% vat placed on everthing that he sells, so he's roaring about something for 30 euros and you really pay something like 43 for it.
Direct sales show you everthing up front though, no buying card board boxes full of surprises.

I ended up buying a really crappy camera for forthy something, he said that there was a digital screen at the back, and when I got it the 'digital screen' was the view finder, the camera was about twenty years old, i wouldn't mind but i already have a digital camera, it's very easy to get caught up in the moment and A few of us were mortified later with our crap purchases.

Just be careful, if you really want something you will get it, the pickers shout "only two left now", when in fact there will be loads of something.
Buyer beware and all that mate.

aidan_dunne

It's all a great big scam (which I'll explain about in a moment). The prices you get on the flyer is the price the goods normally start at. Basically, you end up paying whatever is the highest bid made. For example, the "auctioneer" (the guy is more like a dodgy, very charming, car salesman with pretty good acting skills and skills in getting people worked up into a bidding frenzy, to be honest!) shouts out a starting price, say €50 for a 28" telly and he says there's only 5 of these available. People then start bidding. Someone bids €60. Someone then bids €70, €80, €90, etc. You might make a bid of, say, €150 and say, "Right, that's as high as I go." But the bids keep going up and up. You think to yourself, "I really want one of these," so you disregard your own advice to yourself earlier on and put in a bid for €200. And still the bids keep climbing. All of a sudden you can find yourself in serious competition to get one of these at any cost and keep on bidding and bidding. You can loose all self-control. And that, of course, is the whole idea of these things, as you will see from the frenzied action that goes on at these things. People suddenly loose all common sense and self-control because they are determined to get what they think is a "bargain" at any cost. And the auctioneer is, all the time, fueling this frenzy by saying how great these products are and how you would be missing out on the "deal of the century" if you don't snap this up straight away.

Anyway, back to what goes on. Basically, whoever makes the highest bid gets it at that price and whoever else is willing to pay that price as well gets it. But by the time the bidding closes the price has gone up to almost if not the same (and often more) as what you would pay in a shop for it. On small items like the crappy cameras, toasters, sets of cutlery, jug kettles, sets of pots and pans, etc., they will normally let them go for bids of maybe a couple of euro less than what you would pay in a shop for the same item. On the larger items like TV's, stereos, microwaves, videos, etc., these items normally end up *at* the same price as you would buy them for in a shop or even more.

Now, here's the bit that makes it all a scam. Firstly, if the auctioneer feels that he isn't getting a high enough bid for it, he will withdraw the complete offer. And when I say "high enough bid" I mean basically the kind of price you would get it in a shop for. I've seen people make bids of €200 for stereo systems at these things and it still wasn't enough for them to continue with the sale of the item. Cost of similar system in a shop: yep, €200. They were obviously looking for more than the shop price if they could get it. When they couldn't, they withdrew the offer. "Sorry folks, this is a great price for this system. You wouldn't see this price for this spec system anywhere else. If you don't want to make a more reasonable offer for it, I'm sorry, I'm just going to have to withdraw it. I know you want a bargain here today, hey, we all do in life, but I couldn't possibly let it go for €200. Sorry folks, your loss!" In fact, at one of these things I was once at, the "auctioneer" actually got thick with the crowd and shouted, "Are you people f**king stupid? There's no way I'm letting a 28" TV of this quality (it didn't look like it was quality. It looked like it was made in a Vietnamese sweat shop by underpaid kids and American POW's in 1988!) go for €250. What sort of a dumb f**ker do you take me for, eh? I know you all want a bargain but you're all just trying to take me for a f**king ride now! Lads, take it down and put it out back. These idiots obviously don't have a clue!" I swear to God this happened. I couldn't believe it myself. You could obviously see the tactic he was trying to pull there as well though, can't you? Get thick with the crowd and scream at them how stupid they are to be missing out on this "deal" and somebody might think, "Hmmm, maybe he's right. Maybe it is worth a lot more. I'll bid some more."

The second part of the scam, and here is the big one, is that a lot of the "bidders" in the crowd are plants. Yes, that's right, they are people working for this lot who are there to counterbid the regular punters and keep pushing the bids higher and higher. Regular punter makes a bid, a different regular punter makes another bid, bidding seems to stop or slows down, plant makes a bid. Regular punter then bids higher, as does another and another, bidding slows down or stops again, plant makes another bid. This continues until the bids get to an acceptable (or higher) price that the auctioneer wants to get. And if it happens that the last person who makes a bid happens to be one of the plants, guess what? Yep, the auctioneer withdraws the item citing not a high enough bid.

If you go to one of these things, keep your money firmly in your pocket or, better still, to completely resist any temptation leave your wallet at home. Because, believe me, the auctioneers at these things are very skilled in inciting a bidding frenzy and, before you know it, you're flapping your arms with the rest of the gobsh!tes thinking you're getting the "bargain of the century!"

ozmo

Originally posted by aidan_dunne
It's all a great big scam

Just to add my experience also.
Its a scam.

They have them very often at the Red Cow Inn. Same company.

A friend with me bought a TV - later discovered a "Factory Reconditioned"
sticker on the back.

Its not a real auction. They have a reserve price for everything. If the bidding
isnt enough (well above the reserve written on the leaflet) - they withdraw
the item - if the bidding is Over their reserve - they stop the bidding and
sell for their reserve price anyway. They have lots of stock - so everyone who wants
one will get one.
Didnt see anything cheap at all.

Avoid like the plague.

DukeDredd

Yip avoid like the plague. They had one of these in the Silversprings hotel in Cork last Sunday - what a joke. I've never seen people get so worked up in my entire life. There was people there that were bidding on everything and anything and leaving with boxes of crap! Also - the amount you are bidding does not include VAT at 21% and the sales company comission of 15%. One guy bidded 1800 Euro on a 32 inch TV and ended up paying 2500 for it in the end!!

BigEejit

Originally posted by DukeDredd
One guy bidded 1800 Euro on a 32 inch TV and ended up paying 2500 for it in the end!!

You have to have pity for them, they are barely responsible for those flapping arms ... €2500, good god you'd nearly get a large plasma TV for that

aidan_dunne

Damn straight, BigEejit! Like I said, the auctioneers at these things are very, very skilled at getting a frenzy going and then loads of people end up getting swept along into the frenzy. The only real reason to go to one of these things is to sit there and watch the whole spectacle of these normally sane people going crazy bidding for overpriced crap while you sit there with a sly grin on your face knowing how foolish they really are. A bit like the people who run these things, I guess!