Selling at Auction: The Ins & Outs

Auctions have survived the test of time as a tried and true method to obtain market value for a wide variety of property.  Real, personal and intellectual property all have been sold successfully at auction. Auctions employ aggressive and targeted marketing to engage buyers.  Interested parties participate through a process of competitive bidding.  Sellers at auctions can be confident they’ve received the true market value for their assets.

Savvy owners understand the time value of money.  While traditional negotiations often yield a higher sale price, sellers often forget about carrying costs and market depreciation.  By holding out for the long dollar in a declining market, sellers incur the carrying costs of a depreciating asset and are unable to take advantage of liquidity that would have been generated in a much shorter time period.

In the modern era, advancements in Internet technology and software have increased the public’s ability to participate remotely through the use of live simulcasts and timed “online only” auctions.  Live simulcast auctions provide the opportunity for bidders to see and hear the auction, but to submit their bids in real time, or by absentee bid, from a remote location.  Timed on-line auctions end at a pre-determined time and date in a similar manner to auctions on e-bay ™.  Other methods of participating in auctions remotely include left bids and telephone bids.

Contact Strategic Alliance today for more information on selling at auction.