Blog
Auction Flex Tips and Tricks for Before Auction Day
Watch this short video to learn a bunch of handy Auction Flex tips and tricks that you can use before auction day.
Auction Flex Tips and Tricks for Auction Day
Watch this short, rapid-fire video to learn a bunch of handy Auction Flex tips and tricks that you can use on auction day.
Cataloging with a Smartphone
Cataloging is one of the most time consuming activities auctioneers do. With Auction Flex Mobile you can use your smartphone or tablet to accomplish this task quicker than you ever thought possible. Auction Flex Mobile works on your local network; absolutely no internet required. Or, if you are using Auction Flex in the Cloud, Auction Flex Mobile works anywhere you have an internet connection.
Catalog by Barcode Images Revisited
Auction Flex has had barcode image recognition built-in since April, 2008. It has come to our attention, however, that most of our customers are not aware of this feature or the improvements made to it over the years.
The Great Sliding Scale Commission Debacle
Taxes and Sliding Scale Commissions; they both cost you money. One of them can be entirely avoided (legally).
A Grouped Soft Close Manifesto for Internet-Only Auctions
Internet-Only Auctions
Internet-only auctions (also called timed auctions) bring their own set of techniques for achieving the highest hammer price for your consignor. There are specific features that are unique to internet-only auctions that elicit greater bidder competition. One of these features is called soft close.
That’s the Way We Do Things Around Here
The Monkey, Banana and Water Spray Experiment
5 monkeys are locked in a cage, a banana was hung from the ceiling and a ladder was placed right underneath it. As you would expect, one of the monkeys immediately raced towards the ladder to grab the banana. However, as soon as he started to climb, the researcher sprayed the monkey with ice-cold water. As an integral part of the experiment, the researcher would also spray the other four monkeys. The consequence of the one monkey’s action was doled to all.
Cataloging: A Love/Hate Relationship
Love/Hate
One of the challenges that auctioneer’s face is the necessary task that is cataloging. Cataloging can be slow, tedious, and time-consuming. Cataloging, however, is necessary for opening the auction floor to bidders that can’t physically attend the auction. Cataloging permits internet absentee bidding, internet live broadcasting, and internet-only (timed) auctions. It’s fair to say that auctioneers have a love/hate relationship with the cataloging process. There is no doubt though, that opening the auction floor to more bidders brings higher bids to the consignors and higher commissions to the auctioneer.
VOIP Telephone System
New Office
On October 14th we moved into a larger office and as part of that move, we needed to address the best way to ensure uninterrupted phone service. Perhaps, where you live, this means calling up the local phone company, they click some buttons, and now your phones magically start ringing at your new location. In Ocala, this is far from being so simple. Our local copper line phone service is provided by Sprint who, because of such a bad reputation, renamed themselves Embarq, and then when that didn’t work, sold out to CenturyLink. This company, no matter what they name themselves, is the worst company I have ever had the mis-pleasure of dealing with. I don’t exaggerate when I say that every single time I had them modify my service they would break my ability to receive phone calls.
Effective E-Mail Marketing
Effective
Bulk email is a highly cost effective means to keep your customers and potential customers abreast of their topics of interest; namely, your auctions. The caveat here is that you must not abuse your goodwill. That means you must obey this list of do’s and don’ts.
Auction Audio/Video Recording
C.Y.A.
There is really only one reason that we record an auction; it provides indisputable evidence of the auction proceedings. If you don’t dot your i’s and cross your t’s then this can obviously work against you. But if you are a by-the-book, list-making, agenda-following auctioneer who always follows protocol, then the auction recording is your best friend.
9 Keys to Success
I’ve read my fair share of business books and articles over the last few years including; Mavericks at Work, What Would Google Do?, The Tipping Point, etc. These scribes inspired me to write my own keys to success, or rather more accurately put; to record the things they said that resonated with me the most. Drumroll please.
Internet-Only Auctions
Definition Please
Internet-only auctions (sometimes called timed auctions) are auctions that take place completely online. There is no live audience sitting together in a physical place in front of an auctioneer. Bidders bid online against other internet bidders. The internet bidder with the highest bid at the end wins the lot.
Phone Bid Scheduler
What is a Phone Bid?
Phone bids are typically used by antique auction galleries, but can be used for any type of sale. When a bidder leaves a phone bid for a particular lot#, the auction house is agreeing to have an employee call the bidder when that lot comes on the block. During the phone call, the employee will relay the asking price from the auctioneer to the phone bidder and will relay bids from the phone bidder to the auctioneer.
Booklet Style Catalogs
Like a Book, But Smaller
Occasionally we get requests from our customers to print booklet style catalogs. A booklet style catalog is one that is center stapled and both sides of each page are printed. Think of a paperback book, only with fewer pages (unless your auction is really, really big).
Microsoft Security Essentials
What’s In a Name Anyways?
Well, it doesn’t get any awards for having a catchy name, however Microsoft’s new anti-virus offering titled ‘Microsoft Security Essentials’ is a good product with a great price tag; free. I guess Microsoft Anti-Virus was too self-explanatory a name for the marketing gurus in Redmond. To be fair, however, MSE (my un-official abbreviation for Microsoft Security Essentials) is more than just anti-virus. It protects against spyware and other nasties too.
Backups, Backups, Backups
Confessions of an OCD Backup-Maker
I have a confession to make; I habitually make backups…. and then I backup the backup… and then I have a program that automatically backs up my backup to an off-site backup. I’m a little bit OCD like that. But let’s not judge me. Let’s turn this around. When was the last time you made a backup? Was it a good backup or a bad backup (what’s the difference… keep reading)? I’m going to give you some suggestions on making good backups and provide some online tools to make even better backups. You ready? Here we go.
Safe Computing is a Choice
Safety, Security, & Serendipity
There are many dangers inherent with computing on the internet. Viruses, worms, and spyware are the most omnipresent. It is a choice to engage in safe practices that protect you from these threats. Rather than approach this topic generically, I thought I would let you know specifically what setup and programs I use, and let you glean from it what you will.
Self-Checkin Kiosk
Here’s a video that Aaron Traffas did of our new self-checkin kiosk. The video was shot on the tradeshow floor at the National Auctioneer’s Conference & Tradeshow in Overland Park, KS.
Plain text email vs “fancy” HTML email
When sending email campaigns you have the option of composing your emails as HTML or plain text. With HTML you can have fancy formatting, embedded images, etc. With plain text emails you just have text. There are pros and cons to each format. I am a proponent of sending plain text emails, but rather than explain the reasons behind this preference, I’ll send you over to a great article written by Aaraon Traffas at his blog on AuctioneerTech.com:
Bing.com
Microsoft released their new search engine bing.com recently and I have to say, I’m impressed. If you search bing.com for auction software we are the first natural listing. We can’t argue with those results. On other searches bing.com seems to compete well against google.com in terms of returning relevant results. In some categories I dare say bing has google beat.
Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)
NOT the men in brown
UPS stands for uninterruptible power supply. A UPS is a battery / inverter combo that will instantly provide power to plugged-in devices in the event of a power anomoly. I say anomoly because a UPS protects you from brown-outs, flickers, sags, surges, AND outages. The power coming into your office isn’t necessarily “clean” but that is where the UPS steps in and cleans it up for you.
Bidder Numbers at Auction
Three-digit bidder numbers
I’m going to make the case that larger auctions should start their bidder numbers at 100. More specifically, there should be no two-digit bidder numbers. If you need four-digit bidder numbers (1000+) for your floor bidders congratulations, you’re having one big auction!
Microsoft Office 2007 Ribbons
When I first installed Microsoft Office 2007 I hated the new ribbons that replaced the old toolbars and drop-down menus. I especially despised the new ribbons in my favorite Office application, Excel. Determined to not be averse to change – to instead embrace change with the knowledge that change is good – I plodded ahead with the ribbons. I endured the lost productivity of constantly searching out where my commonly used functions were relocated. I justified the slow-going with the knowledge that once I conquered the learning curve I would be just as efficient as I used to be. Well, 18 months later I still can’t find anything without searching, and searching, and searching and I’ve finally given up. Office 2007 ribbons just plain stink! I’m a power-user, and if after 18 months my productivity is still hurting, then it’s not my fault. I gave it a fair chance.
Archive
- 03/21/2017
- 03/10/2017
- 11/16/2016
- 01/08/2015
- 10/16/2013
- 09/17/2013
- 01/07/2013
- 07/31/2012
- 02/24/2012
- 03/04/2011
- 11/01/2010
- 09/02/2010
- 07/29/2010
- 04/08/2010
- 03/15/2010
- 02/09/2010
- 01/06/2010
- 12/08/2009
- 11/10/2009
- 10/09/2009
- 09/23/2009
- 08/31/2009
- 07/27/2009
- 07/10/2009
- 06/30/2009
- 06/19/2009
- 06/01/2009
- 05/29/2009
- 05/28/2009