What is a “normal” day for an auctioneer in the United States? It appears from most research, that a normal day involves an auctioneer selling cars. Of course, there are auctioneers selling yellow-iron equipment, and real estate, at benefit auctions, and at various auction houses, and then some are still selling at onsite estate-type auctions.
As with most car auctions, most auctioneers in the United States work as contract auctioneers, selling for other companies and auctioneers who have taken the property on consignment or have purchased it for resale. And since the early 2000s, many auctioneers are selling a variety of properties strictly online on various platforms.
I traveled in 2016 to do a special-event auction in Los Angeles, California. Upon arriving, I found the hotel and went down to the bar for a drink. There, I met two other auctioneers, one a car auctioneer and the other a livestock auctioneer. Normal day? Typical day?
Maybe “typical” denotes the wide variety of those in the auction industry? This might mean there is no typical auctioneer, typical auction, or typical job in the auction marketplace? I would suggest typical or normal is likely neither. It actually might be whatever you’re doing that seems typical … or normal to you.
In fact, in each sector of the auction business, auctioneers do things differently — take estate-type auctions where one uses seating, where another doesn’t, or one puts boxed lots on the ground, where another doesn’t, or one uses a sound system, where another doesn’t.
It may be a fair question to ask if any two auctioneers do exactly the same thing, work the same way, and conduct the same types of auctions in exactly the same manner? I don’t know even any two auctioneers that satisfy that theory. Are there auctioneers who work similarly to others? Sure.
Lastly, take almost any auctioneer and ask if that auctioneer has any “typical” or “normal” days and many would say every auction, every event, every day is not quite the same as any other. I think that’s one of the attractions of working in the auction industry –– the inherent variety.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, Brandly Real Estate & Auction, and formerly at Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, and an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and Western College of Auctioneering. He has served as faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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