Countless auctioneers announce (expressed) or post (expressed) or suggest (imply) some sort of “order of sale” at the start of any live, online, or simulcast auction. It’s part of any reasonable auctioneer’s opening announcements — “Here’s how we are going to sell all this today …”
Yet, it appears there’s no universal definition of what an “order of sale” is, nor a universal feeling any order is necessary? In today’s writing, we’ll offer a definition. Of course, you might rightly ask “Who are you to define an auction term or concept?” and we would answer that this is hardly our first endeavor.
Early in our career, we deemed the following words describe why people attend auctions, and what an auction requires to be successful:
Prospect of a deal.
Several years later, we defined what an absolute auction is:
The genuine intent to transfer to the highest bidder regardless of price.
We would hold at an “order of sale” is best defined this way:
A pattern disclosed to auction bidders describing how and when lots will be put up for bid and close, sufficient for bidders to place bids with a reasonable opportunity to purchase.
What an order of sale isn’t necessarily: Selling lots in the order they were uploaded to a computer, nor selling lots in sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, etc. nor selling from one end of a row of merchandise to the other end … and rather it’s a plan dictating a certain pattern where bidders can discern how and when lots will be put up, and sold.
We would hold that if you as an auctioneer are not giving your bidders a reasonable opportunity to purchase whatever they desire to buy, you can (and should) do better. We would also hold that auction participants deserve this information and your seller will benefit from better-informed bidders.
One of the most egregious errors an auctioneer can make is to sell any lot prior to the time bidders have been told it will be put up for sale, regardless of the reason. Selling a lot a bit later than advertised is not desired either, but most bidders understand if there are extenuating circumstances.
We previously wrote about the merits of an “order of sale” here: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2021/05/17/you-dont-have-an-order-of-sale/. We wrote about selling certain lots at certain times here: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2021/05/19/selling-at-or-about-a-certain-time/.
Commercially reasonable auctions must meet specific standards including manner, time, date, and terms. Any auction could benefit from following commercially reasonable standards: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/commercially-reasonable-auctions/.
Of course, if you’re an auctioneer without any “order of sale” then you can’t sell any item too soon nor too late, but your bidders should rightfully know — at least generally — how you’re going to progress and some will undoubtedly decide to shop elsewhere lacking that information.
We ask again … let’s say you as an auctioneer attend a 2,000 lot auction and see an item you’re interested in setting on the end of a wagon in the barn. You ask the auctioneer when he thinks he’ll get to those items in the barn, and he says, “I have no idea — you’ll just have to stick around” How would you feel?
For this lot that you desire, it might be put up for bids at 9:00 am and it might be put up for bids at 4:00 pm? Or, are you selling that lot to me right now if I offer enough for it, breaching your promise to all other bidders that this subject item will be in the auction around a certain time?
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, RES Auction Services, and 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 is 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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