Part Five: The art of negotiation

We’ve talked about the basics of auctioning in part one. In part two we started to talk about what I call the nitty-gritty. We talked about what to do with the auctioneer and how to go about getting involved in the auction. We also talked about the advertising you will need to think about. In part three we dug deep with the motivated seller and in part four we learned what to do if we are adding items to our auction and talked about a personal property auction. Now we will talk about the art of negotiation.

You have a motivated seller and you know where he stands. You need one more trip from him. You need to talk with him about your deal. Or, you need to just make a deal for everything in the house at x-price that you can't lose. And tell him think about it, when you figure stuff like that, you figure 15-20% on the dollar.

You could make the suggestion. Or….you could let him tell you. That’s right. Say listen, I need to know what you will take for everything inside this house, exclusive of the house, because here is what I am going to do.

Let him itemize everything. Let him give you a figure. Now keep in mind, you need to think about whether the figure is what he wants or is it what the stuff is worth.

If you are dealing with antiques, you should get an antique person to give you proper appraisals. You need to make sure you are paying a dollar for something that is worth a dollar, right? The last thing you want to do is pay a dollar for something that is worth 25 cents.

It seems like a great deal and one you most likely won’t lose. As long as the seller is ready to turn everything over to you, you have the potential to make out very well on this deal.

In fact, you should bring the seller to the auction. Tell him you want 25% of everything that sells. You can be the one to decide on the spot whether to sell it or not. You want to go higher than the average 15% since you are the one paying for the advertising. If he pays for the advertising then the percentage might be negotiable. And keep in mind that the auctioneer is adding their 10% so make sure he knows that. Your next step is to pick a month and go from there!