EVOLUTION OF SERVICES, AUCTION FORMATS
EVOLUTION OF SERVICES, AUCTION FORMATSAs Wickliff Auctioneers continues to expand our service options, we wish to share with our clients and customers the terms that will define our future auctions. Our updated business model includes the following auction formats, and these terms will be used in our marketing to indicate the type of auction being conducted.
Gallery Auctions
These are our traditional live-and-online auctions, where bidders will be in attendance at our gallery, and bidders may participate in live, online bidding worldwide. We also offer phone bidding for items with a low estimate of $1000 or more, public previews where bidders may complete an absentee bid form, and absentee bidding (pre-auction) available on our www.wickliffauctioneers.hibid.com catalogue.
Most Gallery Auctions will consist of approximately 200-250 lots, with items from individual collections or gleaned from estate sales. These events will often be conducted on Thursday evenings, but can also be conducted on a Saturday, depending on the time of the year. Primarily, these auctions will consist of fine art by listed artists, fine jewelry, high-quality decorative arts or special collections.
Online-Only Auctions, Estate Sales and Personal Property
Our newest service is the online estate sale. Our biggest advantage over traditional estate sale services is that we can accept the estate sale items into our building, if logistics or timing preclude the ability to conduct the sale at the estate property. Certainly, costs are reduced if the items remain in the estate home, and we can conduct a complete online estate sale in about 30 days (depending on the quantity of items).
Other companies proclaim their services to be the “evolution” of estate sales, but their format is the same: people line up hoping to be the first in the door, neighbor’s driveways get blocked by cars, and the whole thing is only marketed to a limited, local database of buyers. In addition, they make guesses on how to price items, and in many cases, have limited experience in dealing with items of higher quality.
Our decades of experience in the sale of personal property includes significant expertise in fine art, antiques, high-quality decorator furnishings, art glass and specialty items. In some cases, these items in estate sales will be relocated to our gallery for inclusion in a globally-marketed Gallery Auction. No other company can offer that service.
We also can combine two or more estates that might not be significant enough to draw bidder interest, and together these items can make for an exciting offering!
Online-Only Real Estate Marketing
With the combination of services listed above, and Darin Lawson’s 25 years experience as a real estate broker, Wickliff Auctioneers can sell Everything AND The House! As a member of MIBOR, properties listed by us will be published in the MLS (BLC, as it’s now called) and on Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia, plus we cooperate with real estate agents who want to show the property to potential buyers, and we complete all required documentation and assist in the sale all the way to the closing table.
SUMMARY
All of our services, and the way in which we conduct them, all culminate in one result: BIDDING! Our client consultations, product evaluation, cataloging, photography, state-of-the-industry inventory and auction management software, showroom display, use of world-class web platforms, social media marketing, direct mail and everything else we do is centered around us getting BIDS for the items in our care. As a result, www.bidwickliff.com is reflective of our goals that are built around a high level of service for our customers and clients, and support our commitment to achieving, well, more bids!
Thank you for choosing Wickliff Auctioneers!
