How to Successfully Shop an Auction—Either Online or In Person
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Maybe it’s a pristine pair of Hans J. Wegner chairs you’ve been eyeing on eBay. Or the sunglasses Lee Radziwill once owned going up for auction at Christie’s. Whatever it is, you want it—but you don’t want to pay a nickel more than necessary—and you definitely don’t want to get saddled with a dud. What to do? We asked auction insiders for their very best tips for online and in-person bidding wars won. Ultimately, knowing how to shop an auction for affordable furniture and vintage home accessories is just like anything else: It takes time and money. But even if you’re short on the latter, this advice can help you bring that buried treasure home where it belongs—fast.
Ask Questions
“Do your research,” says Molly Blankenship, a New York-based design consultant that runs the popular auction Instagram account @Notallbeige, and loves shopping LiveAuctioneers, Town & Sea, and AuctionNinja. “You need to know the right questions to ask. I have found that auction house representatives are always happy to answer any questions on the phone or through email.” Blankenship is careful to ask them for intel on the things you can’t always tell through photos, like the age, true condition, and “who previously owned it...is it wobbly? Are there scratches? The more you do it, the more it becomes natural to ask those types of questions.”
For Jacquie Denny, founder and chief development officer of auction website Everything But the House, getting the details is especially important for online antiques buyers who are wondering how to shop an auction. “You need to go in, study the pictures, and read the description,” she says. “If you’re [interested in a diamond ring,] look at the color, clarity, carat weight on the diamond, and make sure you look at the size—[if it’s too small,] you’ll spend an arm and a leg adding more platinum to the band.”
Wait to Bid
Patience can pay off with both online and in-person vintage and antique furniture and accessories auctions. “If you like something at an on-site auction, don’t start bidding until most of the bidders on that item have exhausted themselves,” says Denny, who used to work in in-real-life auctions before founding EBTH. “You’re going to run the bid much higher if you jump in early with them—let’s say five people are bidding on an item; you want to wait until 3 or 4 have dropped out and then jump in when you are fresh. And generally, that last person is right where they want to stop anyway. It's called bidder exhaustion.”
Denny says the same tactics apply for online auction bidding. “You don’t want to jump in too early because you’re actually pushing bids up,” she says. Just don’t forget all about it and miss the auction! “Know when your item is ending, and set yourself a timer on your phone or computer somewhere,” she says.
Stand Back
The biggest tip for how to shop an auction in-person, Denny says, is to always stand in the back of the room. Not only do you get a prime view of the antique furniture, but “You can see who is bidding against you, and the truth is, there are some auctioneers who will take phantom bids,” she says. “This is not a judgment on any one auctioneer, but it is a practice.” Making sure you have a prime panorama of the entire audience “gives you an idea of who your competition is—you can watch their body language to see when they are hesitating or if they're still strong. A lot of bidding is strategy.”
Bid Big
When you’re really hankering for something at an in-person antique and vintage furniture auction, up the ante. “If bids are going up in five dollar increments, jump in and say you want to pay $60,” Denny says. “When you drop in a very big bid, usually it will back most other people off...they’ll say, ‘this person just wants to win.’ A lot of bidding strategy is confidence.”
Ship Affordably
It’s no surprise that shipping costs on antique and vintage furniture can turn a total steal into a huge money pit, so think ahead when you’re plotting your strategy for how to shop an auction. “When you’re having something shipped to your house, it’s super helpful to know what it weighs when you’re getting your shipping estimate,” says Blankenship. “So get your shipping estimate up front. It can be such a high additional cost on top of what you're paying for something!” Blankenship often uses uShip to get the job done. “You essentially plug in what you’re shipping to and from, what the measurements are, the approximate weight, and it gives you an estimate of what you should be paying. You can even name your own price, if you’re flexible on timing. It’s GPS tracked, you can add insurance, and it’s worldwide.” Buyers..start your engines!
Shop These Auctions
Sometimes, knowing how to shop an auction is actually about *where* you shop. Keep your eyes laser-focused on these 11 sites for major scores.
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