FAQS

General Buyer Questions

Yes, all auctions by A&M Auctioneers and Appraisers, LLC are open to the general public.

 

ONLINE AUCTIONS: Most auctions conducted by A&M Auctions have transitioned to an Online Only bidding format. The old style auction where we pull the items out of a home early on a Saturday morning and have bidders fill the yard has kind of gone by the wayside. Everyone is so busy today that they don’t have 4-5 to hours to devote to a day at the auction. An online bidding environment is much easier for most prospective bidders. You would register to Bid Online on HiBid or Proxibid depending on which site the Auction is being hosted on. See the Online Bidding Explained tab for additional information.

LIVE AUCTIONS: We currently conduct 3-5 Live Auctions per year at our Auction Facility @ 8000 Esham Rd., Parsonsburg, MD 21849. Our Decoy, Sportsman & Firearm Auctions are currently held in a live format. These Auctions also feature Live Online Webcast bidding with bidders from all over the world participating live over the internet. Live Bidders who attend the Auction at the Facility will register on the day of the Auction.

The excitement of competitive bidding—combined with the auctioneers chant—is part of it, but for most it is the thrill of the hunt. These three elements combined create a level of enthusiasm that only an auction can generate.  An auction is unlike any other buying or selling environment.

A buyer’s premium is a percentage paid by the buyer to the auction company on top of the winning price. This amount varies per property and is listed in the auction terms for each property. Please carefully note the buyer’s premium before placing your bid.

This will depend on the type of Auction that we are conducting.

For a Live Auction you will register at the Auction Site (Usually the A&M Auction Facility) located in Parsonsburg, MD. You will need to bring a valid State Issued Drivers License or Identification Card. We scan the information from the ID and store your information in our Auction Software.

As part of the registration process for an Online Only Auction, you will chose a Username and Password. Please maintain this information a secure location. The Auction Company does not have the ability to change your Username or Password. Once you have completed the registration process to use either HiBid or Proxibids website you will still need to register for the particular auction. Each auction has slightly different terms. You must acknowledge those terms in order to register. Once the registration is complete you can start leaving bids. On HiBid, each auction will have a Gray bar with “Auction Details”, “Register to Bid” and “View Catalog.” In order to place a bid, click the “View Catalog” button. That will take you to the individual items. Each item will feature a short text description and photograph, Countdown clock, current bid price, and a “Bid” Button. Once you are ready to bids you will click the “Bid” Button. A confirmation window will open and ask you to confirm the bid. You can either confirm the next bid price, or at this point you can tell the computer a maximum price that you are willing to bid. The computer will then increase your bid with competitive bidding up to your maximum bid. Within the HiBid system if an item you are bidding on is highlighted in green, you are winning the bid. If that color changes to red, you have been outbid.

Please carefully review that the information you have entered for accuracy before submitting bids. Once you submit the bid, the bid cannot be canceled and is binding.

In a live bidding format the Auctioneer will be looking to you once you have placed a bid and someone has raised your bid. The best way to bid is to raise your hand or show your bid card as the auctioneer looks to you. If the Auctioneer thinks you have placed a bid and you did not it needs to be corrected at that time. Don’t wait until Auctioneer says “SOLD” to object. Generally once the Auctioneer says “SOLD” we have a binding contract. He will not normally reopen the bidding on an item unless he made a mistake. It is imperative that you know what you are buying and are satisfied with the condition as “ALL ITEMS ARE SOLD IN AS IS WHERE IS CONDITION, & ALL SALES ARE FINAL”. The items being auctioned are available for preview at the designated time and during a live auction.

In a Live Auction the item in question will normally have been Advertised and Listed as having a reserve. If the reserve is met during the Live Bidding the Auctioneer would state that the reserve has been met.

A reserve price is the minimum dollar amount that an item will sell for. Most of our auction items WILL NOT have a reserve bids attached to the items. Occasionally an item may require a reserve. For instance, if we are selling a motor vehicle that has a lien attached, the vehicle will likely have a reserve. This is to ensure that we can convey marketable title and know that the lien can/will be satisfied by the consignor. If an item has a reserve it will be notated in the bidding platform. It will show “Reserve not meet” until the reserve price has been achieved.

Occasionally a question may arise about an item or price on your bill. Our Auctions are clerked via computer and recorded on digital audio recorders. We can’t stop the Auction to try to rectify the issue while the Auction is still in progress. We will need to consult the Auctioneer, Clerk and the Audio recording. If you have a question about an item on your bill we can check the audio tape at the end of the auction. After listening to the tape if we find that we’re in error we will gladly rectify the error.

In an Online Only Auction we are downloading the Sale Data from the HiBid Server. We can look back at the sold price on HiBid and verify the same information is in our Auction Software.