HOW DO HAMMER HIGH AUCTIONS WORK? Our auction is a public sale in which goods or property are sold to the highest bidder. GOODS TO BE SOLD at our auction are consigned from a variety of sources. 1) Estates for those who have passed away and left items for their heirs to disperse. 2) Downsizing household merchandise. 3) Business liquidations. 4) Inventory reduction for end-of-season or end-of-style retail businesses. 5) Upgraded and need to disperse of the older items. 6) Delinquent storage units. 7) Outgrown or no longer wanted collectible items. AND SO MANY MORE REASONS! We have an entire page devoted to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS that describes this process. AUCTION BUYERS come from all walks of life, such as: 1) Resellers buying merchandise for their stores. 2) Collectors buying rare or unusual items for their collections. 3) Consumers buying useful items for their homes & life. 4) Auction Enthusiasts who love attending auctions and buying all manner of things. AND SO MANY MORE REASONS! TO REGISTER AS A BUYER all you need is a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification. The cashier will issue you a bid card and a buyer number for the auction. YOU MUST HAVE A BID CARD TO BID. HOW DO I BID? Once you have registered and have been assigned a bid card with your buyer number, hold your bid card in the air when you want to bid on the item being auctioned. The auctioneer will bid-call until there's only one buyer left with their bid card in the air, and that person will "win" that item at that price. BID CALLING Bid Calling is also known as the Auctioneer's Chant. Your first time at an auction, that can be a bit overwhelming An auctioneer's bid call consists of basically 3 parts: 1) The dollar amount of the current high bid. 2) The dollar amount the auctioneer is asking for the next bid. 3) "Filler words" to keep the buying crowd engaged and, to a certain extent entertained. EXAMPLE BID CALL Let's say the auctioneer is selling a widget where they expect the final bid to be around $20. Most auctioneers will start the bid calling at an amount less than half of the expected value and then work up to the high bid which sometimes is more or less than the expected value. In this $20 widget example, a typical bid call script may go something like this: AUCTIONEER: I have 5 dollars would you bid 10 dollars now 10 anybody bid 10? If someone bids $10, then... AUCTIONEER: I have 10 dollars would you bid 15 dollars now 15 anybody bid 15? ... This process continues until no more bids are received AUCTIONEER: SOLD 25 dollars to number 147. The high bid was $25, the bidder was number 147, and the item is SOLD. (This bid calling process repeats until every item in the auction is sold!) AUCTION STAFF AUCTIONEER is the most recognizable member of the auction staff as they are the one with the microphone that everyone hears, but there are many more EQUALLY VALUABLE members of the auction staff! AUCTION MANAGER is the person you go to during the auction when you have questions or issues that need to be addressed immediately. You go to this person and not to the Auctioneer or Clerk. RINGMEN are the staff members who hold up and present the item to be sold. They are integral in describing the item to be sold so the buyers are making an informed purchase. CLERK is the staff member who writes out all of the pertinent information on the sales ticket for each item sold. It is crucial not to interrupt the clerk during the auction as they are recording the following information on the auction receipt tickets: 1) Lot Letter (identifies the consigner who brough the item to the auction). 2) Buyer Number (identifies the buyer who won the item). 3) Sold Value (amount of the winning bid). 4) Quantity (number of items won at the winning bid price). 5) Item Description (what was the item sold). CASHIERS are the staff members who register buyers before the auction, file the buyer tickets in associated slots during the auction, and collect payment from the buyers after the auction. KITCHEN STAFF at Hammer High Auctions are outsourced to BJ'S KITCHEN. They make homemade goodies for every auction to keep the buyers happy with food and beverage. Please stop by and try the PEACH COBBLER; it is famous! AS-IS / WHERE-IS Items sold at auction come from a variety of consigners (as described above). As such, there is no way the auction staff can know or guarantee the condition or usability of an item. Buyers need to look over or inspect items before they purchase. We do the best we can to fairly and honestly represent the item to the buyers and disclose all that we know about the items. EVERYTHING SELLS ABSOLUTELY TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER WITH NO RESERVE (very few exceptions) AND NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES ARE STATED OR IMPLIED. THERE ARE NO REFUNDS, RETURNS, OR EXCHANGES. Once you are the high bidder and the Auctioneer has declared the item SOLD, you own the item. TERMS: We accept cash or check. We DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS currently.