BUYING AT AUCTIONS Do not mistake auctions for retail because the two have very little in common. Auctions are so different from retail that they are governed by different Federal laws, state laws, Uniform Commercial Codes, and city ordinances. When you bid at an auction you actually are executing/entering into a legal contract. You must have a bidder's card in order to buy at the auction. And to get a bidder's card, you must provide a valid drivers license.  You are then assigned a bid card with your bidder number.  You are responsible for all items that are purchased with your bid card.  If you let a friend use your card YOU must pay for the items.  Payments will only be accepted from registered bidders. In some auctions you may be required to make a deposit for a bid card, which insures that you will pay for all your purchases that you bid on, once you pay for your items (or decide to leave the auction and have not purchased any items) your deposit is immediately returned to you.  If you do make purchases, your deposit is applied to the purchases. Be careful which lots you are bidding on, how much you are bidding and whether you are bidding against your spouse, parent, sibling or friend. Although you can retract a bid while the bidding is open; you cannot retract it once the auctioneer has said, "Sold". Auctioneers expect you to take full responsibility for your bids. You are NOT allowed to bid on your own items if you are the consignor/owner. The moment the auctioneer says, "sold" the ownership of the item being auctioned has changed hands, from the owner to the highest bidder. This is the law. If your (highest bidder) merchandise is later stolen, damaged or missing you will still have to pay for it. It is no different than having your wallet or purse stolen while shopping at a store. Know what you are bidding on by closely inspecting each item before the auction. This is why an auction preview is offered. Use your own evaluation as your bidding guide, not the auctioneer's description or other bidders' comments. You are buying the merchandise "AS IS - WHERE IS" with no guarantees or warranties of any kind expressed or implied from the seller or auctioneer. The risk of an item not being what you wanted should be factored into your bidding amount. A fast-moving auction benefits both buyers and sellers. Auctioneers have the right to reject any bid amount that would slow the bidding. Auctioneers cannot wait for slow bidders, so know in advance what to buy and how much to spend. Inability to keep up with the bidding pace is not the auctioneers' concern. The auctioneer reserves the right to ignore or accepted any offer.  Once the auctioneer accepts an offer only then is it considered a bid. Don't be shy about bidding. Raise your bid card in the air and say YES.  Keep your card up until you are done bidding. Make certain the auctioneer is aware you are bidding because the auctioneer may be taking bids from someone in front or behind you. Once the auctioneer says, "sold", the item is gone even if you are willing to continue bidding. There are no "do-overs" in the auction business. Spotters or ring-men help the auctioneer spot bids and will signal your bid to the auctioneer as well.  But the auctioneer must be able to see you bidding in order for him to accept it. When the auction starts, the lot number and a brief description of the item will be announced. The auctioneer will begin selling the item and will ask for you to bid. The auctioneer continues to go up in increments until the item has been sold. Then the auctioneer will say "sold" and state the winning bidder's number and the selling price. During the auction, clerks record the description of your items and your buyer number as well as the amount you paid for the item.  There are some terms that we use during an auction that you need to be aware of. These terms are "Choice", "So Much Apiece" and "All For One Money". "Choice" means for example that if we are selling five chairs, you are bidding for the price of one chair. If you are the winning bidder at $50, you may buy one, two, three, four or all five of the chairs times the money - whatever your choice is, so if you would like the blue chair and the black chair you may buy them for $50 each so your total bill for the chairs will be $100. If you want all five chairs you will pay $250 for all five. If you have color or style preferences, you need to be ready to tell the auctioneer very quickly what items you want to buy. The other term we use is "So Much Apiece" which is similar to the example above but in stead of having a choice in which item you want, you are required to TAKE ALL the items times the amount you bid.  For example if we had five chairs and you bid $100, you would automatically get charged for five bids of $100 making your total $500. The other term we use is similar to "so much apiece".  "All For One Money" means that you will get all the items for one price, so, if you are bidding on five chairs and the winning bid is $100 your total bill for all five chairs will be $100. The auctioneer makes an announcement before they sell an item if unique selling options are being utilized. Auctions may be conducted in multiple auction rings. This means that two or more auctioneers will be selling different merchandise at the same time.  So if you want to buy an item in one area or another, you will need to keep an eye on each ring so you know when to bid.  Auctions are generally cash only transactions so you will be required to pay for your purchases with cash or cash equivalents (traveler's checks, money orders, etc.) and sometimes personal checks may be accepted. Some auctions accept Visa or MasterCard. Always check the terms of the auction before bidding. There are no layaways, financing.  Any legal fees associated with bounced checks, non payment, attorneys fees etc will be paid for buy the bidder. All auctions carry a 10% buyer's premium and New York State Sales Tax.  So if you buy an item for $200, at the end of the auction your bill would be $220 plus sales tax. All items must be paid for at the end of the auction.  All items must be removed from the auction house as soon as the auction is over and they are paid for. Any items left after the auction will be subject to a storage fee.