In Fact, Just About Anything!
Why pay retail or even wholesale when you could pay auction prices?
Save money. Make money. Boost your standard of living. The choice is yours thanks to GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS UK
Never pay retail prices for a thing ever again!
Join Now before midnight tonight June 29, 2005
for an unbelievable 25% discount off your first year's subscription
BONUS...
JOIN TODAY AND GET YOUR FREE BOOK 'EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT TO KNOW TO MAKE A KILLING AT AUCTION'
FOR A LIMITED PERIOD ONLY WE'RE OFFERING A MASSIVE 50% DISCOUNT OFF YOUR FIRST YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION COST IF YOU TAKE OUT 12 MONTHS TODAY June 29, 2005
Click here now to apply for Government Auctions UK ... www.governmentauctionsuk.com
PLUS
get our FREE newsletter delivered right to your inbox.
LOOK AT THESE PRICES!
(Sample auction bargains. Since 30.9.04)
Brand new, black Samsonite case with wheels. £2. Company receiver sale. Cardiff. RRP £75. Saving £73.
AEG ceramic hob. £5. Brand new and still in box but two year old model. Four rings. In lost property auction London. RRP for latest model £299. Saving £294.
BT cordless telephone incorporating digital answering. 50 pence. Brand new. Boxed. Police lost property sale. London. RRP £79. Saving £78.50p.
Mountain bike. £4. Cannondale F400 bike in fair condition but missing chain. General auction in Sussex. Repairs cost £34. Cost when new £600. Saving £596.
Yardley pool table complete with cues and light. £236. In perfect condition probably about five years old. General auction. Glasgow. RRP £685. Saving £449.
Palm Zire PDA Organiser. Brand new. In box. £1. Latest electronic personal organiser. Lost property sale. London. RRP £89. Saving £88.
Case of mixed red and white wine. £12. All originally purchased from Marks & Spencer. General auction. Cornwall. Retail price £72. Saving £60.
iPod Photo, headphones and Altec Lansing speaker system. £50. All under one year old. No paperwork or software. All in working condition and as new. Included re-charger for iPod and case. Lost property auction in London. RRP £378. Saving £328.
1994 Renault 5. £35. Body and mechanics in good condition. Interior in very poor condition. Agricultural auction. Northumberland. Cost of replacing interior £230 including labour. Car sold privately for £499. Profit £234.
Bouncy castle including pump. £47. Castle’s vinyl in need of repair and also very dirty. Pump working. General auction. Devon. Repair and cleaning costs £90. Now hired out to parties and fetes for £75 a day. First year gross profit £838.
Could this be the business opportunity you have been searching for?
One of our readers, explains what is involved in being an auction dealer.
‘If you are interested in earning an extra income – or perhaps in starting your own business – then buying and selling at auction could be the opportunity you have been looking for.
What makes it particularly attractive is that you don’t necessarily need a substantial amount of capital to get started.
What you do need is the time to invest in attending auctions; an idea of what the ‘real’ value is of the things being sold; and the ingenuity to sell-on whatever you buy.
Let me deal with these three requirements in turn.
First of all, how much money you will make as a dealer is linked directly to how much time you put in. I think the minimum requirement is probably a day a month divided between research, attending a single auction, and selling on anything you decide to buy. Thanks to Government Auctions UK much of the background work is done for you. For instance, you won’t have to waste time looking for otherwise unpublicised auctions. But you still have to make the effort to turn up before the sales to look at the lots and to sit it out until anything you are interested in comes up. I’m doing this full-time, of course, so I probably attend about six or seven auctions a month.
Knowing value is the next important thing. If you have specialist knowledge then it makes sense to use it. For instance, if you know a bit about cars then why not deal in cars? If you don’t have any particular expertise then you should concentrate on buying things that you are 100% certain are being sold below market value. Believe me, this is not rocket science providing you stick to what I call ‘the bleeding obvious’. My secret is to keep a lot of reference books in my car and also I sometimes nip into an internet café before a sale and check out prices on the web. I’ve also been known to telephone shops to price things if I am in doubt.
Once you’ve successfully bid for your bargain or bargains you’ll want to sell it on. Personally, I am happy to take a smaller profit margin in exchange for fast turnover. How you sell something will depend on what it is. I don’t specialise in any one area so I use a variety of methods – other auctions, eBay, classified advertisements, other dealers, and direct to other retailers. Sometimes I sell direct to the public. For instance, when I first started I used to buy umbrellas from police lost property auctions for about 50 pence each and sell them wherever there was a crowd on a rainy day. I could shift a hundred umbrellas in an hour of heavy rain and make £250 profit. Some auction dealers I know only sell on to other trade buyers and build up contacts who they know will be interested in particular items.
There are all sorts of dealers in the auction game. At one end of the scale there are the real specialists who buy items that other dealers might not recognise at regional sales and sell on in posh London auction houses. At the other there are part-time dealers doing what I do on a smaller scale.
One of the things I will say is that Government Auctions UK is of incalculable value. No other publication provides the same detailed information on how to buy at auction and sell on at a profit. More than this we will also show you how to buy from other sources (such as wholesalers and importers) and to sell at auction at a very substantial margin. With Government Auctions UK you will know where the auctions are, what you should buy from them, what you should avoid, what you should pay, how to sell on, and how to charge. You will also pick up invaluable tips on everything from reducing your tax liability on profits through to arranging transport and shipping. Buying at auction isn't one of those "get rich quick" schemes promoted by somewhat shady characters. Instead, it is a proven way to earn a second income - even a very high income by acting on information which would otherwise be hard to come by.
Anyway, if you are looking for a way of making money then I would strongly advise you to at least take out a subscription to Government Auctions UK... after all, it will cost you nothing.
TYPES OF AUCTION COVERED
Government Auctions UK covers over 8.000 UK auctions each month. Whether you are interested in antiques or property, wine or cars, jewellery or bicycles... Government Auctions UK will steer you to the best bargains. Our coverage is national and all regions are included, from Lands End to John O'Groats as well as Northern Ireland and Eire. The key auction categories are detailed below.
BANKRUPTCY AND LIQUIDATION
Sales of the sequestrated stocks of companies in receivership. To pay creditors, all their stock and assets are auctioned off for whatever anyone is prepared to pay.
ON-SITE
Liquidation auctions on behalf of large organisations such as BCCI, Polly Peck and Maxwell, whose total stock and assets are too vast to be relocated. They take place at the trading sites of the company itself and thus occur at a different venue every time. You have to have your ear to the ground and be prepared to move fast to take advantage of one-off scoop purchases.
PRIVATE TREATY
Details from agents acting on behalf of companies in receivership who are seeking the bulk sale of their assets on a behind-the-scenes basis, even sale of the company itself.
HM CUSTOMS
Sales of seized and impounded articles from the effects of drug traffickers and racketeers, to a lost and found dinghy usually sold by tender only.
POLICE
Sales of confiscated and stolen/recovered/unclaimed personal possessions looking for a new home. Buy from the police cheaper than you could from the criminals! bicycles, household items, jewellery, business equipment and, of course, a great many car radios and mobile phones.
PLANT AND MACHINERY
Those bankruptcy agents and auctioneers who deal solely in printing or farm equipment, computers, the catering trade or just in vehicles.
TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT
Sales of lost and unclaimed property umbrellas by the thousand, handbags, briefcases, overcoats, filofaxes, books, etc.
GOVERNMENT SURPLUS
Over-stocked stationery, ex-MoD and council vehicles, redundant hardware and schools equipment, nationalised utility service machinery, gas masks, etc.
ANTIQUE, FURNITURE, JEWELLERY AND COLLECTIBLES SALES
Details of all the more interesting antique, furniture, jewellery and collectible sales with an emphasis on the bottom to mid range of the market.
BICYCLES AND RELATED ITEMS
An increasing number of specialist bicycle sales, especially by the police, make it important to give this separate coverage.
CARS AND MISCELLANEOUS VEHICLES
Both ex-government and official receiver sales and all specialist car auctions are covered.
COMPUTERS
Where to pick up everything from a laptop to a mainframe computer often fully covered by guarantees.
GENERAL SALES
With particular reference to "no-reserve" auctions. Such sales include a vast array of goods, from washing machines to carpets, and from non-perishable food to books.
PROPERTY
Government bodies, local authorities, receivers, executors, banks and building societies who have made repossessions, and many others besides now sell property at auction.
PRODUCE AND LIVESTOCK
From bedding plants to bulls, and from sweet corn to steak... we tell you where you can pick up all manner of things at knockdown prices.
TYPICAL AUCTION BARGAINS
A few examples of the sorts of auction bargains you can expect to find as a reader of Government Auctions UK. (30.9.04 – to date.)
UNDER £5
Box of second hand Lego in perfect condition. £4. Over 700 individual pieces mostly from Harry Potter and Star Wars sets. Farm auction. Lincolnshire. Estimated retail value when new £160. Saving £156.
Cabria Lite Series Drum Kit. £4. In good condition. At a deceased estate auction in Leicestershire. Price when new £333. Seen advertised in Rhythm magazine for £249. Saving £245.
AEG ceramic hob. £5. Brand new and still in box but two year old model. Four rings. In lost property auction London. RRP for latest model £299. Saving £294.
Mountain bike. £4. Cannondale F400 bike in fair condition but missing chain. General auction in Sussex. Repairs cost £34. Cost when new £600. Saving £596.
Box of second-hand books and maps. £2. In mixed condition. Bought sight unseen at charity auction Somerset. Books sold to dealer for £2. Maps included rare 1930s Ordinance Survey maps from 1920s – 1950s. Sold to specialist dealer for £150. Profit £150.
Pile of second hand bath taps. £1. In poor condition. General auction. Wiltshire. Four pairs were brass and worth cleaning up. Cost of restoration £80. Sold on eBay for £467. Total profit £386.
Racing bicycle. £1. 15 gear, lightweight Raleigh. Almost new, but missing front wheel and saddle. Police lost property auction. Sheffield. Cost of replacing parts and service £60. Value if new £280. Saving £219.
Second-hand 36” colour TV, VCR and DVD. £5. Approximately five years old. Not known if working. From company boardroom. Receiver sale. Norwich. Replacement value £600. Saving £595.
Five reams of white 80gsm bond photocopy paper. 35 pence. Receiver sale. Norwich. RRP £20. Saving £19.65.
Case of 1 litre San Pelegrino sparkling mineral water. £1.50. Company receiver sale. Edinburgh. RRP £22. Saving £10.50
Palm Zire PDA Organiser. Brand new. In box. £1. Latest electronic personal organiser. Lost property sale. London. RRP £89. Saving £88.
Dualit toaster. Black. Incorporates toasted sandwich maker. £5. Barely used. Perfect condition. Seized goods sale. Birmingham. RRP £235. Saving £230.
UNDER £50.
Case of mixed red and white wine. £12. All originally purchased from Marks & Spencer. General auction. Cornwall. Retail price £72. Saving £60.
SMEG Electric Fan Assisted Oven. £45. Not new but in perfect condition. Liquidation sale. York. RRP £480. Saving £435.
Toshiba Equium laptop computer. £50. Only 18 months old but not in working condition. General auction. Hampshire. Cost of repairs £110. RRP £980. Saving £820.
Samsung Television, Samsung VCR, and Samsung DVD player. £48. All two years old and in working condition. Includes stand. General auction in Hampshire. Estimated cost when new £900. Saving £852.
Photo iPod, headphones and Altec Lansing speaker system. £50. All under one year old. No paperwork or software. All in working condition and as new. Included re-charger for iPod and case. Lost property auction in London. RRP £378. Saving £328.
1994 Renault 5. £35. Body and mechanics in good condition. Interior in very poor condition. Agricultural auction. Northumberland. Cost of replacing interior £230 including labour. Car sold privately for £499. Profit £234.
Bouncy castle including pump. £47. Castle’s vinyl in need of repair and also very dirty. Pump working. General auction. Devon. Repair and cleaning costs £90. Now hired out to parties and fetes for £75 a day. First year gross profit £838.
Chilled display cabinet. £50. From takeaway restaurant and within guarantee period. In good condition. Receiver liquidation sale. Re-sold to delicatessen for £300. Profit £250.
Aluminium greenhouse. 12’ x 8’. £27. Dismantled and complete apart from six panes of glass. General auction. Suffolk. RRP £312. Saving £285.
UNDER £250
1950s Stainless Steel Gent’s Rolex. £210. Good condition. Collector’s item. On steel bracelet. General auction. Staffordshire. Value £850. Sold on eBay for £650. Profit £440.
York paving stones to cover area 12’ x 18’. £230. Beautiful rectangular re-claimed York paving. General auction. Lancashire. Value in excess £1000. Saving £770.
Gas boiler and nine assorted radiators. £211. Installed into apartment and then removed without ever having been used. General auction. Nottinghamshire. RRP £1300. Saving £1089.
Vango four-man tent. £58. Vango tent. As good as new. Lost property auction. RRP £120. Saving £62.
Bosch 1400 spin washing machine and Bosch condenser tumble dryer. £176. In perfect condition. Within 12 month warranty period. Receiver liquidation sale. Wales. RRP £817. Saving £641.
Apple iMac computer. £140. Apple Macintosh iMac. Still within 12 month warranty. As new. Boxed. Receiver sale Nottingham. RRP £800. Saving £660.
1989 Mercedes 400 SE. £750. Mercedes 400 SE car with just 68,000 miles on clock. 7 months MOT and Road Tax. Some service history. Good runner. No radio or spare wheel. Rear electric windows not working. Car auction Edinburgh. List price £5,000. Saving £4,250.
Canon Ixus 7-megapixel digital camera. £83. Brand new with cables and battery but without box or software. Liquidation sale. RRP £300. Saving £217.
Four-person Tessio sauna. £375. Dismantled but complete. General auction. London. RRP £1495. Saving £1,120.
UNDER £500
Mercedes E300 Estate. £480. 1994 (old shape). Automatic. FSH. Low mileage. Good condition but needs new tyres. General auction. List price £4995. Saving £4,515.
Compass Callibra two-berth caravan. £415. Sound and roadworthy but in need of work. 1995 model. General auction. Kent. List price £3995. Saving £3,580.
One week’s timeshare in Ibiza apartment. £430. One week a year in one-bedroom apartment every Spring. Service charge of £65 a year. Legal costs to transfer title £210. Receiver sale. Northern Ireland. Current value in region of £4,000. Saving £3,360.
John Deere ride-on lawn mower with various attachments. £470. Fair condition. Four years old. General auction. Norfolk. Current RRP £1499. Saving £1,029.
12’ aluminium fishing boat with Yamaha outboard and oars. £394. Fair condition. Engine untested and proved to require £80 service. General auction. Cumberland. Insurance value £900. Saving £426.
Two pairs Salomon skis. £210. Slightly used, complete with bindings. Excellent condition. General auction. London. RRP £800. Saving £590.
UNDER £2,500
Stainless steel designer kitchen with Bosch appliances. £2,300. Handmade kitchen including sink, worktops and storage plus hob and oven. Receiver sale. RRP £6,000. Saving £3,700.
Pinball machine. £590. In working order. General sale. Similar seen in specialist dealerships for £2,000 plus. Saving £1,410.
1969 Mini Cooper. £890. A fully restored, racing green Mini Cooper ‘S’ 1275 in excellent condition. Low mileage. Some service history. General auction. List price £8,000. Saving £7,110.
IBM Think Pad R Series. £130. As new. Boxed. Liquidation sale. RRP £600. Saving £470.
Sony Handycam digital camcorder. £110. State of the art digital video camera. As new. Liquidation sale. RRP £410. Saving £300.
18 yards of antique oak panelling. £1,310. Half panelling taken from hallway. Farm auction. Sold to architectural salvage company for £2,400. Profit £1,090.
Phillips 42” LCD Flat TV. £800. 8 months old. Perfect condition. General auction. RRP £1415. Saving £615.
OVER £2,500
One-bed flat £7,500. Mull of Kintyre, 3rd floor 1-bed holiday flat or buy-to-let opportunity.
Static Caravan £3,300. Currently based in north Devon. Three-bed 36x12ft static caravan. Accommodates up to eight people. Good condition. List price £15,500. Saving £12,200.
Terraced house £16,500. Telford. Terraced house with single storey extension. Garden to rear.
Jetski £2,750. SeaDoo Bombadier. Yellow. Brand new. Receiver sale. List price £7,000. Saving £4,250.
Classic Porsche 911 Turbo £11,235. Top condition. FSH. One owner and low mileage.
Empty Reservoir £15,000. 11-acre reservoir includes large hard area and pump building. Planning permission already granted and with this plot now worth at least £90,000. Profit £75,000.
Read some of our subscribers’ stories to see what you could be saving at auction
‘A brand new bathroom for £120.’
Joanne Lee, Wales
‘Where else could you buy a brand new bath, sink, w.c., heated towel rails, bathroom cabinet and Amtico floor tiles for £120? The directors of a fashion company purchased all these items (in tasteful white) for a bathroom they planned to add to their offices and showroom but before they could get it installed, they went bust. I went to the auction held by the receivers hoping to pick up some clothes, but came away with a brand new bathroom instead. I reckon I saved well over £2,000 thanks to Government Auctions UK.’
‘I paid just £23,000 for an idylic cottage.’
William Pride, East Anglia
‘Getting a real property bargain at auction does mean work – but it is worth it. For two years I followed advice I had read in Government Auctions UK and ordered up auction catalogues, visited likely properties and attended sales. Time and again the properties I was interested in went for about 20% - 30% below market value – which was still far more than I was willing to pay. But in January 2003 - at a commercial property auction - I was in the right place at the right time. No one else bid for this country cottage at I snapped it up for just £23,000 – a discount of about two thirds. I spent £20,000 on improvements and the property is now valued at around £150,000.’
‘I equipped my entire office – including a computer and printer – for just £620.’
Mike Roper, Hertfordshire
‘Thanks to Government Auctions UK I bought all my office furniture at auction. I purchased everything I needed – Apple computer, printer, desk, chair, filing cabinets, fax machine and several potted plants – for the grand total of £620. If I had bought it new I would have had to spend over £5,000. I’ve bought other things for my business at auction, too, including a van.’
‘I’ve gone into the property rental business thanks to Government Auctions UK.’
Steve Brown, Kent
‘Every month I scour Government Auctions UK for details of forthcoming residential property sales. I am on the look out for just one thing: studio flats. I pick these up for between £10,000 and £40,000 using buy-to-let mortgages, spend a few hundred pounds decorating and furnishing them, and rent them out to students and DHS tenants at yields of up to 20%. I now own eleven such properties all thanks to the advice in Government Auctions UK.’
‘Last year I bought a Porche 911 for £5,200, a Mercedes 500SEL for £3,500 and a Range Rover for £7,800 – and I’ve sold them all on at a profit.’
John Barnes, Sussex
‘Last year I started to buy cars at auction, drive them for a few weeks and then sell them on privately. Oddly enough, I find the best bargains not at car auctions but at receiver and even farm sales – details of which I obtain from Government Auctions UK. I don’t really know that much about cars but at the prices I pay if I make a mistake one day it won’t be the end of the world. I average about £1,000 profit per car and so far I have bought and sold eight of them! A lot of fun and £8,000 profit…not bad for a hobby!’
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: WHY AUCTION PRICES ARE SO LOW
The primary object of an auction is to make a quick sale. The vendors don't want to wait weeks, months or possibly even years to dispose of their goods. Nor do they want to waste time while "tyre kickers" decide whether they are genuinely interested or not. So before anything is put into auction you can be certain that the person selling it is willing to take a lower price for it then they know it might otherwise fetch.
There are, however, other reasons why auction prices are lower. Auctions are frequented almost entirely by dealers and are used as a clearing house by all sorts of individuals, businesses, and organisations for unwanted goods. This may be because the vendors want the money quickly or it may be because they want to get rid of whatever it is they are selling so that they don't have to worry about it anymore. In the case of government bodies what they are selling may be too old for their use (though perfectly good); surplus to requirements; or in some other way redundant. Indeed, government bodies are extremely wasteful and therefore inclined to dispose of things for even less than anyone else.
As already explained prices can be further deflated where a "no-reserve" sale basis is established. This means that the auctioneer has been instructed to sell at any price. If very few people turn up at the auction (one reason why better bargains are to be had during the winter when the weather is bad or during the summer when people are on holiday) then the no-reserve sale prices may be ridiculously cheap.
FREE TO SUBSCRIBERS THE Government Auctions UK WEBSITE
Full access to the Government Auctions UK website is freely available to our subscribers. The site contains many excellent features including:
Searchable database of traditional auctions – locate the sales of greatest interest to you by location, type of auction, types of item sold, and date. Includes auctioneer’s particulars, full details of sale, viewing details, catalogue details, items for sale, buyer’s/seller’s premiums and so forth.
Searchable database of internet auctions – find the internet sales of greatest interest to you by main activity, location, or our own unique “auction rating”. Includes auctioneer’s website particulars, full details of sale, items for sale, buyer’s/seller’s commission, conditions and so forth.
PROPERTY AUCTIONS! THE UK's BEST AUCTION SECRET
We have already explained the sort of bargains you can expect to pick up at a property auction. Typically the prices you pay at auction will be anything up to 40% less than you would pay for the same property purchased via an estate agent. In order to benefit from this massive saving (on a typical home that might be worth anything up to £40,000 cash!) you need to be well prepared. For instance, you must have sorted out your finance and survey in advance. In addition to giving you details of all the best property auctions held each month throughout the UK (many of which are not advertised) we also provide you with detailed advice on buying property by this method. Whether you are looking for a new home or thinking of becoming a property dealer or landlord no publication will assist you as much as Government Auctions UK.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT OFFICIAL RECEIVER SALES
Every year literally thousands of limited companies go out of business. In every case a liquidator or official receiver is appointed to dispose of the company’s assets. The first thing these people wish to do is to ensure that there is enough money in the bank to pay their fees. To do this they sell off the most marketable of the company’s assets as quickly as possible. The best way to do this? By auction – to raise money with allude speed and with little attention to the real value of the goods being sold. The result? Liquidator sales are some of the best places to pick up a bargain. And no publication covers these sales more thoroughly than Government Auctions UK.
OFFER
Find out if Government Auctions UK is for you...
New subscriber offer. Save up to 25% if you decide to subscribe
Free reports
Act now to take advantage of this great offer...
We will send you a passwords Government Auctions UK with the protection of our guarantee
Free reports in the member's area.
If you reply to this offer by 29th July 2005 we will be delighted to send you the following free reports worth £24.75.
Making Money at Auction - everything you need to know about getting started at auction.
Internet Auctions - everything you need to know about the rapidly expanding Internet auction sector.
A Guide to the United States of America Federal Government Sales - a fascinating examination of how you can buy unwanted US government items.
Buying Property at Auction - a beginner's guide to buying property at auction including advice on finance, gearing and keeping your costs to a bear minimum.
UK Government Disposals Update - the latest information about how the British government are selling off unwanted items together with a full listing of the specialist companies dealing with this stock.
New subscriber offer! Save up to 25% if you decide to subscribe.
If you decide that you wish to become a reader of Government Auctions UK we will be delighted to give you up to a 25% discount on your first subscription.
Your guarantee of satisfaction.
Click here now to apply for Government Auctions UK ... www.governmentauctionsuk.com
