by  BOB PRISCO (September 12, 2002)

The vast majority of public auctions are credible events that provide an excellent opportunity for buyers and sellers to meet at a central location and conduct business. Also, they provide an excellent opportunity for buyers and sellers to arrive at the fair market value of the birds.

Pigeon Auction Categories:

1.     Complete Sell Out: A loft sells all of its birds, clocks, pigeon equipment, etc. / Going out of business

2.   Loft Reduction:    A loft reduces its number of birds, but it will still actively participate in the sport.

3.     Select or Special Auction:     One or more fanciers select special birds from their best pigeons to offer to other fanciers.

4.     Donation Auction:     Several fanciers, as many as 25 or more, donate a special bird for a charity or fund raiser.

5. 5.  Race Auction:     A Race, as part of its rules, will auction its Race birds.  The owner has no choice.  All birds that finish in positions 1 to 50 go to auction.  Usually a 50/50 SPLIT between the OWNER and SPONSORS of the Race.
   

THE OLD PHRASES: "YOU PAY YOUR MONEY AND TAKE YOUR CHANCES" or "CAVEAT EMPTOR" ( THE AGE OLD WARNING OF "LET THE BUYER BEWARE") CERTAINLY APPLY TO ANY RACING PIGEONS PURCHASED AT AUCTION.  There are many honest, reputable individuals, but also there are those who have larceny in their hearts, and those individuals will seek to use the auction to dump flawed products or birds.

Helpful Tips:

1. 1.  Make sure the representatives of the auction company or the sponsors and management of the auction have a vested interest to  provide a positive image for the sport and have excellent reputations and high integrity.
   

2. 2.    Buyers should do some serious homework and check the reputation and integrity of the fancier, and the quality of his birds.  Check the race records of the birds to see if they have the qualities you need to improve your loft.  What type of conditions and race course does he fly?  Check out the famous birds and their pedigrees.
   

3. 3.  Know the auctioneer and make sure he is credible with past buyers and sellers.  Remember, the auctioneer works for the seller and auction company.  He is in control, and when the hammer falls, the bidding is over.  A verbal contract has been completed between buyer and seller.
   

YOU SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID TO BUY AT AUCTIONS, BUT IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT ABOUT THE HONESTY AND INTEGRITY OF THE AUCTION COMPANY, FANCIER OR THE AUCTIONEER, THEN DO NOT MAKE ANY PURCHASES.  SIT ON YOUR HANDS, AND KEEP YOUR MONEY IN YOUR POCKET.

4. 4.    Arrive at the auction with plenty of time to look over the birds and their pedigrees.  If you did your homework, then you should know many of the fancier's famous birds and foundation breeders.  See if they appear in the pedigrees.  Many buyers go to an auction without doing their homework, then get carried away with the bidding when a particular bird comes up.  As a result, they end up either paying too much for the bird or buying one that is not suitable to their breeding program.
   

5. 5.  Mark off the birds you like at first observation, then go back for a good second look.  If you are not an experienced pigeon fancier, then take along someone who has some expertise and experience to read the pedigrees to help you understand a performance family of birds.  Performance should be the only criteria you use to select the birds on which to bid.  If a bird comes from a winning family that has generation after generation of excellent racers and breeders, it deserves a chance in the breeding loft.  Do not concern yourself with the "eye experts" and the so called "pigeon graders" of wings, throat, back, muscle and feather.  Just make your selections on performance.  Do not worry about the fanciers who walk around with the "jeweler's loupe".  Just make sure you have your glasses to read the pedigrees accurately.
   

6. 6. Avoid "Auction Fever".  It will cause a buyer to spend more than he or she wants.  Hold you emotions in check.  Free food and alcohol affect these emotions.  The food is OK, but the alcohol gets you to open up your wallet.  Keep to the rule:  once you have made your selections, arrive at a price you are willing to pay for each bird.  Your job is to buy the bird at a fair price.  Never over bid your limit or what you feel the bird is worth.  If you bid and are not sure of the bid, then ask the auctioneer.  His job is to sell birds, not confuse you.  Bid at whatever speed is comfortable for you.  Remember, the auctioneer works for the seller.  It is his or her job to create both excitement and a sense of urgency to motivate people to bid quickly.
   

7. 7.    Before you go to the auction, you must decide what you intend to buy.  Are you looking for a cock, a hen or maybe two birds to mate together?  Do you want to by one bird or several?  If you have pedigrees to study in advance of the auction, look for the champion birds and study their pedigrees.  Look for the key birds that appear most frequently.  Seek out those birds in the auction that are similarly bred to the champions.  If the seller is present, introduce yourself and discus with him the birds you have selected.  Ask his advice on suitable matings and on what birds he recommends you need to achieve your goals.  Remember, no one knows the birds better than he does.  Seek his advice.  The seller should present prospective buyers with the most information possible and give the auctioneer a honest picture to enable him to generate enthusiasm among the audience.
   

8. 8.    Understand how the auction works, and if there are any reserve bids.  RESERVE BID:  the lowest price the seller will accept to sell the bird.  It is the owner's property.  If that owner has set a particular price for the bird, then that is his or her right.  The bird will remain the seller's property until that bids reach that stipulated amount.  If the bid does not reach the reserve, then the bird is not sold.  Reserve bids are used for special birds, record birds and foundation breeders.  If the reserve bid is $5,000 USD. AND THE HIGHEST BID IS ONLY $4,000 USD, the bird is not sold.  When you look at the auction results, you may see RNA (RESERVE NOT ATTAINED) next to the bird's band number.  The best approach is to assume that every bird in the auction carries a reserve bid, or minimum bid, that the seller will accept.  There is one exception, an "absolute auction".  If the sale advertises an absolute auction, this legally binds the auctioneer to sell the bird to the highest bidder, no matter the bid amount.  There are no reserves or minimum birds at an "absolute auction".
   

9. 9.  Find out if the auction allows "proxy bids, advance bids or mail in bids".  This bidding allows a person to place a maximum bid on a bird in advance, and he does not have to attend the auction.  He indicates the highest amount he will pay for the bird, and someone in attendance bids for him.  Many times it is the auctioneer.  This type of bidding may cause cheating and unethical practices by the auctioneer and sales company.  You can best describe these actions as FRAUD.  For example, a fancier sends in a mail bid for $5,000 USD. for bird #1, which is a record bird and champion breeder.  This means he authorizes the sales company to bid as high as $5,000 USD. to buy the bird for him because he will not attend the auction.  The auctioneer starts the bidding at $1,000 USD. because he bids for the mail in bid.  Someone in the audience bids $1,500 USD.  The auctioneer bids $1,700 USD., and no one else in audience bids.  The bird should be sold for $1,700 USD to the mail in bid.  However, if the sales company and auctioneer are dishonest, then they will have someone in the audience continue to make fake bids (this person is called a shill) to drive up the price as close to $5,000 USD as possible.  This makes the mail in bidder pay over $3,000 more for the bird than was necessary.  Why would they do this?  They are paid on commission, the more the bird sells for the more they make.  Also, with mail in bids, you can make the buyers in attendance pay more than necessary.  Same bird #1.  Several individuals in the audience also want the bird, and the bid goes past $5,000 USD.  The auctioneer should stop his bidding, because he can only go to the $5,000 USD authorized by the mail in bidder.  However, he continues to bid past the $5,000 and makes fake bids to drive up the price the buyers in the audience must pay for the bird.  Many times the final buyer will overpay a very large amount for the bird because the auctioneer saw the chance to take advantage of the buyers in the audience, their enthusiasm and their desire to purchase the bird.  For this reason, I do not like the use of advance bidding or mail in bids.  However, they are a very common practice in today's pigeon auctions.  A buyer must decide if the auction allows mail in bids, if he wants to participate in the auction and who will make the bids for these absentee buyers.
   

10. 10.    Buyers should pay close attention to the number of the birds that the auction advertised in advance, and how many of the original birds are there on auction day.  It is a very common practice by sellers and auction companies to advertise several birds that they have no intention to sell to bring in a large number of buyers.  The buyers arrive to find out that these birds have been withdrawn and substitute birds put in their places.  This is commonly called the "bait and switch".  You come to the auction to buy one bird and the seller tries to sell you another.  Another reason many of the original birds are not present is that they may not be healthy.  There have been a number of cases where unexpected illness occurred after the auction advertised the birds.  If this is the case, do not buy any of the birds.  You do not want any chance that this sickness will reach your loft and cause future problems.  Also, it is a common practice for sellers to sell birds before the auction to private buyers.  The seller takes advantage of the sales company's time, money and advertising to promote the sale.  It would be cost prohibitive for the seller to try to duplicate the promotional efforts of the catalogues and advertising himself, so he takes advantage of their efforts to offer some of his birds at private deals. 
    

THIS IS NOT VERY ETHICAL OF THE SELLER!

REMEMBER "IT IS NEVER A GOOD BUY IF YOU DID NOT NEED THE BIRD OR IT CANNOT HELP YOU BETTER YOUR RACE RECORD, REGARDLESS OF HOW CHEAPLY YOU PURCHASED IT."   "CAVEAT EMPTOR (LET THE BUYER BEWARE)".