Attended an Auction by GoIndustry Dovebid

Today is the first time I attended an auction of a textile company's assets. ( I happened to see a notice of this auction in yesterday's classified ads, in the 'Notice' section). I must say that, I felt really really young at the auction. The average age of the people must be at least 45 years old. Most of the people there looks like old uncles who are into the trading business, where they buy and sell stuff 2nd hand clothes.

This auction is done by an auctioneer, from GoIndustry DoveBid, on behalf of a textile company. I would think that the company has closed down, because they are selling everything, from all their clothes, accessories, to the computers, desks,whiteboard and such, and even their van.

Frankly, the goods that you can get here are really cheap. It starts off with a period of time for your to look at the goods and value it. The auction is rather informal, with one man standing on a stool with a mic and shouting out people's bid, and encouraging people to bid higher. (this is because they get a cut of 10% of the bid). I.e if a person bids $1000, he has to pay $1100 in the end, whereby $100 goes to the person auctioning on behalf of the company.

Things there are really cheap, For example a full size white board with rollers went for $10, and few hundred shirts together with cuff-links, bow ties, few hundred ties in a lot that went for like $2000. If I actually had a shop, I would definitely buy the stuff!

Also, people who are at the auction are goods specific. This means that the moment all the clothes are sold, you can see 'clothes' people starting to leave, leaving behind all the electronics stuff to people who are interested in electronics.

One interesting thing to note is that, you can actually 'advise' the auctioneer to bundle items. For example, you can advise the person to bundle together the table and chair and maybe all the furniture, instead of auctioning them separately, thus creating a better deal!

In all, this has been an eye opener for me, and for those of you out there who are looking for cheap 2nd stuff, this is really worth a visit. However, most of the things are sold in bulk, and hence it will put off many people. But I believe at the end of the auction, you can negotiate with the people who won bids on individual stuff that you might want to purchase. And most likely, this will still be cheaper than buying the stuff from a bazaar and cash converters.


An upcoming auction is by Knight Frank Pte Ltd, on behalf of the Singapore Police Force. It is stated to be selling various goods like confiscated and unclaimed items, jewelery, digital cameras motor vehicles etc. I believe the goods should be relevant enough for most of the public.

Details as follows:

Venue: Presidential Room, Hotel Royal (level 15) 36 Newton Road S 307962

Date and time: 13 Jan 2010, wed, starts at 10am

Viewing dates and time: 11 & 12 Jan 2010, mon/tue 10am-12noon and 2pm-4pm