Well, actually my birthday was on Wednesday, June 16, but I’d like to post about what I bought myself for my birthday. Late last week I stumbled upon a Craigslist listing announcing that the Main Street Furniture store in Jacksonville, Arkansas was going out of business and auctioning the rest of their inventory. I was skeptical at first, because back in the day (before the recession), an auction like this would have bids going super high. Another downside was there was a 10% buyer’s premium, which usually turns me completely off from going to an auction. I checked out the photos of the auction and the items looked awesome, so Caleb and I decided to give it a go, saying we’d buy a few things for my birthday present.
We got there a few minutes before the auction started and checked the place out. The items were great but the “retail prices” seemed really high. Of course the auctioneer left those prices on there to “help” us value the items. 🙂 The first item that was auctioned off blew us away. A leather sofa (that retailed for over $1200) with a few blemishes from shipping sold for under $100! The bidding-addict within started tempting me — should I stock up on this brand new furniture? Where in the world would I put it? I asked Caleb his thoughts and he was thinking the same thing: we should take advantage of the situation. Luckily for us, people woke up and started bidding just high enough to prevent me from turning these items for a profit quickly, so we dismissed the idea.
I went back to the plan of bidding on things for our home. Nice artwork is expensive just about any way you go about acquiring it, so one of my goals was to win some for a great price. The first item I bid on was this set of artwork:
I’m not sure what these retailed for, but if they were priced anything like the others I bidded on, they were probably priced $500+ each. I got them both for $70 + $7(buyer’s premium)= $77! They now adorn the wall on both sides of my china cabinet:
The next piece of art I bidded on doesn’t have a home yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out:
As you can see, the retail price was $498, and I got it for $25! I’ll figure out where to put it. 🙂
I don’t have a photo of it, but I got another piece of art that retailed for $298 for $12.50. I got that one cheap enough to sell for a profit, so I’ve got it at one of my booths.
One of the items we specifically went to the auction for was this ottoman/coffee table:
This super neat piece has rollers on the bottom and you can see the awesome storage opportunity. It retailed for $628, but I got it for $60 + $6 = $66! I was thrilled!!
Other items that I was super tempted to bid on were a plush king-size mattress/box springs for $462 that retailed for $1800 and a beautiful queen-sized bedroom suite (bed, nightstand, chest of drawers, and dresser) for $660 that retailed for $3600.
I wanted two of these super comfortable swivel chairs SO bad, so I made sure I had my highest bid in mind when the bidding started for them. When the bid for one went up to $200, I decided I didn’t need them that bad. I’m sure $200 each was a steal, but I’m just too cheap to pay that kind of money for a chair. 🙂
This auction definitely has me motivated to find an awesome antique auction to go to in hopes of getting good deals. I’m due to find another great deal that brings a nice profit on eBay, so I hope to be able to share my next great find soon. 🙂 If you’re like me and on the prowl for a great auction, be sure and subscribe to my mailing list so you’ll have announcements sent right to your email inbox.
I’m linking up with Cindy’s My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday:
