Free Auctions Information

Having a school auction is a great way in which you can raise some money for your school. One of the best kinds of auctions to have and probably the most fun for both the parents and the children is an art auction. This art auction will allow the students to make their own art items that can then be displayed and auctioned off. A good way to also cut down on the costs of making the projects is to see if some of the parents can donate money in order for the kids to buy the needed materials for their various art projects. Below are a few ideas for projects that most students should enjoy doing and parents will love to bid on.

Turning tiles into pieces of art is always fun for the kids. All you need are some plain white ceramic tiles that you can pick up at any home improvement store. It's probably best to stick with the smaller four inch tiles than larger ones. Give each child their own tile and paint and then let them do whatever design they would like to put on their tile. Once they are done you can then take a clear glaze and put it on all of the tiles so they will have a nice gloss to them. You can then take these tiles to use in a variety of different ways. They can be used to frame a mirror, to use as a frame, use as coasters, whatever.

Making cookie jars is always a popular thing for the kids to do. Just get a few white ceramic cookie jars and then all the kids to dip their fingers in some paint and have them put their finger prints on the cookie jar or jars. The child's name can be put on under their finger prints to make the jar more personal. You can also paint some cookies on the jar for them and then have them put their pinkies in colorful paint and then dot the cookies to make it look like decorated cookies. When making the cookie jars let both yours and the students imaginations run wild.

You can get some white platters and have the kids decorate by finger painting like the cookie jars or you might even want the children to put a picture of themselves on the platter and then you can decoupage them onto the platter. This can be done by using wallet sized pictures of the students. Other creative ideas can be used as well to make attractive serving platters.

Making class quilts are another creative idea. Each child can be given their own quilting block and some pre-cut pieces of fabric as well as paint, glitter and other embellishments. Let them decorate their own quilt block any way they want. When they are done you put their names on their blocks and then have the quilt sewn together.

Scrapbooks for each class can be made also. Each grade can get together and build their own scrapbook that will represent their class. They can use stickers, cutouts, pictures, ribbons, markers and other items used in making scrapbooks. Put the pages in protective sheets and then have all the different class scrapbooks bound together and they'll be ready for auction.  

If you have an organization or church that is looking for a way to earn some money and have fun at the same time you might want to consider holding a potluck charity auction. This is a good way to get your community together for an evening of good food, conversation and a little bit of fundraiser activity as well. This concept is quite easy and can be done with less effort than you might think.

First off you need to gather a few of your friends from your church or organization and figure out when you would like to hold the Potluck Dinner and Auction. You need to make sure that everyone who is going to help you put this on will be able to be there on the date that you've chosen. You also need to see if those who are helping with the event will be willing to bring in a meat dish and some paper items like plates, cups, napkins, etc. This will help kick off the potluck part of the event.

If this is a church function you can probably just hold the event at your church other wise you will have to have to find a place if you are an individual organization. If you do have to find a place it would be a good idea if you try to find a place that is going to be free. If the weather is nice you can always have it outside.

After you have figured out the date and the place you can then start sending out invitations through email as well as regular mail. You can make your own invitations as well by creating them on your computer and printing them off. You invitation should list the time, the date, the place as well as phone numbers people can call to confirm.

In the invitation make sure that you let them know that it's a potluck dinner and that you would love for them to bring a special dish of their own and a beverage. You also will want to ask them to bring a White Elephant. This is something that is in good condition but the person no longer uses or wants it and don't mind donating it for a good cause.

You can also put up posters at your church or other community centers to further advertise the potluck dinner and auction so that you can have the best chance of making the money you need for your fundraiser. You will also need to have someone go out an buy all of the things that will needed for the dinner like plates, napkins, cups, etc. This shouldn't be done any later than the day before the auction.

Make sure that you have someone who is willing to be the auctioneer. They don't have to be experienced but someone who loves to talk in front of crowds and has a loud voice would be a great candidate for the auction.

The day of the event you need to make sure that the area you are going to use for the dinner is all set up and ready to go and make sure that the meat dishes are prepared ahead of time and just need to be warmed up when it gets close to the time of the dinner.

Set up the dinner, welcome the guests, take their White Elephant donations and set them up where the auction area will be and sit down and enjoy dinner with your guests. Once the dinner is over the auction can start. People will be able to bid whatever they want on any item they see and think they might want to purchase. Make sure you have someone helping the auctioneer to keep track of the bids when they are placed and then have them take the winner their prizes and collecting the money at the time that they win the bid if you like. It would probably make things a lot easier if you have large index cards made up with numbers on them in black marker so everyone who wants to bid picks a card up and then holds it up each time they want to raise the bid.

If you don't have the people pay at the time they win their bid, you will then need to collect the money from them after the auction is over, so make sure that you have someplace set up where they can go and pay for the items they bid.  

People make millions of dollars each year off of online auctions as well as through traditional means. However, it's the online auction that you need to be the most wary about. It is very easy to be conned into buying something online in an auction thinking that you are getting the real deal. Below are a few ways in which you can avoid being ripped off with fake memorabilia.

One really important thing to note is how willing that the seller of the memorabilia is to communicate with you about how they got a hold of the memorabilia. A seller who seems nervous about wanting to discuss this issue and doesn't want to answer your questions about the history of the item he is selling, could be selling a fake or something that is illegal.

You should always be cautious about anything that is considered a reprint, prints and anything with copies of signatures. This is one of the most common ways people have been making money off of the sports fans by simply making copies of legitimate signatures and then reproducing the photos or posters. These things are generally worthless if you were to ever get them appraised so stay away from items like this.

Make sure that you have researched the different signatures of your the athletes so that you can make it easier to for you to tell the real from the fake. If you should happen to be anywhere one of these athletes might have a signing, pay close attention to how he signs and what his pattern looks like. This will be a big help to weed out the fake ones from the real.

Make sure to ask collectors you come into contact with in person if they would remove all cards and jerseys from the frames so you can check to make sure that the items are not fake. Understand that the light reflecting off of a frame and the thickness of the glass will distort how the memorabilia looks.

If you should happen to end up discovering that you have been conned into buying something that is fake, it is important that you don't just take it. It is your duty to call your local law agency and even the FBI when you have discovered that the items you bought were fake. This way you can talk to an FBI office that handles fraudulent sales and this will help put a stop to more people getting ripped off by the scam artist.

If the item you purchased was from a site like eBay it would be a good idea for you to report the incident of being sold fake memorabilia. You can also get help from eBay in learning how to discover fakes from the real thing.

You should also consider doing your own investigating on the background of someone that is selling sports memorabilia that you might be considering buying something from. There are a lot of different online forums and sites that hold auctions that have plenty of members who will easily point out which people to look out for when buying these kinds of items.  

Auctions have been around for many, many years and have been a way for different charities to raise money for whatever their needs might be. With the growing popularity of Internet auction’s charities have been able to reach a much larger audience and can even run auctions for 24 hours a day. Ebay is a prime opportunity for successfully auctioning off your charity items painlessly.

If you are thinking about having a fund raising event for your church or favorite cause or charity Ebay could be a great way for you to be able to raise the money that you need. When doing this kind of an auction you need to make sure that you create a realistic goal for your fund raising. Something you feel you should be able to achieve. A good way to set a goal is to do some research on other auctions and see what the auction prices are so that you can get a ballpark figure of what you might be able to do.

After you have done that and gotten yourself a goal you need to figure out when might be the best time in which to hold your charity auction. For instance if the auction happens to be around a seasonal time of the you it more than likely is going to get more notice than it would if it was during other times of the year. Another thing to consider is the cause something that has an awareness month attached to it? Like “Autism Awareness Month” for an example and if it does consider holding the auction during that month. This can be done with a lot of things that you might want to raise money for.

When you are done with this you need to get the things gathered that you plan to put up for auction. If you can get things that might have something to do with celebrities or sports figures you may have a much higher chance to get more money coming in. Sometimes these things can bring in more money than other items.

Once you have your items you will then need to register with Ebay by going to their site and following their instructions. Once you are finished with registering you will then need to create yourself a sellers account and then decide upon just how long you are going to want your auction to last. If you want to maximize the amount of money for your fund raising goal then you might want to list the items for 10 days. This is going to give more people the opportunity to view all of the items and to bid on them. This will help keep your charity or cause in the spotlight for a lot longer too.

Make sure to advertise about your charity auction. You can put an ad on the radio, TV, newspaper, direct mailings, email, fliers, word of mouth. You name it, whatever you think is going to work for you and is going to get people to go to your online auction. It all depends of course upon the kind of budget that you are working with.

Make sure that you have good pictures and descriptions for all of your items you are putting up for bid and when you are ready to list them you will need to go and click on the “Sell“ button on the site and then Ebay will guide you through the steps you need to take to list all of your items. Once you are done listing them, that's it! You can just sit back and see if the things sell.  

If you have an interested in buying a police car you do need to realize that these cars are really used hard while they are used on the police force yet on the other hand they are also maintained at a high level, which means that they are taken very good care of. Some people who go to auctions will know that in some circles police cars are highly prized items at auctions. Even as popular as they are make sure that you take into consideration a few things before you bid for the car and then sign for it on the dotted line. You should have with you a generalized checklist when you are considering going to an auction to try and buy a police car. Make sure the auction is reputable, usually police cars are sent to government auctions but it's still a good idea to do a background check on the auctioneer as well as any warranties there might be offered on the car by the one who is selling the vehicle.

There are some things you really need to consider before you bid on the car and if you don't have the expertise to check these items try to have a mechanic with you:

1. Safety features like air bags and anti-lock brakes
2. Check the mileage. Average drivers might accumulate about 15,000 miles a year but a police car might have double that per year.
3. Check the air conditioning and heating.
4. Check the radiator and the shape it's in.
5. Check the brakes as well as the suspension.
6. Look for cracks and defects in the body and any kind of uneven wear and tear on the car. This can indicate there is something wrong with the suspension or the tire alignment.
7. Check for rust especially around fenders, bumpers and the lights. Check the doors and wheel wells for rust as well.
8. Look for dents and body panels that don't seem to match exactly.
9. Finally, although it's not vital to the car, but look for things like upholstery that's stained, cigarette burns and pain scratches.

A good auctioneer will allow you to give the car a test drive and you really should be allowed to do so. This way you will feel a lot better about bidding on the car if you like the way that it handles for you and you feel good about the car.

You also might find that the car still has all of the police goodies like sirens, lights, radios and speakers, things you more than likely don't want or need. There is a chance though that you can offer those back to the dealer or auctioneer in order to lower the price of the car if you win the bid. Otherwise you can just pull it out yourself and try and sell it online later.

If you win the car it's a good idea for you to take it to your local police department and have them search for any kind of contraband that might have been left behind without police knowledge by a criminal. Things can be missed and easily hidden in car seats. So, it's a good idea to have the car checked out so you don't end up getting in some trouble later on down the road.

Be aware there are a few things that are tweaked when a car is a police car and one thing is that most back seat doors are locked and can only be opened from the outside due to trying to keep a criminal from escaping and sometimes the light on the inside is also turned off so an officer is not easily seen when they are opening their doors. So these are things you will probably want fixed after you take the car home.  

First off, if you don't know what a Chinese Auction is - it's an auction with kind of a fun twist to the typical fund raising event. Where a standard raffle has a range of prizes that people buying tickets can win, a Chinese auction allows buyers to choose what prize they want to compete for. This means that people aren’t hoping to win a random prized amongst a suite of prizes but instead can chase the exact item they most want. This adds a new level of excitement to your standard fundraising auction.

If you want to be creative and not want to buy the standard raffle tickets and you have Microsoft Office programs then you can make your own with Microsoft Word. First click on “File” then in the drop down menu click on “New” then choose “Templates” and then click on “Templates on the Computer”.

Go ahead and start browsing for any ticket templates there might be. If you don't see any then you can click on “Templates Online.” This way you can choose a template you like online and download it to your computer. Once you have the ticket you like it should automatically open up in Word.

You can now take the template and edit it and customize it by using the different fields that are available in the template to make it personal for your event. You just click on the different text boxes and simply start typing in what you want to type. You should also include some specific information about the event itself and this will cut down on the chance someone might try to cheat and bring in some other sort of ticket to try and win something for free. And it does happen.

Here are some specific notes on how to use the online ticket template and design it how you want. You will need to click on “Cover” and this is the area where you can design the front of your ticket. You can even add an image you want by right clicking on the ticket where you want to put the image and then click on “Add Image.” Pick the image you want from your computer and just drag it into position.

Next you are going to want to click on the “From Number” menu, and this is found at the bottom of your screen and then pick a number you want the tickets to start with. Pick “1” for the first book of tickets and then click on “Books” and then another drop down menu will show up. Pick the number of books you are going to want to print and the number of tickets that you want in your books.

When you have finished doing that click on the “Printing” button to send them to the printer. Make sure to check the box that is next to “Print to File,” then click “OK”. This is going to make you a print file. After this click on “Open Print File,” then go ahead and right click on the new window and simply click on “Print” and your tickets will print.  

To start off with, the classic car auction is usually set up where it's a combination of an auction as well as a classic car show at the same time. This will give the people the opportunity to be able to look at all of the different cars as well as getting to see some trophy winners. It also gives them the chance to visit with the owner if they are around and ask all the important question one might want to ask about the classic car that they might be interested in bidding on.

These kinds of auctions are usually set up to where they are on the weekend so that the car show and car auction will take up the entire weekend. They may even last a little longer depending upon where they are and what time of the year that it might be. After the actual car show is over, the cars then will start going through the auction. This is when the auctioneer will start reading of the number the car was assigned, the year of the car, the make and model and then they will add any additional information there might be about the particular car up for bid. It is going to be up to the buyer to remember the number of the car if he is interested in bidding for it and buying it.

There are other types of car auctions that will take place in an auction house and this is where the owners will either drive or push their car through the doors of the auction house. They will then sit and wait while their car is being auctioned. The auctioneer will again talk about the car a little bit, he will then look for bidders and then will talk about the car for a little bit longer and then again look around for bidders. He will continue to do this until the biding begins and once there is a winning bid the car will then be driven out of the house and then another car will come in and the process will start all over again.

No matter which car auction a person goes to, the person who bought the car will have to have either cash or a certified check from their bank to pay for the car that they won. So if you are really interested in getting a classic car you need to realize that there are lots others out there and there could be bidding wars so it's important to bring plenty of cash to one of these kinds of auctions.

Not all classic cars have reserve prices on them, however, most of them do. What this means is that there is an amount that the seller will not go lower than when trying to auction off the car. The bidding does however start below the reserve price and it will keep going until there simply are no more bidders. If that last bidder goes over the reserve price then they win the car. If no bids go over the reserve price then the car did not sell at that auction. Even if the person won the bid, if they don't want to pay the reserve price they don't have to and that means they also don't get to go home with the car either.  

Ancient auctions in Rome were mainly for the purpose of selling slaves. People that were captured from other countries during their many conquests would be put up for sale no different than if they were a piece of furniture or other wares to be sold. Those who would come to one of these auctions would inspect the slave up for sale probably no different than someone who goes to a car auction and examines the car. Just like cars slaves came with guarantees and if the slave had something wrong with them the seller would have to buy the slave back. They had six months in which to do this.

Those that bought slaves were usually Romans of high standing but on the other hand those that sold them were not thought very highly of much like what a pimp is considered to be like in today's standards. The slave traders also did not care how much they degraded the slaves in fact they would generally have the slaves stand totally naked in front of the crowds so that the buyer could see what they were getting. However, if a slave was exceptionally beautiful, they would not be put up for sale in a public market, special auctions would be held for beautiful slaves and the bidding would be done in private.

Slaves were kept in wooden or iron cages until they were needed for auction. They would be threatened with the whip and would be hit with a whip if they would not obey. If the slaves were from a different country they needed to be marked with white chalk on one foot so that the buyers would know that they were captured from a different country. The slaves would be fully inspected even down to their teeth before being put on the auction block. They would then place a plaque around their neck that would give the details of who they were, where they were from, their good points, their bad points. This was required by Roman law.

During the auction the slaves were displayed so that all could see them and sometimes they were on a revolving stand. A lot of them would be stripped of their clothes. Even if they came out in clothes a possible buyer could demand their clothes be torn off so they could see what they were buying. If the slave trader had not figured out anything about the slave and couldn't give any guarantees then the slave had to wear a special cap on their head that alerted buyers to this situation.

Buyers would discuss the body of the slave in front of everyone as if they were inspecting the engine of a car and they could examine each and every part of the body they felt necessary in order for them to make a decision on whether they wanted to buy them or not.

The amount of money paid for any slave differed. It all depended upon their age, the skills they had and other qualities. For instance if a slave was well educated they would cost about twelve times more than a slave that had no education. Women slaves, unless extremely beautiful would cost far less than male slaves. Romans also loved novelty so if a slave was a dwarf or was mentally handicapped for instance would bring in a lot more money than other slaves.

Note: Prisoners of war usually had a different fate and that was that they would be forced into being gladiators and the only way to continue to survive was to continue to win their battles.  

If you discover that there is going to be a police or government auction in your area and you think you might like to attend, it's probably a good idea that you know a few things prior to going to one of these kinds of auctions. Knowing what to expect and how to handle yourself at any kind of auction is important to you in order for you to have a successful day. Below you will find a few tips on what to do while at this kind of auction.

The first thing you need to do is find out if they are going to allow for the public to have a preview of the items that they plan to auction off. The reason for this is so that you have time to figure out if there is something you want to bid on and it will give you time to research the item so that you will know when you should stop bidding. The last thing you want to do is to pay for something that is worth far less than what you paid for it. A preview will also let you inspect the item up for bid and you can tell if it's in good condition or not.

Make sure that you have a good idea of what a particular item might be selling for in the retail market before you even decide to bid for it at any kind of auction. The whole idea of going to auctions is to try and get yourself a bargain. If you know right off the bad you can buy something just like it for less at retail then there is no reason for you to even be bidding on it. You also need to come up with a budget before you go so that you won't go over that budget. Do your best to avoid bidding wars, no matter how exciting it might be. You could end up spending far more than your budget would have allowed you to had you not gotten into a bidding war.

If you happen to be a victim of theft, it might be a really good idea that you look very carefully at all of the items that they have up for bid. If you happen to think you have found an item that might be yours, you will need to go to the organizers of the auction and let them know. They will then be required by law to remove the item from the auction so that there can be an investigation. If it does turn out to be yours, you may get your property back right after the auction is over.

If you know the weather is going to be kind of bad for an outdoor auction, don't let that stop you from attending. In fact this is the best time to attend. Far too many people don't want to deal with the elements and this will give you a better shot at getting what you want at a cheaper price since there will be less competition.

Make sure that you know what kind of payments will be accepted before you go to the auction. You don't want to get there, win the bid only to find out that they won't accept your credit card that you brought with you. Also, if you are bidding for something big like a house, you are going to have to have proof that you have the money available and you may even need a credit letter before you can even be eligible to bid on something like this.

Another good way to get items cheap is to stay for the entire auction. A lot of people don't stay the entire time and here again your competition will be less and there might be something you really want that you might get for a lot less by hanging out for the entire length of the auction.

If it happens to be a house or a car that you might be bidding on, you really need to find out if there is any kind of debt still owed on these things. The last thing you want to do is think you got a steal on a house or a car only to find out you still have more money to dish out because of any outstanding loans there might be against the item.  

In just about every single town in across the country and no matter what size the town you are more than likely going to find at least on self storage facility where people store all of the things they don't seem to have room for. There are times where the people that pay for this storage will end up defaulting on their payments and after a certain amount of time, everything in the unit becomes property of those that own the facility. Since they lose money by keeping the items there they have to end up putting the items that are stored up for auction.

You won't find a database or a website that will list when these places hold auctions since each facility has a right to choose their own way of advertising and how they will hold these auctions. So probably the easiest way to find an auction like this is to simply go through your local yellow pages and and start calling the different places to see if they have any auction schedules.

There is a legal requirement however, in most states in the United States, to put a notice in the newspaper about these kinds of sales, ones that are due to default in payment. So you might also want to check your newspaper as well under “Legal Notices”, do this on a regular basis and you are bound to run into these kinds of auctions, as well as a lot of other different default sales.

These kinds of auctions are generally done right on the site where the property has been stored. They will either hire a professional auctioneer or they may just have one of their employees for the storage company conduct the auction.

When you decide to go to one of these events, make sure that you arrive early. You want to have plenty of time to be able to look at the unit that has the property up for sale. You also need to understand although they may let you look over the property, it is only from the outside of the unit. They will not let you go in the unit to look at all of the items stored there. You also are not allowed to open any boxes or containers that there might be.

Make sure to take plenty of cash with you when you go to one of these kinds of auctions because they usually only accept cash from the winning bidder. You also need to understand that if you are the winner that you will be expected to remove the items within a certain amount of time. So, before you start bidding make sure that you find out from the person holding the auction how long you have to remove the items. It could range anywhere from 24 hours to a week.

It's important that you know all of the guidelines and special requests of the auctioneer. For instance in a lot of cases, if the storage unit happens to hold things like photos and personal papers and documents of the person who rented the space, you are required to return those to the people who run the storage units because these need to be returned to the owners should they come by at a later date and ask for such items.