Working for Goldfuss and Associates Auctioneers

Goldfuss and Associates Auctioneers is a family owned and operated auction business. I met the owner, Brenda Goldfuss, who is also the auctioneer, over 10 years ago now at another auction. We became friends as we both were antiques dealers. Brenda left antique dealing to build her auction business shortly after I met her. I have helped her out on the side for years. It is a favor to her and a fun hobby for me!

Helping at Goldfuss and Associates is a very enjoyable and interesting part time endeavor for me. I assist in setting up the auctions on the day before. I also clerk during the auction. Let me explain what both of these tasks entail.

The day before an auction, boxes of items from all of the sellers (called consignors in the auction world) are stacked sometimes three high and usually two rows deep on a long row of banquet tables. We work from early morning to around 4:00pm or 5:00 pm, unpacking, sorting and cleaning the items for the auction. Lunch is just a half hour, otherwise, we are on our feet all day, moving items as quickly as we can between the staging area and the auction tables. Each consignor has a different number assigned to his or her items and each item or group of items in a box lot or tray lot is labeled accordingly.

We typically unpack, sort, and clean the items of one consignor at a time to make sure the proper number is assigned to each piece of merchandise in the sale. Once all of the merchandise from each consignor is unpacked, the fun begins. Small items and paper are placed on trays or in shallow boxes. Large items are placed in tall boxes or displayed alone.

We try to clean items, especially glass, china, figurines and picture frame glass to make them more appealing. People really do pay more for clean merchandise! Where we have to compromise is when a consignment lot is absolutely filthy. Then, merchandising suffers, because it takes so long to clean. Since we only have so many hours to set up, if there are several consignors, not everything gets cleaned. The dirtiest items don't bring as much money as they could have if we had time to clean them all, so if you consign to an auction, try to have things as clean as possible upfront!

When everything is first unpacked, the staging tables often look like we are having a yard sale! Our strategy is to sort items into like categories, where possible. For instance, we try to group vintage toys together on tray lots. Special attention is paid to jewelry, where a merchandiser's eye in displaying it always brings more money in than just keeping it in an unorganized mess in a jewelry box. Other categories we sort are: similar interest paper and books, sewing items, games, sports memorabilia, bar items, salt and pepper shakers, railroad items, lamps and lighting, and paperweights. You name it! We have had it to sell at one time or another! When we are finished, what looked like a jumbled yard sale often looks as good as a department store display! Goldfuss and Associates are known for the nice job we do merchandising everything!

The night of the auction, I help Brenda out by clerking for her. This entails sitting at a laptop computer station near her auctioneer's podium. I listen to her call bid amounts and when she sells something, I record the bidder's number, item description, and amount paid in the computer. My computer is tied to the cashier's computer. Everything I type in is instantly transferred so auction goers can check out within seconds of bidding on an item. At non-computerized auctions, the clerk writes everything that is sold down on sheets of paper. When the sheet is full, it is given to the cashier, so often a customer must wait another ten or fifteen minutes after bidding to check out! This slows the whole process down. Computerization is much more convenient. Clerking is fun but it can be mentally draining, especially if the auction runs over three or four hours long.

Goldfuss and Associates Auctions are always different because Brenda always has a diverse array of merchandise consigned to her. This is good because she always draws a big crowd. At the last auction, she had a phone bid from Wichita, Kansas! That's pretty exciting for us holding an auction on the East Coast!

You can check out Goldfuss and Associates auction schedule and auction merchandise at the following website: goldfuss-auction.com. Who knows! You might see something you'd like to bid on! I f you are not able to come to Sanitaria Springs, New York for the auction, it's not a problem. Just leave a phone bid! Also, they are always accepting quality merchandise to sell.