The Auction
Next Auction: Saturday, October 22nd, 2011
4100 N. Courtney Atherton Road
Independence, MO 64058
If you are attending the auction...
Auctions will begin promptly at 10:00am, rain or shine, and will end when all the trees have been sold.
*NOTE* - You can show up anytime at the auction before 2:00pm and still participate in the auction.
*Please wear boots to the auction as it can be muddy
Food, beverages and snacks will be available at the auction
Click Here for a printable version of the auction procedures.
Click Here [coming soon] for a printable version of the pick-up procedures.
Proceed to check in location to register for the auction and receive your bidder card. The card is necessary for bidding at the auction.
During the auction, the auctioneer will call out a price. If you wish to bid at that price for that item, raise your hand or card. The auctioneer will take your bid at that price and will increase the price in incre-ments to generate more bids for the item. If competition for the item stalls, the auctioneer will complete the auction for that item. If you were the highest bid for that item, you will win the bid for that item and owe the final bid price for that item.
During the auction, if there are multiples of same species lots (a lot is a group of plants to bid on, for example, 15 Can-ada Red Cherries make up lots 1-15, one tree per lot) in repeating succession, the auctioneer will auction off the first of these lots. They will sell one lot at a time. The auctioneer starts the first one and sells it for $45. He will then ask the winning bidder how many of the lots he wishes to purchase at $45 (the winning bidder can take 1 or as many as he likes, in sequence, including all of them). If the first bidder takes 5, then the auctioneer will turn to the crowd and ask if anyone else wishes to purchase 1 or more of the lots at $45. The first person the auctioneer sees put their hand/card up gets to decide how many they wish to buy at $45. Once again, that person can take just 1 or the remaining amount (in this case 10), this will continue until all of the lots of that species are sold. Keep in mind this is just a situation that may come up, it is not how the entire auction will be conducted.
Once you have purchased all of the lots you wish to purchase you will make your way back to the check-in office where you received your bidder card. You will show the people in the office your bidder number and they will have copies of the sheets showing who bought what. They will tally up your total, and give you a copy to verify. Please be kind and cooperative to the ladies behind the counter.
Once you have verified that your invoice shows the lots you purchased, you may pay the very same ladies behind that counter. The accepted forms of payment are as follows. Cash, check, money order, cashiers check, MasterCard and Visa. They will provide you with a receipt upon payment and you can proceed to the next step.
Next you must decide if you are going to haul the lots you purchased home yourself, or have other contractors haul them for you. If you have the vehicle to haul them refer to the “load-out” instructions sheet that you should receive upon entering the gate, or ask one of the staff what procedures to follow. If you need your plants delivered and/or in-stalled, you will need to sign up for this and you will be contacted to arrange a time for delivery and/or installation. Delivery and installation are offered at an additional charge. There will also be tree staking kits, bagged mulch and tie-down/tree protection available for additional charge, for your convenience. There are several contractors who will be on hand to assist you with delivery and installation details. Please keep in mind that once you have paid you will need to have your plants removed from the auction site within 2 weeks of the auction date.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If plant materials are not claimed and removed from the auction site (hauled off or delivered) within 2 weeks of auction date, they will be forfeited and no refunds will be given.
