What is your opinion on buying/selling horses...

[Lauralee]

Hi all,

I noticed Ashley's post about selling her beloved gelding. Congratulations Ashley, on the sale, but condolences on the hard part of parting with your boy.

I have been considering listing a whole bunch of bred mares and weanling colts on the auction here at Lil Beginnings/Last Chance. I really need to reduce the herd and my reserve prices will be very low because of that. However, I worry a little about where they will go and the type of buyer that may pick them up at a bargain price.

Would you consider buying a horse from the auction? Have you got an experience you would like to share? Either as buyer or seller?

What can I do to make the auction succeed? What if a minor bids on my horse?

I'd like to hear your opinions as to whether or not this would be a good way to sell bred mares and weanling colts.

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]I did buy a bred mare from the auction about 4 years ago and was very satisfied with her and the resulting foal. I ended up paying 2300 for her. On the other side I sold a filly thru the auction the same year, even delivered her to the new owner. Allowed payments, Checks bounced twice, took about a year to get payment in the form of another horse and then a long time getting the papers on the horse..... I would buy again, knowing it is a buyer beware thing..... I would ask for lots of pics and a video if possible. But I would still buy. After having been burned with selling ,I would need to have references. I guess I would buy or sell if it was someone well known from LB site that was trusted here.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I think it can work great to be honest I got 2 of my stallions that way not on LB auction but another one that doesnt exisit anymore i think..

anyway i got great deals on very nice horses and I did speak with the buyers alot but I think if it were me personally I would try to do a sales page add first and then go from there not sure why cause really the same things can happen from any internet sale so there is no logic at all behind that statement

 

[Laura]

I've had pretty good luck selling on the LB Last Chance Auction. Perhaps my reputation preceeds me, as I have had no bogus bidders or buyers

Last year one of the fillies we listed there (awesome show yearling), was purchased on buy it now by someone from IRELAND! That started a whirlwind of getting her to quarantine and to her new home. It was so fun

Of course Emo Trans' nearest quarantine farm (for us) is near Houston...can anyone say "let's go to the beach?!"

 

[Ashley]

This is my 4th horse I sold that way.

All of them went to forum members. Mini-Max bought one from me, my other special boy I had a hard time parting with. He couldnt of got a better home, I sent another out to California, one right here in Wisconsin now my latest boy.

I do feel after talking to a friend of the buy her is getting a good home, with a child to call his own.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

I have bought and sold on auction and I include a clause stating to "acceptable home". This let's the buyer know that they should contact you and then form a buyer//seller relationship. The last I sold was my stallion Hopes. She inquired and then we spoke by phone. By the end of the call late at nite she did the buy it now and he went to a wonderful loving home. I couldn't be happier for them all.

I love several of your kids Lauralee but Texas is so far for me so it is a deciding factor in many purchases for folks. The low reserve should help tempt those who are concerned with transport costs. The bottom line is at Last Chance you can end the auction yourself if you find the buyer unsuitable. Rare of course but it can be done. If I am wrong I know Mona will correct me.

 

[Mona]

Lauralee, I try my best to screen registrants to make sure there are no minors. I am sure there are some that manage to sneak by me, but I do my best at keeping them off, until they reach the age of 18.

There is an option to acccept high bid and end auction early, which is nice if you have been corresponding with the bidder, and feel it is the perfect hime for your horse.

 

[Aggravation Acres]

I have sean a few colts on the Auction I would have loved to bid on. But they were just to far away. Texas is just to far for us.

I have gotten 3 horses from the sale board and I am very happy about them. I will be selling one colt soon. So I might have to learn how to put an ad on the sale board.

Deb

 

[wishful]

I have bid a few times on horses on the online auction. It is important to call or email the seller to get all the information possible. I had already contacted the lady about this colt but the reserve wasnt met and it ended at 2am. I would have like to have gotten an email to let me know what the reserve was as I was interested enough to bid , as a seller you never know-just email us bidders, we might just say "I can meet that reserve".(just something to keep in mind if the reserve isnt met) Whats hurting us these days are shipping costs. For folks like me the option of a payment plan is a blessing, I always see more then one i like.

I can think of two on your sale pages Laura I would most certainly bid on should you decide to list them.

 

[Danielle_E.]

I purchased my first two minis off the auction site here, one from Mona (Stone) and one from Karen (Basner) and I believe both breeders know that I spoil my horses rotten!!! I bought my third mini from a forum member here and my 4th I bought from Mona again. I recently bought my 5th from a breeder who advertises on the forum.

 

[Viki]

I have participated both ways, buying & selling. I've been happy both ways!

Viki

 

[Songcatcher]

I have purchased two that were listed on the auction (by a Fourm member who doesn't post very often). I emailed for pictures and information. The info I received was rather sketchy, but I bid. I did not meet the reserve price and I emailed the seller for more information. We finally reached an agreement on price and I sent a Postal Money Order.

I was delayed twice on picking them up waiting on Coggins test and Health Papers. Finally went to get them and they were literally SKIN AND BONES! The pictures I had received had been from the previous year. I brought them home and fed them and they came out of it well and became good looking minis, but remained untrusting. One of the two was a gelding but his registration certificate had never been updated and it took me over FOUR MONTHS and intervention from Mary Lou and a threat to report to AMHR in order to get a gelding certificate from them.

Would I buy from the auction again? Under some conditions (but certainly not from that seller). Would I sell on the auction? Not on payments (unless it was someone I already knew).

By the way, I have had great luck with all the tack and supply purchases I have made on the auction.

 

[Sanny]

I would buy or sell via the auction, though like others, I would include some sort of a clause regarding "acceptable home". I've had extremely good luck buying horses long distance but have gotten to know the seller well, I've asked around about them and their horses, and I've asked for lots of information - pictures, video if possible, etc. Not all sellers want to go through that extra work or contact. There have been many times that I've had an interest in someone's horse on the sale board or the auction but the unknowns of transportation costs and how to arrange it have held me back from doing anything about the horses, so knowing upfront I can get help with it would make a difference.

Ironically, back when I first discovered minis and didn't yet even own one, I found a mini listed on the LB auction that I was very, very interested in. I became very frustrated because none of the e-mails to the seller nor questions posted on the auction were answered by the seller. I bid on the horse but then requested my bid be taken off because of the lack of information by the seller. I really never did get any sort of satisfactory response from the seller. I e-mailed Mona to complain and she was great to deal with - thankfully - or I probably would never have visited the auction or the forum again after that experience. I got over it, and here we are. I love to shop the auction and the saleboard and don't know what I would do without the forum!

 

[Tammie-C_Spots]

I just recently rec'd my horse I won on lil beginnings auction. I was crossing my fingers that when the horse stepped off the trailer that I wouldn't say "oh, what have I done?"

It was a great experience for me. The agent (Laura at Flying A in AR) selling the stallion answered my questions very quickly and with the info I asked for. Pictures I asked for were sent to me within 24 hrs. I was holding my breath as the end of the auction came up cause there was another party that wanted him too. My husband, Frank, came down from bed to see if we had a new horse and we did

The agent had the horse ready to go and we had to make some special arrangements for shipping but it went smoothly. Worley's shipping brought him up and I was very pleased with my new stallion- he's even better than I expected

So, I guess I would do it again but I have heard of some dissapointed buyers. I would always ask for more info on a horse and feel out the seller to see if I felt comfortable with them. In my instance I did feel comfortable, not to mention the agent was also a forum member that I had spoken with on an occation or two via email

Tammie

 

[Marty]

I know that Mona runs the best aution in the world and if I were an auction gal, Mona's auction would be the only auction that I would do business with.

I have thought long and hard about putting one of mine on the auction but it scares me to death and color me weird, but I'm not an auction type of person. I"m willing to bend and be flexable about prices, but when it comes time for me to ask someone to bend for me I can't, so I depend on people not messing around and put their best price on the website in the first place. Not everyone likes wheeling and dealing.

To buy a horse from an auction just does not work for me for a few reasons. I don't want to feel pushed like I have to hurry up and bid or I'll be outbid by someone and then get sad over loosing the deal. I feel it's really a game in a way and I just don't feel that buying a horse under any pressure like that is in my best interest.

I can't make split decisions that fast and to me that is what it would be unless I were looking for a certain horse that happened to turn up on the auction. But honestly for me, purchasing a horse is such a serious thing for me that I'd rather by pass the auction part of it. If your prices for a bred mare were a bit lower on the website you would have heard from me months ago.

 

[minisch]

My opinion...... I've been tempted a time or two to buy off the sale board or auction. But I've always changed my mind.... I need to see them in person, look in there eyes. My horses become a big part of my family. It's a decision I don't put lightly. I'm putting on the flame suite now..... I personally couldn't sell a horse to the highest bidder..... I'm one of those ones who has to feel comfortable with the buyer, I couldn't sleep at night. I'm not a breeder and only sold a few maybe that's why ??

 

[vvf]

I have sold on the auction and also bought.

The colt that i bought, i was the only bidder and the reserve wasn't met.

I ended up buying him anyway and it was one of the best purchases i have made.

I will add, that i did talk to the breeder on the phone about the colt and he was exactly as she described.

So, yes, i have had good luck both selling and buying from the auction