*** ITFS AUCTION ***

We had a good day out. My son thought the library was open when all the books were being put up.
There was a great display of both fish and dry goods, not to mention the range in the difference of prices achieved.
It's great to think you could make a donation to a charity and get some nice fish etc in return.
As soon as the Corys were in the tank I was out for the count.

My voice has just about recovered. I just did a tally on the number of lots we got through, 184, too be honest I actually thought it was more.

Here are some stats for anyone interested:

• 184 lots
• 12 (withdrawn unsold - see below)
• Highest dry good price achieved: €100 - Panasonic underwater camera
• Highest individual fish price: €36 - Syno granulosis
• Highest group of fish: €40 - 3 x L333 youngsters
• Lowest priced items: €1 - there were only two items sold this low
• Official bidders (with paddles) 25
• Attendees, I think we counted 50 at one stage
• Most numerous fish present: Endlers / Guppies and most sold too

Total sales processed €1826.50

Commission from the total sales + Personal donations of goods for sale or money + sale of goods donated by Seahorse Aqauriums + admission fees totalled €1100 which will go to Our Ladies Hospice, Harolds Cross.

Not bad for an afternoons work.

This was the first auction ITFS has had in many many years and there were very mixed feelings about it, not least by myself, but I think we have to say it was very successful, so successful in fact that were a bit late starting and finishing we did not expect the huge volume of fish that arrived and had to be checked in. Apologies we were not running quite to schedule but it was for all the right reasons.

There was also a lot of accountancy going on, to settle up with buyers and sellers - many thanks to Valerie and Andrew who handled all that without raising a heartbeat.

We feared ending the day with a few bags of orphan fish abandoned by their owners, but there was only one and that was a genuine mistake, the buyer left it behind. Can the man that bought the Syno paradalis pm me I am babysitting, I also have your 54w juwel bulbs

IF we have another auction in the future, there are a few things we could learn from, we'll work on that from the organisation point of view but for the buyers and sellers out there I would suggest that you view the fish in advance, there were quite a few people not sure what fish were coming up or what size they were etc. We can help more with that the next time with a more organised display area etc. Secondly a few sellers set their reserves a bit high, of course that is a personal choice, but when someone goes to an auction they expect a bargain, not almost shop prices. On the other hand you don't want to see your fish going for nothing, try and aim for somewhere between the trade price a shop would give you and the shop price. It is also easier for the auctioneer to get bids going at a lower level and bring the price to the reserve than to start at the reserve.

Personally I need to work on my pronunciation of cichlids and killifish! Speaking of killi fish, there were some great bargains to be had. There were also some lovely African cichlids that sold for very little in the afternoon, that was big surprise as there were several advance requests about Africans.

Top sellers fish wise were probably catfish, apart from €36 for a syno granulosis (which is a great price and was a cracking looking fish) 3 young L333 obtained €40, 3 young 411 €28, 4 Cory C112's €30 and a breeding pair of whiptails €28.

Good sellers in the dry goods section were a wide variety or books, plastic plants and filters.

Despite reservations of being auctioneer for the day when I saw the amount of stuff and the number of people that turned up I actually quite enjoyed it, particularly the second half. It is very confusing the get the bid increments correct, remember who bid last and bang the gavel (pub measure!) and even harder to pronounce half the fish but it was all worth it especially when we got a few bidding wars going - you all know who I mean

All in all I think it was a very successful and worthwhile effort, a huge thank you to everyone that helped on the day and everyone that came.


Daragh

Well done to all involved,really enjoyed it and came away with some great bargains.

Well done to all involved really wish i could have made it

it was a brilliant day out, some great bargins, and good fun, thanks to all the organisers your a credit to the fishkeeping world, and more importantly great money made for charity, poor dar had a rough time with some of the names, heck even some of the owners has trouble remembering the names (you know who i'm talking about lol) and the best fun was trying to confuse dar with last second bids at the between the going, going, and gone shout (sorry Dar i think i started a trend there) for all the fishkeepers who didnt make it, you missed out and great to see all the usual suspects and some new faces... my only suggestion would be to do something like the fish show for the next one with small display tanks set up for better display of fish...otherwise A+++++++++ to all involved, great to see val back again and johnh i didnt need anyone to stop you bidding in the end I left well happy with my fish and books and equipment etc.

ladies and gents i would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who came yesterday and contributed to such a great day whether buying selling or just being there to support such an event .it really humbles me.
as for the amount raised all i can say is wow.i honestly taught we would make a couple of hundred and taught every little will help such a good cause,but 1100 is just out of this world.
thank you
john
ps.daragh next time i promise to get you a proper HAMMER

Quick question i cant cant make it to the auction but i have a few ornaments that i would like to sell at it and donate to the charity whatever they my go for. there not the best but its all for a good cause. how will i go about this?

Cheers john ill just hang on to them and what for the next one. never been to an auction befor so good excuse to go