Wendol, that could very well be a nice buy for someone who's been looking for that size tractor. As mentioned, there may be a very small crowd making bidding go quick. It would be pretty easy to go look the tractor over before the sale, then stay back from the crowd and bid from a distance. Once the auctioneer sees your first "hand raise' he won't let you out of his sight until you shake your head sideways or walk away!!
A couple of years ago I was looking for a tractor and noticed one at an auction 25 miles away. Went and looked it over and formed my opinion of what i thought it was worth to me, then came up with a maximum bid since it was so close.
It had belonged to the Kubota dealer that had closed down about 10 years earlier, was in excellent condition, HST, loader, nice.
My wife went with me to the auction. I coached her on what I was going to bid and why. I asked her to not talk to anyone there about that tractor. If someone asked anything just shrug your shoulders and don't comment. The reason I even brought it up is because auctions are usually men only, but if other women are there they congregate and converse.
When it came time to sell the tractor and the bidding started, I let it go for a while to see how it might go. Then I bid. Right away someone else bid. I waited a bit and raised the bid. Boom they bid again. This went back and forth with the two of us for 5-6 bids. Then I figured my strategy would be to just keep doing the same thing until I got to my limit. It was a woman bidding against me, I could see. She bid, I raised her immediately, she bid, I bid, she bid, I bid.
I was soon at my predetermined limit, but I was a good machine so I bid again. She bid, then I bid, she bid, I bit one more time. I finally quit. Watched a few other things sell and then went to pay for some items.
During that time after the tractor sold and other things were selling, this woman went back over to my wife and told her she had just bought that tractor. (Which my wife obviously knew) My wife asked her how much she paid for it. The buyer told her. My wife said, "Oh,that's a nice tractor." The buyer said, "Yea, I paid way more then I wanted to but that guy over there keep bidding, so I figured if he was bidding it was a good deal so I kept bidding until I got it. My husband doesn't know I was going to buy a tractor today. He's at work and I have to figure how to get it home."
Moral of the story. Sometimes buying strategies do not work!
