3/19/20

We here at Amoskeag have been continually monitoring the current situation in America concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to take steps to keep our facility, staff and customers safe and to mitigate their potential exposure to the virus.  We have been fielding the normal number of telephone inquiries, image requests, and absentee and telephone bids as a typical pre-sale cycle.  Everything concerning our customers and response to the auction has been normal, with some questions, but no one appearing hesitant to buy or participate.

We began broadcasting our auctions online nine years ago first using Invaluable and then Proxibid.  We soon saw the growing popularity and success of this method of bidding, and could clearly see that this was the way of the future.  It was for this reason that a year ago we made an investment in technology and launched Amoskeag Live!  Amoskeag Live provides all of the functionality that the outside services provide and so much more.  Bidders can place and manage their own absentee bids, bid live during the auction, track items on a watchlist, pay their invoice, look up past invoices AND we provide this service free of charge to our customers.  If customers prefer an outside bidding platform, we still broadcast the sale on Proxibid, which is the most robust outside bidding service for gun buyers, their fee for use is 3%.

From the numbers above it is clear that the least common method of bidding is from within the hall.  Nearly 80% of our live auction items are sold to remote bidders.  Of the 4819 items sold, just over 20% went to customers in the hall.  For those of you wondering if these were mostly lesser valued items selling remotely, the ratio is almost perfect, 20% of items sold went to customers present and 19.5% of the total value sold went to customers present.  Additionally, Amoskeag also sold 8157 items in our online only sales, where 100% of the items sold to online bidders.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic we have been restricting the number of viewers in our facility at any time.  Six people are allowed in either live or silent viewing rooms at any given time.  All door handles and common contact surfaces throughout our facility are being completely cleansed each morning before start of business and again at noontime.  All viewers are required to sanitize their hands and wear non-latex gloves, which we provide, upon their arrival at our facility.  Our customers have been very receptive and appreciative of our efforts and for this we are grateful.

This week New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu banned any public gatherings of over 50 people.  Our auction day staff is normally about 25, with anticipated increased telephone bidding our staff will be about 30, leaving only 20 total “seats” for customers.  At this point we may or may not have live bidding in the hall on auction day, it is too early to tell with the ever-changing landscape of this situation.  Our suggestion for our customers at the present time is to prepare to bid remotely using Amoskeag Live, or perhaps Proxibid.  This means that if you do not have an Amoskeag Live or Proxibid account, please sign up now and do not wait until the end of next week; there is still plenty of time to get everyone setup and prepared for the sale.  Our technical support staff is ready to assist any bidders who may be unfamiliar with using online bidding or have any trouble setting up their account.

With 80% of our typical sale selling to remote bidders, it is very easy to convert the other 20% to either absentee, telephone or online bidding.  Our intent is to broadcast a live audio and video stream of the auction so that those bidding remotely can still feel the spirit, pace and excitement of the sale as it happens here in the hall.  Our system has always allowed for this feature but we have, to this point, not used it as we wanted to preserve that experience for the customers who made the effort to attend the sale.  Given the current circumstances, we are going to launch this function and broadcast live audio and video of the sale.  We will be conducting a test broadcast next week so customers can login and see how the system works.  The mock auction will be comprised of 10 or 15 items so customers can see how the sale will look. They will be invited to live bid in this “test auction” and familiarize themselves with our system.  Details regarding the date and time will follow in a future announcement.

Since our consignors did not sign up for a remote only bidding auction, we will institute an automatic protection for our consignors at 75% of the low estimate.  This means that no item will sell for less than 75% of the low estimate.  This is a two-fold step to first and foremost, protect our consignor’s financial interests and secondly to “shoo-away” the customers hoping to acquire items below true value due to the current circumstances.  We invite any consignor who may be feeling uneasy to please contact the office and ask for Jason Devine who will be happy to discuss the situation and answer any questions you may have.

We would like everyone to know that we are taking this situation very seriously.  We are prepared to provide remote bidding to all of our bidders.  It is our intent to run our sale as-scheduled, protect our consignors’ financial interests, while offering a fair, exciting and safe bidding experience for all of our customers.

To all of our customers, clients and consignors, please continue to practice good personal hygiene and continue to be vigilant.  We wish everyone nothing but the best of health during this trying time and as always, be safe.   Rest assured that we here at Amoskeag remain committed to providing the best auction experience for buyer and seller alike while looking out for the health and well-being of all involved.

– Jason & Melissa Devine, Owners
  Amoskeag Auction Company 

3/13/20

A Message from Amoskeag Auction Company Regarding COVID-19

There is nothing more important to Amoskeag Auction Company than the health and well-being of our staff, customers and clients.  We have been closely monitoring the ever-changing landscape of and response to the COVID-19 pandemic and wish to make you aware of some changes to our normal business practices.

At the present time we remain open for business and we are taking precautions to keep our staff and clients safe while at our facility.  

These precautions include:

• A thorough cleansing of all door handles and other common contact points for our customers including all telephones, the check-out windows and waiting room before opening for business and again at noon, every day.
  
• Customers wishing to preview the auction will be asked to call ahead and make an appointment as we are going to control the number of viewers at any given time.
  
• Customers wishing to bring in consignments are asked to call ahead and speak to a representative before traveling to the office.
  
• All viewers will be required to wear non-latex gloves when previewing, which we have on-hand for your convenience.
  

At this time, we intend to run our March sale as-scheduled and we do invite those who wish to attend in-person to do so, the gallery will have a complete and thorough cleaning each night prior to the sale. 

Much of our clientele is made up of older buyers who are at the highest risk.  We want to make it as easy as possible for those clients to be able to bid remotely.  It is our intention to broadcast a live audio and video stream of the auction on Amoskeag Live so anyone registered for the auction can watch, hear and bid live from the comfort and safety of their homes.  We also intend to have extra telephone bidders available and will do everything possible to accommodate remote bidding.  

Modern technology has made it very easy to actively participate in a live auction while not being present and we have fully embraced this by implementing our own Amoskeag Live platform, which we provide to our customers at no additional fee.  Click here to enter Amoskeag Live. 

Our fiduciary responsibility to our consignors is something we also take very seriously and we will continue to monitor the situation and update our clientele on a regular basis.

All specialists are on hand to answer any questions you may have regarding items in the sale.  We will provide additional photographs to those customers who may not need to actually view in person if they could simply see an additional image or two.   

We will continue to monitor events as they unfold and will keep in touch with regular announcements should anything change.  There will likely be a test of the online live audio and video broadcast. You will be given plenty of notice before that test sale so you are able to plan to be available to participate.

Please practice good personal hygiene and continue to be vigilant, we wish everyone nothing but the best of health during this trying time and as always, be safe.

– Jason & Melissa Devine, Owners
Amoskeag Auction Company