How To Bid

Buying at auction is an exciting and often rewarding way to acquire those items of interest or passion for your collection or firearms portfolio. For years now the most cherished and rare firearms have been being consigned to Auction Houses rather than your local dealer’s sale floor or sitting on a table at a local gun show. Amoskeag Auction has been very fortunate in this respect and has handled some of the finest, rarest, and even eclectic collections to come to market. No longer do you have to scour the gun shops and sale tables in musty halls searching for the objects of your desire; a quick check of the website and our upcoming sales will tell if that long sought-after item will be crossing the block any time soon. There are numerous ways to bid with Amoskeag Auction Co., but our favorite is when we can see you in person!



In Person

This is typically the most foolproof way of placing bids….and the most exciting!  Auction day fervor is intoxicating, fast paced and adrenalin moving.   If you attend the auction in person you simply register to bid by showing your photo identification to one of our friendly ladies at the point of sale window and you will be issued a bidder card.  You will use that bidder card to bid (and hopefully win!)  and all purchases will be billed to your buyer number for a speedy and efficient check-out.  Auctions are fun, interesting and competitive, and when you attend in person, you get the full auction experience.

Our Increments

Live Auction Bidding Increments

Bid Amount Increment
$0-100$10
$100-500$25
$500-1000$50
$1000-3000$100
$3000-5000$250
$5000-10,000$500
$10,000-20,000$1,000
$20,000-50,000$2,500
$50,000-100,000$5,000
$100,000-500,000$10,000

Online-Only Auction Bidding Increments

Start ($)Increment ($)
01
102.5
505
10010
30025
50050
1000100
2000250

Absentee Bidding

For those who cannot attend the sale and wish to simply place a written bid for a fixed amount, and have the auction house execute that bid, up to and including your maximum bid.  This is likely the second most foolproof bidding technique and is the best method for those who have a firm stopping point in mind.  Simply complete, sign and transmit your bid form to us before the auction and we will do the rest. 

Telephone Bidding

Can’t make the sale but REALLY want an item and don’t want to miss it for a bid or two?   Telephone bidding is nearly as exciting and fast-paced as being at the sale itself.  Most times you can actually hear the auctioneer in the background while you are bidding with your telephone representative.   Merely complete, sign and transmit to us the telephone bidding form, with primary and secondary telephone numbers where we can reach you on the day of the sale.  One of our representatives will call you five to six items in advance of the item you are bidding on.  When the bidding starts, you are live on the floor via your phone representative, you can hear the action but try and focus on what your phone representative is conveying to you;  being a good listener and positive communicator makes you a successful phone bidder!  For detailed phone bidding instructions and advice, click here.

Live Online Bidding

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our live online bidding system WILL NOT work with Internet Explorer. Please upgrade and use a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (macOs). Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer as of January 12, 2016. Please upgrade today to enjoy bidding online!

Live online bidding is the newest form of bidding at auctions when you cannot be present.  Our auctions are broadcast live, in real-time on Proxibid and Bidsquare, which are third party online bidding platforms.  This is the most complex form of absentee bidding with the most components.  Live online bidding depends upon computers on both ends, internet connection speed on both ends and human input on both ends.  This is all being kept in sync by a live operator at the auction and when considering we sell 700 – 1000 items a day, averaging about 100 items per hour, it is remarkable how accurate and effective this form of bidding is.  While the most complex and slightly more prone to error, this is a very viable and excellent way to bid.

Shipping

Shipping at Amoskeag is performed by our full-time in-house staff.  We have been shipping firearms and related items for over 20 years, with thousands of packages going all over the country and the world each year.  Over  time, we have learned, evolved, and  improved our shipping techniques and materials and maintain the highest standards in careful, competent packaging and on-time safe, efficient delivery of your cherished purchases.