At this time of year you usually hear about Ohio and Tennessee in regards to college football, but here at asset auctions we have events or our own that deserves some recognition.  

Just starting up this year we closed deals with the state of Ohio and Tennessee to provide asset recovery services.  This means that all assets owned or seized by these states will be slated for online auctions on our website.  Over the last 4 years we have had a great relationship with the state of Pennsylvania which has included the Department of General Services, The Office of the Attorney General and the Penna Turnpike.  We have helped the state of PA move everything from single-wide trailer homes to confiscated jewelry.

We have been on a continuous up-swing with Ohio and Tennessee and have regularly scheduled weekly auctions featuring roadwork equipment, trucks, government vehicles and general merchandise.

Michael Frate our managing director of government and Transportation Sales is busy working closely with both state agencies to identify assets for liquidation and his project manger, Clint Frances is busy posting auctions streamlining the process.

We are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with these new agencies.

Technology just keeps on changing and it’s always a tough line to walk between being behind the curve and too far ahead.  One area that is always wrapped around controversy is e-mail.  It is our intention to notify our buyers of events that we believe will spark their interest, but at the same time you want to make your e-mail notification system easy for your buyers to opt out of.  We recognized this early on, because we too are consumers and have issues with SPAM or over marketed campaigns.  As our company has grown, so has our client base and our buyer base.  Each one an integral part of the equation.  As a result of our growth, we sought out the advise of the Pennsylvania web design firm of CarneyFireman.  With their input we have re-organized our website and have also added some functionality that we believe will give the buyers the ability to better monitor information.  We started by redesigning our e-mails.  We let the experts create a look and feel for the e-mails that mirrored our site.  We wanted our buyers to be able to see, in a quick snap shot, the auctions being featured along with a list of current auctions that were open on the site.  With the assistance of the CarneyFireman crew, we were able to achieve this.  In addition we also had CarneyFireman set up and RSS feed that people can subscribe to.  This gives a person and opportunity to receive a simple notification, on their own terms, every time there is an update or adjustment to the site.  The RSS feed is one of the things that we found very interesting and we believe that we will be able to utilize it as we move into the future. 

This weekend marks the last official days of summer.  It’s been a good run for Asset Auctions LLC.  We have run some great markets for our existing customers but have also finalized agreements with new clients too. Most notably, Asset Auctions LLC has secured contracts with both the State of Tennessee and the State of Ohio.  These contracts were inked on the combined efforts of our sales force to customize or process to meet the demands of the work and also our continued success with the state of Pennsylvania.  In order to better service all three state agencies, we reorganized our website to segregate the state auctions and our industrial auctions.  We have two distinct buyer for each market, our surplus government buyers and our machine and tooling buyers.  While we do experience some cross pollination between the two distinct buyer pools we also recognize the it’s easier on the buyers to be able to focus on the equipment that they are most interested.  Our government auctions will feature a number of state vehicles along with road working equipment and seized items by law enforcement officials.  Pretty much everything from diamond rings to dump trucks.  It’s just another situation where we have been presented with an problem and we have provide a solution that works in favor of the client, Asset Auctions LLC and our buyers

We have been rolling since the beginning of the year and this month is no exception.  It always amazes me how much our customers take to our online auctions.  It’s a great option for our clients.  It keeps cost down by reducing the number of times that a person has to “touch” an asset before we can put it up for auction. 

My auction experience has been in everything from live auctions to mass listings on eBay and I’ve never seen a proprietary auction site perform as well as ours.  It just goes to show that our ability to market our website and market our items is really paying off.

Bar Stools to bagging equipment, forklifts to material handling . . . it’s all there!  Check out our current auctions at:  www.asset-auctions.com

One interesting auction that is scheduled to close mid June is our textile auction for West Point Homes.  We have run a few sales with great success for West Point Home, but this particular auction was a bit different since the equipment is house in a plant in The Kingdom of Bahrain.  Our textile equipment expert, Michael Frate took a lengthy flight to the East to tag this auction and get things prepared for sale on our site.  We anticipate a great sale here and are looking forward to the opportunities that this auction could provide.

Our machine and tooling department continues its relationship with Tower Automotive and the trucks and transportation crew are busy working to help the Pennsylvania Department of General Services with various liquidations. 

June looks like it’s going to be another great month.  It’s going to be a lot of work, but work that is going to result in successful auctions.
 

About a year ago, we made a presentation to Tower Automotive.  We were among at least 20 to 30 asset recovery groups that pitched them for their business, and out of all those groups they chose us.  What it really comes down to is that they trusted us to not only protect the integrity of their infrastructure, but that we were able to follow through on our commitment to service and results.  The fact is that we have a strong online presence which results in less overhead per project.  Anytime that we can built an auction in cyberspace, we make it more cost effective and are able to reach a greater buying group.

One of the things that we did for Tower was to build a mirror site for them.  This site looks and actually is part of our regular site, but is only accessible for specific Tower employees and buyers.  We have basically built them a virtual warehouse where we can internally re-deploy assets from one Tower facility to the other.  These assets are presented internally via our website and then they can be purchased from facility to facility.  Once those assets have been in the virtual warehouse for a while, without any interest, they are “moved“ to a public auction on our public site.  It works very well.

Right now we are in a “pre-sale” phase with over 130 presses that are available for immediate sale in four different Tower Automotive facilities in the united states.  The first round of presses available via online auction will be from the Granite City, Il facility.  Additional auctions will be hosted through July. 

We continue to build on our relationship with Tower Automotive and have specific employees within our company that are assigned to monitor asset activity and provide a helping hand when needed.  This is just another example of our company creating long term relationships with clients rather than only servicing companies that are in a liquidation phase.  So often established companies that are market strong do not realize the potential of their assets in the auction market.  Many times when machines go offline the emphasis is getting the new equipment in place to minimize downtime.  But that emphasis on production is also a period of depreciation on the assets removed.  We try to minimize that depreciation by exchanging those assets for revenue, that can often provide some financial relief for recently purchase machines.  It’s a cycle that we believe works and has always put a smile on our clients face.

Asset Auctions LLC continues to move forward in 2007.  With the addition of a few staff members, we are sure to exceed the expectations of our clients and customers.  

January shows a great start with our second textile mill equipment and SULZER projectile looms from West Point Home.  This auction closes on the 16th of January and is sure to be a popular auction for our international buyers especially those located in India.  We have always had a lot of international interest in our auctions and we have developed processes to insure the transfer of funds to complete the transactions. 

Closing later this month is an auction for tractor equipment from the Pennsylvania Game Commission.  This is just another example of our continued relationship with The Department of General Services for Pennsylvania.  We will continue to help with the liquidation of assets for the DGS.  We have helped them with everything from church organs to front end loaders.  Each year we host live auctions for both PennDot and the Turnpike. 

Completing the listing of auctions to date is the INGERSOLL RAND Centac High Horsepower Air Compressor auction.  This sale will close on the 24th.  Offered are 11 high horsepower air compressors.  

Take a few minutes and click over to our website at www.asset-auctions.com.  Registration is free and will automatically set you up to receive auction notification e-mails.  It’s the best way to stay in touch with all our offerings.  

For questions regarding our blog or information about upcoming auctions, be sure to drop me a line at jdowning@asset-auctions.com 

Thanks, 

James