Some auctions resume, others moving online

The auction logjam is about to break.

Faced with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, local auctioneers have been looking for creative ways to serve their customers while still being safe.

“It’s just stopped everything,” said Laci Smitley of Mel Smitley’s Real Estate and Auctioneering. “We’ve had to push a lot of auctions back.”

“It’s been totally shutdown,” said Pete Shawver Jr. of Shawver Auctioneering and Real Estate. “We had a big consignment auction scheduled for April, and we had to cancel it. That’s a half a million dollar sale.”

But while some are moving auctions online, Loy Realty and Auction is going forward with plans for two sales in Portland it believes fit the governor’s latest guidelines.

“We’re starting up next week,” said Doug Loy. “We’ve been looking at all the guidelines. … We’re going to scan our employees’ temperatures at the start of the day and the end of the day. … Anybody who attends the auction has to wear a face mask.”

A May 15 Loy sale is set for the Farmer’s Building at Jay County Fairgrounds. An auction the next day will take place at the former site of Aker-Taylor Plumbing and Heating.

In both cases, said Loy, attendance will be limited to 50% of the occupancy number for the property.

“We wanted to make sure we’re within the guidelines of the occupancy rate,” he said.

Smitley said her firm has done one auction online and may do more, but that format — which has been used by a number of local firms — has its drawbacks.

“Online is great as far as you get more people around the U.S. — around the world even,” she said. “You get more attention. … But (some people) don’t like the technology.”

Shawver said his firm, which has six to eight sales backed up on the calendar, is looking at the online option warily.

“We’re exploring the online thing,” he said. “We’re about to launch that. …

“I’m anxious to see how that works. My fear is there’s no regulation there for the buyers or the sellers. … There’s nothing that governs the online.”

Others have taken the plunge in the face of the pandemic restrictions.

“It turned us upside down. … We switched gears, and we’re doing online only,” said Adrian Grube of Grube Auctioneering, Fort Recovery. “We’re going online with everything.”