Been to far too many Court ordered auctions. Depressing.
Last auction I went to was a live one; didn’t bid as it included our family estate’s goods.
Online: eBay and Gunbroker.
Live: I used to go to DRMO auctions at Edwards AFB. Got some HGU-26/P helmets, CWU-27/P Nomex flight suits, a CWU-36/P Nomex flight jacket, a couple of CWU-45/P Nomex flight jackets, and a lot of things in the lots I didn’t need/want (such as USAF blue uniforms).
We have a live auction in our city of 30,000 people every week.
Usually around 400 items going from 6 to 10 pm every Thursday. I check it out most of the time just prior to auction day and have often left absentee bids. For more expensive and really desirable items I will attend.
I get rid of stuff there as well.
I’m 40 and have never been to an auction.
I can’t come close to understanding what an auctioneer is saying, and figure if I scratch my ear I’ll have just bought a lot of a thousand widgets.
Does a local charity-date-auction count? A friend was in such an auction and I went and bid on a chance to date her - of course, it was just to give the auction money, we went to dinner on a regular basis anyway. I bid 200 dollars, but stopped there.
My dad goes all the time for tools and equipment. My sister used to go to car dealer auctions all the time, as we’ve a sort of family-friend in the business. So I’ve been to those, but never bid myself. And online ebay stuff, yeah.
My grandfather’s estate auction was like that. There had been a rift among the brothers over the years and that was the only way for them to settle the division of personal property. 
My siblings and I were mostly high school / college / just starting out age (ie no money) and my dad generously opened up his checkbook for the things we wanted. 
At most of the live auctions I’ve attended, you get a numbered card when you sign in, and have to hold that card up when you bid. So the “any movement constitutes an offer” stereotype doesn’t apply. If you just attend as a spectator (as when you’re not looking for anything, but accompany someone who’s in the market for a sofa or whatever), you don’t even have to sign up. Thus, you don’t have to worry about an accidental purchase.
I only checked “have attended and bid”, but have not always bid. Like Student Driver, I’ve also participated in auctions by mail – and some have been mail auctions in two senses, as the lots consisted of postcards, some of which had been stamped and posted before ending up as collectibles.
Grandpa used to take my brother and me to livestock auctions when we were little. It was a great treat to gawk at the livestock and the handlers and listen to the (to us kids) impenetrable patter of the auctioneer. And Grandpa would always buy us lunch at the greasy spoon cafe attached to every auction building.
A few years ago I attended a musical instrument auction. I knew the auctioneer, and he had a pronounced stutter, so I was wondering how he was going to pull it off, but when he started selling, his stutter either disappeared or was incorporated seamlessly into the patter. It was a fun event, but I didn’t buy anything.
I’ve only been to charity auctions, mostly silent auctions.
I been to live stock auctions.
Bike auctions
furnature
silent
and a few others.
It always gets me how many people do not know how to bid at an auction! If two people are bidding on something don’t bid. Wait until one drops out then it what is being acutioned is still inyour price range then you canstart bidding. Also before the acution starts look at what is being acutioned and descide how much you think it is worth to you, write that value down in a note book. If the price is lower than your value when there is an active bid and no one is raising the bid then make a bid. If it is over your value let it go. Another idea is only raise your bid two times then drop out. If your are bidding against an experienced bidder the next time he may show you respect and drop out of a bidding. And if there are shills in the house they will know that raising you twice can back fire onthem.
Yes. I have been to an auction on a cruise and bought two paintings.
Just Ebay.
Crap. Miss the fact it was multiple choice. I chose Live Action, Never Bed, when I have also bed and won stuff on ebay.
The live auctions, were regularly scheduled Friday night auctions in a local hall which my grandparents often attended and my parents sometimes did when I was a kid. Some antiques, household goods, furniture, old dishes, box lots of old stuff. My grandmother would bid once in a while. My Dad probably did, too, from time to time, but I don’t remember specifically. I remember the smoky room, the refreshment table and warm, watery fruit punch.
I go to auctions all the time. It’s cheap fun, unless you go to bid on an antique trunk and end up buying afarm. I’ve bid and won online auctions, both ebay and others.
StG
I admit, I’m surprised that so many of the responses have been to live auctions. I know this isn’t a scientific sampling or anything, but it’s a much higher percentage than I was expecting. Thanks for the input!
Like **Johnny L.A. ** - eBay and Gunbroker
Also, we own a very nicely framed Marc Chagall lithograph (this one): http://www.rogallery.com/Chagall_Marc/w-302/chagall-Paris-Opera-Ceiling.htm we got for $300 from one of those sheriff’s auctions where they auction off all the stuff they seize from drug dealers. Considering all the other gaudy crap these drug dealers owned, this was very out of place, and only of interest to one other person in the room. That was awesome. Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother seeking these types of auctions out, but this one was right down the street in a hotel ballroom, we were bored on a Saturday afternoon, so we figured, why not?
I went ahead and counted the church-based auctions I’ve been to. They are usually either service auctions or food auctions and are, of course, charity based. I’ve never bid, though–I don’t tend to have the money to afford charity too often.