Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society GIANT AUCTION – March 4th, 2012

Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society GIANT AUCTION – March 4th, 2012

Update: March 4th, 2012 – The 2012 version of the OVAS GIANT AUCTION is now over. To see what happened, take a look here: Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society Giant Auction 2012.

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Well folks, it’s just about that time of the year again. Each year, the Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society (OVAS) hold a huge auction which is open to the public. It is a great place to dispose of the unwanted aquarium-related items that might be hiding in a corner of a basement or aquarium-related items stored in the corner of a garage. It’s always a great place to raise your hand to bid on that unique, or not so unique item, that you thought that you would never see again :-). Lots of plants. Lots of fish. Lots of ….

Wondering what the past auctions might have looked like? Take a look at our MPT blog entries for 2010 and 2011.
Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society Giant Auction 2010
Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society Giant Auction 2011

The club collects a commission on sales and use that money to support the monthly programs, bring in guest speakers and generally keep things like their on-line forums running during the remainder of the year.

DETAILS! DETAILS! DETAILS!

Here they are from the club’s Giant Auction forum page. Watch that page for any last minute developments and general discussion of the auction as the auction date of March 4th, 2012 approaches. Note: I am a member of the club but not responsible for the details of the Giant Auction. If you have any questions about the auction, please address them to the auction chairman through the club’s forum link

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2012 Giant Auction

The OVAS annual Giant Auction will be held at the Jack Purcell Centre (location) on Sunday the 4th of March starting at 12:00 pm. Everyone is welcome – both OVAS members and the non-OVAS public.
Item setup and viewing starts at 10:00 am. All items being auctioned off must be registered and present at the auction by 12:00. No new items will be accepted after 11:30.

General information
All items being auctioned are placed on tables in the viewing area. During the auction the tables will be auctioned off in an order.
If you wish to have your item(s) sold at the start of the auction, we will have a priority table this year. The cost is $1 per item and this fee must be paid before your item is placed on the priority table.
For the Giant Auction the starting bid is $2. If necessary, please group your items to ensure that your lots have a $2 value.

Raffle tickets
We will be selling raffle tickets during the auction. $1 for 1, $2 for 3 and $5 for 10. Prizes include a brand new 75 gallon aquarium and many more items.

Item registration
The following methods are available to register your items.

On-line registration of your items. On-Line Registration and Registration Form. If you have more than 10 items for sale, please fill out as many forms as needed. If you do not pre-register your items, please download the Registration Form, complete it and give it to the Registration Desk before 11:30 AM.

The following items WILL NOT be accepted at this year’s Giant Auction

Used heaters
Used light bulbs
Plastic plants
Used/opened filter media
Used airline tubing
Magazines

We are limiting the number of identical items that a single vendor can sell to 3 items, please group your items accordingly. If you want to sell more than 3 bags of an identical item, you have the choice of either grouping your items to create 3 lots, removing the extra item(s) or donating the extra item(s) to OVAS.

Identifying your items
Pre-printed labels are provided for all auction items and will be handed out when you arrive at the registration desk.
For all items the starting bid is $2.00. If you would like to start the bidding for you item at a higher amount please indicate the minimum bid on your registration form.

Packaging your items
Please package your items carefully! Bags can leak, light bulbs can break, and fish can jump out of pails – just to mention a few possibilities.
All fish placed for auction must be in an appropriate container:

Proper fish bags (preferred method)
Glass jars of an appropriate size (Acceptable, but should be avoided if possible for safety reasons)
Plastic buckets

Bidding
For those who are new to the club the auction works as follows:

The auctioneer will read the lot number, description and starting bid amount.
Anyone who wishes to bid on the item is asked to raise their hand at the start of the bidding.
The auctioneer will increase the price and the last person with their hand raised wins the item.
All items must be paid for immediately after the bidding has ended for that item. Payment and item pickup is done at the Treasurers location on the right hand side of the meeting room.

Auction fees
Any items preregistered before 8:00pm on Saturday the 4th of March will be charged a 25% commission. Any items registered after this time will be charged a 35% commission fee, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Donations
If you wish to donate the proceeds from any of your auction items, please indicate this before the auction. Any unsold donated items must be picked up after the auction is over – OVAS will not be responsible for any items left at the meeting.

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Looking forward to cleaning out my basement and garage once again. Never can figure out how I accumulate all of that aquarium stuff!!! See you all there. And remember: bid on my items :-).

If I can sell everything that I want to at the OVAS auction and keep my hand down (it will never happen!), then I’ll have some spending money to head for the S.A. M. Super Encan in Montreal S.A.M. Super Encan in Montreal on April 29th, 2012 and start all over again 🙂