[AT] Auction question

[Mike Meulenberg]

I was at an auction today, and the way they sold one item was new to me, maybe some of you can shed some light on why they did it this way. Up for bid was a nice Kubota 4x4 tractor that was billed as coming with a 3 point backhoe. The backhoe was a nice Woods unit. So first they auction off the tractor, it brought 17,500. Then the backhoe, it brought 2100. Then the auctioneer said he was going to sell the package of tractor and backhoe together, and opened the bidding at 20,000. Only one guy bid the 20K and it wasn't the guy that originally bought the tractor for 17,500, or the guy that bought the backhoe attachment for 2100. Why would they do something like that, why not just auction the package in the first place. Oh, before he opened bidding on the package he offered both the buyer of the tractor and the backhoe a chance to sweeten their bids, neither did.

Mike M