What do auctioneers say when they are bid calling?
Auctioneers use bid calling to communicate in an entertaining, encouraging, and legal, manner with bidders who are in attendance at an auction. The bid calling actually binds bidders with the auctioneer’s client (the seller) with various contingencies.
Then also, the typical auctioneer uses bid calling to publicize to all bidders two basic numbers: the amount that is currently bid (the “have”) and the higher bid the auctioneer would like to accept (the “want”). In between these two numbers, the auctioneer uses words or sounds to make the bid calling sound pleasing, and entertaining to the crowd.
For example, if the current bid is $100 (the have) and the auctioneer is asking for $150 (the want), the bid calling might go like this:
I’m at $100 ‘n I want $150, $150, bid on $150, I’m at $100 would you go $150, $150 …
Auctioneers typically announce the want about 75% of the time, and announce the have about 25% of the time. These are only two of the three numbers the auctioneer has to keep in mind while bid calling.
Besides the have and the want, the auctioneer has to have a third number ready. When a bid comes in, the auctioneer has to immediately note that the want has become the have, and there is a new want. This new want is the third number the auctioneer must have in mind at all times, and it is called “the next.”
While bid calling, an auctioneer has in mind these three terms:
1. The have
2. The want
3. The next
In the example, while the auctioneer has $100 and is asking $150, the next might be $200, which the auctioneer will say aloud only when a bidder offers $150. Then $150 becomes the have and the next ($200) becomes the want. The new next is calculated, but kept filed away — probably $250)
The next is usually the same amount more than the want as the want is more than the have. In the example, the have is $100 and the want is $150 (a $50 difference) so the next would typically be $200 ($50 more than the want).
When auctioneers first learn to bid call, these filler words are fairly easy to distinguish, such as “bid to buy them,” or “do you want it here?” or “somebody give me” …
After an auctioneer has refined and practiced his bid calling, those filler words become more like sounds, as they are abbreviated or slurred, for example: “b t em” or “do wan her” or “sbody give m.”
They say what they have and what they want, and they fill in with sounds to make their bid calling easy, and entertaining to listen to.