Toronto Cactus and Succulent Club's Auction - Toronto Cactus & Succulent Club

September is the month for our club’s annual auction. Club members are welcome to bring any items to sell as long as they pertain to our hobby — C&S plants/books, pots, soil mix ingredients, tools, etc. This is an opportunity to get rid of unwanted plants as you downsize before moving them indoors for the winter, and also to take advantage of someone else’s lack of space by purchasing plants that they would have liked to keep but don’t have room for them! Isn’t it surprising how much bigger some of the plants are now compared to when they were placed outdoors in the Spring?

Each item must have a bid-sheet associated with it and this needs to be filled-in with the name of the item, the seller’s name and, if you wish, a reserve amount which will be used as the starting bid. Bid-sheets will be available at the meeting but if you wish to prepare them ahead of time (recommended for those with lots of items) you may print them off our website. Each printed sheet contains two bid-sheets that need to be separated by cutting it down the middle. We commence the auction with a 30 minute period of a silent auction by writing bids on the bid-sheet. The silent bidding period gives everyone an opportunity to study the auction items and to see how much interest each item is getting from other bidders. At the close of silent bidding, the items that received written bids will be auctioned off by vocal bidding (using the last silent bid as a starting bid). Items with no written bids are assumed to be of no interest to those present and will not be sold. Owners of items may set a reserve (minimum) bid by writing the amount on the top bid line and leaving the “Bidder” column blank. Buyers wishing to bid that amount simply add their name alongside it. All bids, silent and vocal, must exceed the previous bid by at least one dollar and must be in whole dollar amounts.

Sellers must agree to donate 10% of their sales income to the club. Tallying-up will be done at the end of the auction. Payments by cash only — cheque, credit and debit cards are not accepted. All auction items are to be removed from the room at the end of the meeting by either the purchaser or, if unsold, by the person who brought them.