Published April 2002

Auction company puts pickups, sedans up for bid

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

Auctions offer opportunities for smart deals on a variety of items useful to businesses — including motor vehicles and heavy equipment.

One of the region’s biggest operations belongs to the James G. Murphy Co. of Kenmore, specializing in commercial and industrial auctions, with several events each year focused on commercial vehicles and construction equipment.

Founded in 1970, James G. Murphy’s auction business has become a $35 million-a-year enterprise directed by his son, Tim, company President, and daughter Julie Murphy-Rice, who manages the company’s operations and procedures. James Murphy, who still lives in Edmonds, occasionally gets pressed into service when auction schedules get tough to handle.

With an office in Keizer, Ore., the company is now the 10th largest commercial and industrial auction house in the nation, averaging 100 auctions a year. Last year, the company posted 129 auctions because of the rush of extra business from the demise of nearly two dozen high-tech dot-com companies, a trend that isn’t over yet, according to the company.

The variety of auction items is so broad now that Murphy’s auctioneers need to be ready to handle almost anything.

“The perception is that all we do is restaurants and contractors’ equipment, but we’re really so wide ranging,” said Terry Moore, a spokesperson for the company. “Last year, for instance, we auctioned office equipment, computers, jewelry, cars, home furnishings and police seizures of stereos, printers and cell phones.”

Vehicle auctions are particularly popular, especially when they include former Seattle police cars, park department vehicles and other surplus city equipment because they have been well maintained, and detailed records are available. If a vehicle does have a bad transmission, for instance, the auctioneer lets bidders know.

Two basic rules apply to James G. Murphy Co.’s auctions: First, there is no minimum bid required, and second, everything must go, as is. So almost every auction offers exciting auctioneering and opportunities for great bargains, he said.

“Most people come to an auction to get something for less,” Moore said. “A minimum bid usually eliminates about half of the bidders, since the auctions are open to the public as well as businesses. It still works out well for the sellers because the energy, the adrenaline flowing through the audience will generate good prices. The competitive nature of bidding makes auctions a successful way to dispose of things.”

Sedans, pickups, panel vans, delivery vehicles and Kenworth semi-trucks fill up Murphy’s Kenmore yard throughout the year, the site of several vehicle sales each year.

Auctions tend to be very competitive, he said, noting that backhoes awaiting sale at the company’s Kenmore site already have drawn telephone inquiries. When several units are exactly alike, the auctioneer will give the highest bidder a choice, then offer the rest to the other bidders for the same price.

Bidders can usually view auction items the day before — or a few hours before — the bidding starts, depending on the auction location and circumstances. Moore said most bidders know exactly what they’re looking for, and many of them bring along mechanics to check out the equipment. The Murphy company also makes sure it has operators available to start trucks, backhoes or cranes during the preview period.

Yet the items in the Kenmore yard are only a small part of the steady flow of items of all sizes, shapes and values that the company auctions each year. Most of their auctions are at clients’ sites, from closed restaurants like two Houlihan’s diners in Tacoma and Tukwila to the defunct eCash Technologies computer-filled offices in Bothell and TruDimension Manufacturing’s machine shop equipment in Kent.

Many defunct dot-com enterprises invested heavily in fancy office furniture, high-end desktop and laptop computers and printers that now offer good bargains on the auction block.

Mailing lists with more than 60,000 names are divided into more than 40 specialized categories to advertise the company’s auctions to target-marketed audiences. The company’s advertising department also reaches customers through trade magazines, local publications, radio, television and through Murphy’s Web site.

Bidders also can register on the Web to make advance bids on items, usually up until the time of the auction. Payment is by cash or bank cards, due by the end of the bidding day, and cash is often the preferred choice, Moore said, noting he has seen “people buy a backhoe for $20,000 and pull out a wad of bills to pay for it. It never ceases to amaze me.”

For more information, contact James G. Murphy Co. at P.O. Box 82160, Kenmore, WA., 98028, call 800-426-3008 or visit the firm’s Web site, www.murphyauctions.net.

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