Auctioning second quality log home kits and only tonight, the newspaper ad declared. Auction will be held at company’s premises so purchaser can check the merchandise. It was simple black and white text ad, tiny and cheap looking. Certainly it got masses moving. Mill yard was packed with people, and everybody was excited, but me or that’s how it looked like to me.
You see I wasn’t excited because starting price was set almost to the level of normal selling price. Because of all the commotion and tight scheduling, many people came unprepared and unknowing what they actually were trying to buy. As we all know, log homes and log cabins are rather unified products, so most log home companies try to differentiate themselves by introducing several packages, some including windows, doors, flooring, roofing, walls etc, some including just walls. It really is difficult to make an educated decision.
All kits were sold over retail price, but because it was an auction there were some amazing tie-ins with auctioned kits, including super value like flooring material. Clever business, which reminded me of supermarket in-store ads “Buy 2, just 2 euro” and when you check the price of one, it is actually 99 cents. Know what you are buying, and remember, all manufacturers have their special corner notch that is basically the same as with other manufacturers.