Wow - I feel for Dan Watson, the old owner of the Las Vegas Auction. He has worked for decades to establish the most honest and ethical auction house in Las Vegas and the new owner of approximately 2 months are derailing all his hard work in short time.
Dan is so well regarded that he is the "go-to" guy for the public administrator, bankruptcy court, multiple insurance companies and storage companies. His fees have always been fair to both the buyer and seller. He always sold the items for what you bid - no funny stuff on the receipts - and he sold everything - no reserve or minimum.
Lots of changes happening around there - some of them may be overdue, but the new business practices are out of line. Dan is still there - he's got the auctioneer license - but definately not running this new show. I don't think he would be involved in any way if he didn't have to. I understand that Ben and David bought the business, but lease the land and building from Dan still.
Dave, the tall, dark-haired loud-outh show-ff (part of the new ownership) bids against the consumers to get the prices up and in turn his profits. Or is it a behind the scenes effort to enable reserve or minimum sale amounts???
Today (1/24/09) - he got stuck with a big diamond watch and a baby grand piano with his bidding - We all caught on pretty quick to his game. Is this the beginning of the end for Las Vegas Auction?? I know that we no longer feel comfortable with this auction house. We've bought and sold thousands of dollars of items with Dan in the past and I can definately say we will not be doing so in the future with the new regime.
Repo
Las Vegas, Nevada
U.S.A.