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IAA One Year Director

 Iowa State Fairgrounds | Anne & Bill Riley Stage

One of my favorite parts of being a member of this association is the people you meet that do the same thing you do day in and day out. This is an especially important aspect of our profession as the walls some days have a way of coming in from every direction. Through this pandemic, I believe we have all seemed to find things that made our everyday business hard at first and eventually you find yourself adapting to them and using them all the time. One thing we did during our online auction pick up was use 'Sign Up Genius' to keep our customers arriving at different times to pick their items up. This helped with social distancing, but we also found it kept picking up less hectic and gave our staff time to have items ready for customer pick up.

There is one aspect of our business that has seemed to change and is changing faster by the day. That would be the demand for shipping. I was finding myself fumbling through this as it is just something we did not deal with a whole lot or did not offer. One day I was on the phone with fellow member Jordan Hansen, talking about auction-related topics, and shipping came up. In conclusion, there is a faster more user-friendly option out there. Jordan began to tell me about Shipping Saint. I had never heard of this company. We had been selling toy tractors at the end of 2020 and been shipping 30- 40 packages per sale going back and forth between our clerking software and UPS for addresses and to bill the shipping cost. This also required me to take my laptop to the post office to process the payments, so we did not end up eating the cost to ship. Needless to say, in early March we had another collection of toy tractors. I talked to Paul at Shipping Saint the week before our sale end, and he showed me how to import my customer data and lots into their website. Boy, did it live up to its name…. what a SAINT!!! We shipped 50 packages from that sale using Shipping Saint!

Shipping Saint has turned out to be a much easier process than I had envisioned. Once you upload the data, you then send a “prepare to ship” text message and email within the website. From there, the customer then can choose pickup or ship in an easy-to-navigate text or email. If the customer chooses shipping, another text and email are sent letting the buyer know their items are in our shipping department. We then box the item and choose a box size. This program also keeps track of your time and material during packaging which is calculated and charged to the buyer. Next, you add the package weight and click “get rates.” This pulls all the rates from UPS, Fed Ex, and USPS; showing you the cheapest to most expensive option. The great part about this is as the auction company, you receive a corporate rate on shipping, so you are making money on the actual shipping cost as well as your time and materials. Once you click the Finish button, it then sends another text and email to the buyer where they then pay for their shipping cost which Shipping Saint processes for you. I was a bit leery of this at first, but it is amazing how fast the buyer pays. Once they pay, the package is moved to “payment received” where you print the shipping label, and it is then ready to be dropped off at the shipping company or scheduled for pick up. Shipping saint charges you $1 per package and they send you your profit every week on packages you have sent. Check them out if you are interested in offering your clients shipping as an option on your upcoming auctions! www.shippingsaint.com

IAA One Year Director

Hello all! Hope everyone has survived the horrendous winter we had in Iowa and are marching forward. Remember with the Spring and Summer auctions we all promote #auctionswork. The auction method of marketing is the best way to get results for our clients.

The Iowa Auctioneers Association Board of Directors are happy to announce we will be having our bid calling contest at the Iowa State Fair this year, naming the 2021 Champion for the Iowa Auctioneers Association. Please look in the newsletter for the link to the rules and requirements for the contest at the Fair. Help us bring the Iowa Auctioneers Association back to the fair with an astounding presence and support.

In more news, the Iowa Auctioneers Association has secured the Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines for the 2022 Annual Convention. This location is in the Jordan Creek area, so bring your family as there are many attractions for them to enjoy while they are here! The date is January 20^th, 2022 for continuing education and January 21st & 22nd for Convention & Bid Calling Contest. Look for more details coming soon for Registration & Convention news on our website www.iowaauctioneers.org, on the IAA Facebook page, and future editions of this newsletter.

So, until I see you all at the Iowa State Fair, I want to wish you the best and have a great year! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or any board member. We are here to help all of us succeed.

2020 & 2021 IAA President