Going, going, sold on the life of an auctioneer

By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-25

Beijing-born Ji Tao was one of the first auctioneers in China and is famous for auctioning real estate in Beijing.

He has lived through many of the things experienced by typical middle-aged people in China, having experienced the "cultural revolution"(1966-76) and worked in a factory.

Ji has also seen the development of the auction business, from zero to its high profile today.

He has published four books and helped to edit at least 10 others about auctioneering.

Q: When is real estate can be auctioned?

A: There are two conditions the subject matter should meet. Firstly, the rare things that many people want to own can be auctioned.

Secondly and most importantly, they are items that are difficult to price. Because there is no standard to price the items, an auction is an effective way to find their price.

Among real estate, second-hand homes can be auctioned, but very few are auctioned in Beijing. People prefer to buy second-hand homes from agencies, traditionally.

I have found shops to be very suitable for auction because their price can vary greatly according to their locations.

Q: Do you remember your first time auctioning real estate?

A: I still remember the first shop I auctioned in 2002. It was in Jian Wai SOHO, which was developed by Pan Shiyi, a Beijing commercial property tycoon, and sold at 30,000 yuan per sq m.

Pan was not sure about the price of his shops before the auction. It helped him find an acceptable price as between 29,000 yuan and 30,000 per sq m.

Q: How did you become an auctioneer?

A: I learned physics in university and became a teacher after graduation. Life is amazing for our generation and few of us would do work related to our majors in university.

I went to the UK to study in early 1990s and attended more than 20 auctions there. I bought old furniture, such as a TV and video cassette player and some books. I also sold some small terra-cotta warriors that I had bought in China for 20 yuan each. It was so interesting that someone showed interested in my stuff and bought them. I earned more than 10 yuan and learned what an auction was.

In 1995, I joined an auction company in Beijing through a job fair and became an auctioneer. It was so easy to become an auctioneer at that time because there were no regulations on the career. There are more than 400 auctioneers in Beijing and they need to pass an examination and get certification. However, at my time, I only needed to have a hammer to become an auctioneer.

Q: How do you describe the role of auctioneers at auctions?

A: Our responsibility is coordinating everything on the spot. Auctioneers are famous for our words and many people think we can attract customers to buy the items on sale.

Q: What makes a good auctioneer?

A: First of all, appearance. Auctioneers do not have to be very handsome but they should be regular and not ugly.

The speed of response is also important. A good auctioneer must resolve every problem as soon as possible. In addition, an auctioneer has to be an expert in various area.

Q: What about the income of auctioneers?

A: It's a topic nobody else has talked about before.

There are two kinds, one is based with a company, like me, and the other is independent.

The auctioneers like me earn their money in two parts - one part is basic wages, which is from 2,000 to 5,000 yuan a month for most ordinary auctioneers. The basic wage is not much different from other businesses.

The other part is additional income, which depends on the auctions we host. The additional income is usually between 5 percent and 10 percent of their companies' profits. The number is not fixed.

Auction companies usually could get 3 to 5 percent of the selling price as their profit.

There are aslo more than 20 independent auctioneers in Beijing.

Their income comes entirely from the auctions they host but they might charge appearance fees that could be several thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. （转载自2010年5月25日《中国日报》）