Crazy Profit Sharing
The three different auction methods are arranged in order, and there are actually many specific purposes behind them.
The first phase of the auction consists of daily necessities. Even if these items are secondhand, they still have high practical value, and people can accept them as long as the prices are not excessive.
However, its auction rules are based on a bidding war, where whoever raises their hand first gets to own it. This bidding war method can greatly encourage unnecessary impulses among people. They may not even have thought about whether they need the item, and they may rashly raise their hands in this atmosphere.
Aside from the first person successfully raising their hand, everyone else's attempts to raise their hands end in failure. This subconsciously instills in people the idea that if they like something, they must raise their hand immediately.
The second phase of the auction is meant to subtly suggest to those who have money to participate in the auction that a reasonable price for a secondhand item is roughly equivalent to its original price.
Everyone has their own mental calculations. When the concept of a reasonable price range of 50% to 70% is ingrained in their minds, they will have a general idea of how much a secondhand item should be sold for.
See, the activated consumer impulse and the clarity of price positioning—with the help of these two concepts, the third stage of the auction becomes an alternative focus.
Even without Lin Qi arranging for someone to tell them, they had already begun to mentally assess the value of these goods. Even if they didn't want to buy them, they would still make an assessment; this was a real-time, habitual thinking behavior.
When the price of a product falls below a certain range, a valve is opened, and the impulse to consume surges in the face of returns far exceeding expectations.
Indeed, this auction model is actually similar to the second-stage auction model. In the former, as long as one person bids and no one else bids, a house may be sold for ten dollars.
The third stage is the same. As long as everyone can hold back, the price of the goods will eventually drop to one dollar, and then everyone will compete for this opportunity.
But the complexity of human nature lies in its unpredictability and selfishness, which is also the core of Lin Qi's Secondhand Goods Auction: selfishness and self-interest.
When prices meet people's expectations, they start to panic and become uneasy. They fear that someone else will suddenly raise their hand and buy the product, and they become hesitant.
If someone raises their hand during the bidding process and causes them to fail, they will subconsciously increase their valuation of the final transaction price of an item; an increase of about five percent is a reasonable figure.
More importantly, the items auctioned in the third phase were all brand new and unused, which further stimulated people's desire to buy these potentially useless items.
Guided by the two-stage auction, the third stage is where the real profits are realized. These are all flashy but impractical items that would be difficult to sell in a genuine secondhand market, but here, in the present moment, they will become hot commodities.
As soon as the hammer fell on the first item, the second item was quickly sold as well, with the price range slightly higher than that of the first item. This pattern continued for most subsequent items, with a success rate of over 50%.
Except for a very few items whose prices dropped to over 30% before being sold, the rest remained at around 55% to 60%.
Seeing this, Lin Qi knew that his auction had been a success. The huge transaction amount and sales volume would attract the attention of the entire society. Even if he didn't put in any effort to promote it, the auction next Saturday would still be packed with people.
Curiosity is a characteristic of intelligent beings; those people want to see for themselves what kind of auction can drive people crazy.
The auction, originally scheduled to end at 6 p. m., dragged on until after 7 p. m. Because it gets dark later in the Sabine Federal Daylight Saving Time, Lin Qi still requested some high-powered lights from the warehouse management company to ensure that people could see the goods clearly.
The host was in tears after working under the lights for only a short while, but he persevered to the end. Lin Qi gave him an extra two hundred yuan as compensation for the delay.
Once all one thousand belts had been claimed, the auction concluded successfully.
The site was handed over to the Warehouse District management company to clean up. Since they had been paid, they were obligated to provide professional services. Lin Qi then took everyone back to his office.
Vera was actually present today, not just by herself, but also by two accountants of similar age, a man and a woman, who compiled all the sales figures for the day.
In just one afternoon, they sold over 490,000 secondhand goods, almost 500,000. This figure shocked everyone, as they never believed that secondhand goods could create such enormous economic value.
Lin Qi simply nodded calmly. It was a bit of a pity that it didn't exceed 500,000, but overall he was still quite satisfied.
He coughed lightly, and all eyes immediately focused on him. He knew the burning desire behind those gazes, and without keeping them in suspense, he said directly, "It was a very successful day. I won't say anything more. Next, it's time to divide the money."
He glanced at some forms in his hand. "We're setting up an office emergency fund. From now on, all odd amounts will be rounded down and added to this fund to deal with emergencies..."
Everyone benefits from this, and since no one objects, it's considered passed.
"Forty-nine hundred thousand, after deducting the ten percent management fee, forty-nine thousand yuan, there is still forty-four hundred thousand one hundred thousand yuan. How much did we pay for this batch of goods?" Lin Qi looked at Vera. Actually, it was also on the form, but he needed someone to say it, and not himself.
Vera quickly gave a number, "Three hundred and twenty-two thousand four hundred and seventy-nine and fifty cents."
Lin Qi nodded. "After deducting these costs, we made a profit..." He frowned and calculated for a moment. "Around 120,000, and then we split it in half. You will receive about 60,000 in dividends today, gentlemen!"
The Young Men immediately became excited. Lin Qi smiled and asked Vera others to prepare the bills for these people and then distribute the money.
Richard, along with all the young people including Wood, finally understood why Richard was praising Lin Qi like a charlatan: he truly was a myth, a myth capable of creating a miracle of wealth.
There are seventeen people here, and 60,000 yuan. Even if it's divided equally, each person can get several thousand yuan.
If they were working in an ordinary factory or some other business, it might take them a year to earn that much money. But here, they Lin Qi Lynch's team for just over a week, and they earned what others would need to save for a year without eating or drinking.
This immense surprise, accompanied by a sense of uncertainty, made them all blush. They excitedly discussed the events that had occurred at the auction that day, while Lin Qi sat to the side watching.
About ten minutes later, Vera handed the form to Lin Qi. Lin Qi said thank you for your hard work and told them to wait a moment, as he would treat everyone to a nice meal later.
Lin Qi glanced at the form, made a slight checkmark on his lips, and then showed it to the others.
Before seeing this chart, everyone thought Wood would be the top seller, after all, he sold a house. Others thought it would be Richard, who encouraged many people to buy big items.
But to everyone's surprise, this period's sales champion was actually those children, whose presence here was so faint as to be almost nonexistent.
Even the children themselves couldn't believe the form; they hadn't actually done anything, they had just distributed the flyers.
They didn't encourage customers to rush to bid like Richard did, nor did they have Wood's good luck, so how did they become top sellers?
Lin Qi knew the answer; he had even planned it himself. But he needed these people to figure it out for themselves. Only when they came to the conclusion through their own thinking would they firmly believe that it was the truth.
=========Recently, some people have been saying that prices are unreasonable. I think we shouldn't apply our current consumption standards to a different historical context.
Back when a worker's wage was only 32.5 yuan, a radio cost 200 yuan, and people still rushed to buy it.
Back when workers' wages were only sixty-odd yuan, it would take them three years of saving without eating or drinking to afford a television set, yet some people still saved up to buy one.
The small umbrellas my workplace used to give me not only didn't have any oil, but they also came with a box of talcum powder. After using them, I would wash and dry them, then coat them with talcum powder and they could be used again.
Around 1990, the average wage was only one or two hundred yuan. When I went to a certain place, a boxed lunch cost 15 yuan. People who worked for a month only ate ten boxed lunches. Why didn't anyone stand up and say it was unreasonable? Don't use an era of abundant material resources and extremely advanced technology and productivity to apply to an era that is completely different from today.