The Washington Post

Bidding for Bargains

By Deborah K. Dietsch August 14, 2003

On a sweltering Saturday in June, Fisseha and Helen Beyene wandered up and down aisles stacked with building supplies in an un-air-conditioned warehouse in Jessup. The young homeowners were searching for doors and bathroom fixtures for the District townhouse they’re renovating. “We paid $525 for a mahogany door last time we were here,” said Fisseha Beyene, sweat dripping down his forehead.

“We hope to get more bargains this time,” he said.

That door might have cost $2,200, but the Beyenes had found their way to a source well known to local builders, landlords and a growing number of determined bargain hunters: an auction held nine times a year in the former Burlington Coat Factory at Columbia Eastgate Shopping Center by a Pennsylvania-based company called Southern Sales Services. It’s a place where real deal-seekers will spend all day browsing and waiting to bid on appliances, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, toilets, washing machines, furnaces, windows, flooring, lumber and other building materials — virtually every item used to build a house, going for steeply reduced prices.

“It’s my secret weapon,” says Silver Spring builder Dana Preister, a regular bidder for the past year. “I can get items here for 40 to 50 percent of the retail price.” At the most recent auction, June 14, Preister snapped up Andersen double-hung windows for $85 apiece — “they typically sell for $140 each” — plus 4-by-8-foot plywood panels at $10 each, half the retail price, and $1,000 worth of mahogany decking, which, he says, typically sells for $3,000. At past auctions, he says, $200 toilets have sold for $75 each; and kitchen cabinets, which are auctioned off as 10-piece to 16-piece sets, have gone for $55 apiece.

Most of the Southern Sales’ bid-to-buy merchandise is surplus inventory liquidated by building-products suppliers and distributors. About 10,000 items are typically sold at each auction, according to Arnold Zimmerman, owner of Southern Sales Services. “We bring in 50 tractor-trailer loads of stuff to each auction,” says Zimmerman, who charges 12 percent over a buyer’s bid. “We are always trying to attract new items where we are weak.”

Since holding his first auction in this area in 1992, Zimmerman says, the weekend events have steadily attracted more suppliers and a loyal following of bidders. “We send out 11,000 notices to customers about each auction.”

In addition to bid-to-buy appliances and fixtures, the Saturday warehouse sales offer flooring, doors and lumber that can be purchased outright, such as oak flooring at $3.39 per square foot, faux marble tiles at $1.20 per square foot and pairs of solid mahogany doors with sidelights for $1,800. A preview is typically held on the Friday before the auction; leftover merchandise is sold on Sunday and Monday (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) following the Saturday event. But by then, most sought-after items such as kitchen appliances and cabinets are gone.

Not everything is the latest design or in pristine condition. “The appliances might be last year’s floor model. Some of the items might have a minor blemish,” says Zimmerman, 53, who runs the auction with son Aaron, 25. Baltimore developer Robert Lyon, who has frequented the auction for the past eight years, picked up a $4,500 Baker Furniture vanity for $350. “One of the doors was damaged,” he says. “I fixed it and put in my own house.”

At some auctions, merchandise includes top-of-the-line names such as Viking stoves, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Jenn-Air microwaves and Kohler sinks. Luxurious fixtures up for bid at the June 14 auction included a black Jacuzzi corner tub, matching toilet and two-sink lavatory with silver swan-shaped faucets.

Auction regulars recommend that buyers come prepared knowing the retail prices of items they’re interested in, so they don’t overbid. “You don’t want to pay more than half of the retail price,” says Lyon. “But some people get carried away. I’ve seen things go for more than what they go for in the store.”

After lining up to get a number, buyers must be prepared to wait, sometimes for hours, until the roving auctioneers move through the warehouse and start the bidding in front of their desired items. (A barbecue stand is set up in the warehouse, and there are some fast-food joints nearby.) And there is no delivery; buyers have to haul their purchases away by Monday at 5 p.m.

“Not everyone has the patience for us,” says Zimmerman. “This is not a painless experience. We’re not service-oriented. You’re going to have to rent a truck to load up your stuff. There are no warranties or returns.”

Flexibility is also key to cashing in on the bargains, because the merchandise varies with each auction and not all brands are represented.

“You have to be willing to go for the deal rather getting exactly what you want,” says Preister. “It’s all about the thrill of the hunt.”