Going once, going twice, sold! Bidders wont hear Tom Reinland utter that familiar phrase, even though the Reinland family has been holding auctions here since the mid 1960s.


Thats because Reinland, despite his ability to rattle off sequences of numbers at a mile a minute, simply doesnt have time to conclude his chants with that traditional sale-closing phrase. Hes too busy auctioning off roughly 3,000 items on auction day.


Those items include anything from Caterpillar tractors to classic Ford pickups to vintage lunch boxes, which Post Falls-based Reinland Equipment Auctions Inc. sells at its consignment yard.


Reinland and his wife, Kunya, own that concern and also a Spokane-based company, Reinland Auctioneers Inc., that holds auctions at clients sites. Reinland says that company recently has held auctions in Spokane at the former locations of Wolffys Old West Steakhouse, the Big Brothers Big Sisters bingo hall, and the Marilyns on Monroe restaurant and casino, at which a California woman bought a bronze-colored statue of the movie star for $30,000.


Its a different job all the time; thats what I love about it, he says. Plus, you get to meet a lot of people.


Reinland has been involved in the auctioneering business since high school, when he started working for his dad, Max Reinland, who started Max Reinland Auctioneer Liquidator in 1967 in his home in Spokane. Max Reinland initially conducted auctions at customers locations, then opened a consignment yard on Trent Avenue in the Spokane Valley in 1984, where he conducted equipment auctions as well, Tom Reinland says.


In 1999, Reinland Equipment Auctions bought a 9,600-square-foot building and 5 acres of undeveloped land at 2350 N. Beck Road, in Post Falls. The company has held equipment auctions at that site since then for consignors who dont have enough merchandise, or space, to hold auctions on their property. Its building there has an office area and two large rooms filled with boxes of merchandise. The auctions are held in those rooms. Vehicles and large equipment on the land surrounding the building there wait to be auctioned. Reinland Equipment Auctions and Reinland Auctioneers have a combined total of six employees.


Tom Reinland says he bought the business enterprise from his dad about a year ago. Max Reinland isnt involved in the management of the company anymore, but still comes to the Post Falls site often to climb atop a chair that sits on a platform above the merchandise, from where he auctions off items as he has done for the past nearly 40 years.


He hasnt retired, he just wanted to slow down a bit, Tom Reinland says.


Max Reinland might be slowing down, but the enterprise he started has developed a strong presence in this area, Tom Reinland says. Reinland declines to disclose the companies revenues, but says business has been going well.


Reinland Equipment Auctions clients include Spokane County, the city of Spokane, Avista Corp., Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc., the Washington State Patrols regional drug task force, the U.S. Marshals Service, and bankruptcy attorneys who practice in the Inland Northwest, he says. It also has contracts with Washington Trust Bank, AmericanWest Bancorp., U.S. Bancorp, Panhandle State Bank, and State National Bank, he says.


Reinland Equipment Auctions typically auctions off trucks for Avista and Qwest, and property that a drug task force or the U.S. Marshals Service has confiscated, which could include anything from vehicles to furniture to compact discs. Under a contract with the city, the company holds auctions for Spokane Public Schools and public libraries.


Reinland Equipment Auctions and Reinland Auctioneers also auction items for private individuals, and Reinland Auctioneers recently sold two small aircraft in Athol, Idaho, for an estate there. Although some might think an auction wouldnt bring as high a return on merchandise as selling it directly would, Reinland asserts that auctions frequently garner more money for a consignor. For instance, one consignor had advertised a vehicle in a newspaper with an asking price of $3,000, and Reinland Equipment Auctions ended up auctioning it off for $5,000.


A lot of people dont want to hassle with putting an ad in the paper, and this way theyre guaranteed a sale, he says. Everything sells.


If merchandise is too worn out or broken down prior to an auction, Reinland Equipment Auctions will just haul it to the dump, he says. Most of the time, though, Reinland Equipment Auctions and Reinland Auctioneers are able to sell every item during an auction, he says.


Neither company will sell household items, unless they are part of property that has been seized by the drug task force or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, he says. They also, by law, cant auction off oil barrels or fluorescent light fixtures. They also dont specialize in antique auctions, although they will sell such items if theyre part of an estate sale, he says.


Reinland Equipment Auctions and Reinland Auctioneers charge consignors a fee, which is a percentage of the amount garnered for an item during an auction. The percentage is based on a graduated scale. They dont charge a buyers fee to customers who participate in auctions.


Reinland Auctioneers conducts about 60 auctions a year and Reinland Equipment Auctions holds 10 auctions a year. Reinland Auctioneers has held more auctions during the past few years because of the relatively mild winters, which have enabled the company to hold more auctions outside, he says.


The booming construction industry here also has been boosting Reinland Equipment Auctions business, he says. Prices of construction equipment have risen, and contractors increasingly are seeking lower-priced machinery in a hurry, he says.


eBay


eBay has been helping bolster revenues for both companies, he says. Although it might seem like Internet-based auctioning services, such as eBay, would hurt an auctioneering business, eBay has helped fuel both companies growth over the past four years, Kunya Reinland says. Customers who want to find items they can buy and then sell on eBay for higher prices have been flocking to Reinlands auctions, she says.


The auction business is getting bigger and bigger, she says. Different types of people have discovered it because of eBay. In the past, it has been used heavily by people in the construction and agricultural industries as well as for estate sales.


Part of the success of both companies also is due to the Reinlands method of setting up merchandise for an auction, Kunya Reinland says.


We just try to make things look really nice, and we want to make both our consignors and the customers happy, she says. The more money we make for our consignors, the more we get, too.


Before each auction, customers are required to browse the merchandise so they can see whats available and decide which items they want to bid on. Theyre assigned numbers, which they raise during the auction to signify a bid. Tom Reinland auctions each item, or in some cases groups of items, starting out at a low bid amount that he typically decides on, then moving up in price incrementally until no one will place a higher bid.


Reinland says the process can get a little chaotic at times, especially if a bidder waves a hand to a friend and Reinland mistakes it for a bid during his chant. Despite occasional hiccups in procedure, though, Reinlands voice hums along, rattling off dollar amounts at what seems like light speeds as he sells items for anywhere from $1 to $90,000.


Reinland might have grown up in the auction business, but his skill as an auctioneer didnt come naturally. Eighteen years ago, he attended the same auctioneering school in Mason City, Iowa, that his dad attended. He says he would practice his chant over and over again, and sometimes he would verbally auction off fence posts that whizzed past his windshield as he was driving.


A love for auctioneering seems to run in the Reinland familys blood. Tom and Kunya have two teenage daughters, Ashly and Alyssa. Ashly plans to attend this fall in Denver the same auctioneering school her dad and grandfather attended, Reinland says.


Im really excited about it, says Ashly, who works at Reinland Equipment Auctions. It should be really fun.


The family atmosphere extends to the companys customers as well. As Tom and Kunya walk hand in hand around the Reinland Equipment Auctions yard, they point out different pieces of equipment that are to be sold in an upcoming auction and wave to familiar customers who are perusing the merchandise. Some customers attend auctions so regularly that they have a permanent bidding number assigned to them, Kunya Reinland says.


Its neat to see people hanging out here and to get to know the customers, Kunya Reinland says. We have people frequently traveling here from Oregon, Montana, and other states.


Sometimes, though, hostilities can arise when items are to be auctioned, Tom Reinland says. When Reinland was working for his dad in high school, a law-enforcement officer accompanied him to a house where he was hauling off items for a bankruptcy attorney, because the homeowner had threatened to harm him. On another occasion, he showed up at a farm in Tekoa, Wash., to collect furniture and other items, also for a bankruptcy sale, and was greeted by a disgruntled farmer who pointed a shotgun at him.


It happens sometimes where someone is angry about their stuff getting taken away, and I really feel for them, he says. But, its my job, so I just go get the local police and come back.


Customers who get caught up in the excitement of the bidding process sometimes end up buying something they dont want, then have buyers remorse when they realize that theyre stuck with what theyve bought, Kunya Reinland says. Occasionally, customers will place higher bids on items than those items would have been worth if they were new.


Auctions are a lot of fun, and can be addictive. People really enjoy them, she says.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.