Auctions have been the heart of the wholesale industry. In these real-time marketplaces, sellers and buyers come together to do business every week of the year. For sellers, they provide payment and access to qualified buyers. For buyers, they provide financing, a wide selection of vehicles, titles, and dispute resolution. 

The effect of open, live, competitive bidding by buyers, usually result in elevated sales prices for vehicles. Sometimes, buyers will have a particular unit pre-sold, and are willing to pay even higher prices.  What we see on MMR is good information, but we need to remember it is not cost free to sell a unit at the sale.  The normal cost of an auction sale is $700 to $2,000 in fees, transportation, postsale inspection, reconditioning and time.  The number on MMR is not net of these costs.  When we price a unit on Trade in Marketplace we consider these factors.  How can cost be ignored? 

Many dealers do not take the cost of remarketing into consideration when they look at the "green" results on MMR.  This frequently leads to wholesale losses and "musical chair" packages that also lead to the employment want ads on Craig's List, or Automotive News.