Yep, That’s the one it sold for 27500 plus the fees not everyone pays the tax some are exempt. Government, resale etc. and some don’t even pay the selling fees depending on you arrangement with the seller.........
Yes, and you have to pick it up, I’ve never seen a auction where they will send it to you! ��
Interesting. I've always thought auctions were a "level playing field"; meaning a fair process where everyone pays the same amount if they're the "winning" bidder. But when some bidders, be they individuals or businesses, can skate out of a significant portion of the costs others must pay, that hardly seems "fair", at least not by my way of thinking.
Looking at the pictures I thought a fair retail price for that machine was $30-$32K, maybe a little more. My impression is most snowcats sold at auction are not sold to the end user, but rather to someone who turns around and resells them at a (sometimes significantly) higher price. A snowcat "flipper", like "Monster Jeff" of ksl.com, or a business like SnoTrans for example.
If that machine was bought at the price I calculated by an individual or business with the intent to resell, and was then shipped to the resellers facility (or picked up), you would then add the transportation costs to the approximately $33K price. At that point maybe $35K invested, depending on the distance involved? I don't see any money to be made. But when some can save almost $6K on the purchase, that changes the calculus.
The situation reminds me of George Orwell's book Animal Farm and the quote "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"...
Thanks for pointing out the auction "realities".