Guest Post by our partners at uShip.com

Purchasing big ticket items from online auction houses can often mean shipping incredibly large, heavy items across the country. How do you get a 29,000 pound excavator from an auction lot to the work site? Follow these simple steps to make sure your oversize lot gets where it needs to go.

1. Contact the Auctioneer About Your Items

After placing a bid in an online auction, check to see if the auctioneer plans to provide shipping for your items. Some auction houses will already have a streamlined process for shipping larger purchases, but you should confirm both the timeline and the service they plan on using. If your items are particularly fragile, like antiques or collectables, you may want to do a bit of homework on how your items will be packaged and handled. Some marketplaces, including Proxibid, partner with uShip to provide the best possible shipping options for items you buy at auction.

2. Get a Quote

Once you’re confirmed on the size and weight of your purchase, you can solicit quotes via phone or on a transport site like uShip. If you’re getting quotes over the phone only, don’t feel obligated to offer your phone number to the carrier — you can always call them back with the quote they provide, or solicit competing quotes from other companies. Thankfully, uShip takes phone calls out of the process and makes selecting a transporter far faster and easier.

Shipping your item from Proxibid is as easy as clicking “Shipping” on Proxibid’s homepage or on any listing page. You’ll receive an instant estimate, and the option to pull in your shipment information so certified carriers can bid for your business. After receiving quotes, you can compare them by reviewing the transporters’ carrier profiles with first-hand reviews and feedback ratings from past customers.

3. Stay in Contact with the Carrier

When reviewing quotes from carriers, make sure they offer a plan of communication throughout the haul. Some carriers will offer online geo-tracking, while others provide updates over the phone throughout the job. You’re welcome to ask for updated delivery times from your carrier until the lot is delivered.

This article was contributed by our friends at uShip. uShip is the world’s largest and most trusted transportation marketplace, primarily serving the freight, household goods and vehicle shipping markets.

Proxibid will be conducting routine website maintenance Tuesday, May 7 from midnight  - 4 am Central.  Our website and online bidding application may be unavailable during this time.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause as we make changes to enhance your online experience.

Automobiles that were damaged in New York this past fall during Hurricane Sandy are being auctioned, according to a published report.

The city could not find the owners of 535 cars that were abandoned and many of them were submerged in floodwater, The New York Daily News reports. Some cars cannot be repaired, others already were auctioned for several thousands of dollars and more cars are yet to be auctioned. One-hundred twenty-five sold on April 16 and two additional auctions are being planned for early May on Long Island.

“We’ve sold one as low as $300 and we had one above $10,000,” the auctioneer told the news source this past weekend. “Just because a vehicle is titled as flood-damaged doesn’t mean it’s inoperable.”

The auction represents a valuable opportunity to acquire hidden gems, often for competitive prices. The next two auctions are scheduled for May 2 and 7.

According to Bloomberg, Hurricane Sandy was the largest storm born in the Atlantic in history and it killed more than 100 people in 10 states as it migrated up the Eastern Seaboard in late October 2012.

A public auction of heavy equipment and trucks last week in an East Texas city pulled down more than $47 million, according to a press release.

On Wednesday and Thursday, more than 3,800 registered bidders partook in healthy competition for more than 4,100 heavy equipment items and trucks, the press release states. More than 150 T/A truck tractors, at least 55 hydraulic excavators and a selection of late model crawler tractors also were among the heavy equipment that was auctioned.

The sale was large enough to break and establish records, such as having the most vendors at an auction in Houston, which amounted to nearly 500. The auction also resulted in the biggest amount of online gross auction proceeds for the city, which climbed higher than $20 million. It also drew the biggest amount of online bidders, which was more than 2,100.

As demonstrated, online auctions represent the opportunity for bidders to capitalize on the convenience of bidding for goods from remote locations.

ABC reports a home in Houston was auctioned earlier this month as part of an effort to settle a debt lien.

All items at the equipment auction in Houston went to the highest bidders and there were no minimum bids or reserve prices. The bids either were issued via on-site at the auction, via online measures in real time or by proxy.

“We sold equipment for close to 500 sellers - the most consignors we’ve ever had at a Houston auction,” the regional sales manager with the auctioneer said. “Most of these sellers are upgrading their fleets as the economy gets stronger here in Texas. Sellers are turning to [our company] because of our ability to sell their items to the world on auction day so they receive prices beyond their local market. Overall, prices were strong on both days and international participation was very active both in person and over the internet. Every Houston internet record was broken, yet there was an active bidding crowd here onsite as well.”

At least 3,800 bidders were registered for the auction. They represented 60 nations and 48 U.S. states. From outside the Lone Star State, bidders acquired more than $27 million-worth of auction proceeds, which breaks down to well more than half of the auction proceeds. The amount totaled 57 percent, the press release states.

At least 2,100 of bidders via online practices acquired at least $20-million-worth of equipment.

An antiquated prayer book from the 17th century is set to be auctioned later this year in New York and some are saying its bids could climb as high as $30 million, according to a published report.

Dated in 1640, the Bay Psalm Book is believed to be among the first of its kind printed in the U.S., Fox News reports. Only 10 other copies of the hymnal are in existence.

Set for auction in late November of this year, the hymnal was a belonging of the Old South Church. Its members gave the nod for the prayer book to be auctioned.

“It’s a spectacular book, arguably one of the most important books in this nation’s history,” senior minister and chief executive officer Nancy Taylor with the church told the news source.

Also a reverend, Taylor said the house of worship was established in 1669. Two influential figures from the Revolutionary Era were directly related with the church, she said. Benjamin Franklin was baptized at Old South Church and among its membership was Samuel Adams.

Revered church’s possession
The church is located in Copley Square and is considered one of the U.S.’ most historically significant churches, according to the website of the house of worship. The church also is considered a National Historic Landmark.

The house of worship once owned five copies of the hymnal, which measures 6-by-5 inches. The U.S. Library of Congress, and Yale and Brown universities each host one prayer book apiece.

The church is aiming to boost its presence with grants and ministries, and the sale of the old prayer book is likely to enable that effort.

Hymnal’s history
First published by the Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the book arrived two decades after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.

The book was geared to be a translation from the original Hebrew psalms into English as the puritans believed some of the phrases within the publication would aid with the effort to compromise their personal salvation.

It includes a yellow title page that has embellishments that serve as decorations and it states: “The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Faithfully Translated into English Metre.”

The bottom of that page states: ”Imprinted 1640.”

Expert expresses awe over durability
The prayer book is an enormously special and unique historical document, according to rare books and special collections chief Mark Dimunation with the U.S. Library of Congress.

The hymnal is “an iconic piece. It’s the beginning of literate America,” the rare books chief told the news source. “American poetry, American spirituality and the printed page all kind of combine and find themselves located in a single volume.”

He called attention to how common the hymnal is, noting it is quite amazing that it has been around as long as it has.

“But there’s also something much more modest and humble about this piece, which makes its survival all the most extraordinary,” Dimunation told the news source, stating that this type of book was a utilitarian publication that typically was subject to significant wear and tear.

The auction, which represents a valuable opportunity to find valuable memorabilia, is set for November 26. Online auctions also provide the opportunity for bidders to purchase items with the convenience of doing so remotely.

Previous sale precedent
One version of that exact book was auctioned in 1947, according to the news source. That version sold for what then was a record price of $151,000.

When that version was auctioned, it pushed past prices at auctions for the Gutenberg Bible, the First Folio penned by William Shakespeare and “Birds of America,” which was written by John James Audobon.

Bidders issued offers that amounted to more than $3.3 million earlier this week to purchase 14 commercial properties in two counties that were being auctioned on the Gulf Coast of Florida, according to a published report.

The bids were issued on office and retail buildings, industrial properties and vacant lots, according to The Herald-Tribune. The properties are located in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

“What’s the commercial market like? I’ll tell you at the end of the day,” Ian Black with the real estate company involved with the auction told the news source prior to the auction’s start.

Property owners who put up their holdings have the option of accepting or turning down the offers by this Friday. They also are free to conduct negotiations for different prices, Black told the news source, indicating there are some properties on the market in that auction that have not been on the receiving end of offers in several months.

Of the 16 properties for which bidders were making offers, only two did not draw bids. One other property took an offer prior to the auction and it was removed from the list of biddable properties.

“I’m very happy with the outcome,” Black told the news source after the auction. “We are now negotiating on 15 properties, and that doesn’t happen very often in our profession.”

The auction attracted the attendance of 75 people, 41 of whom registered bids, according to the auctioneer. The highest bid was for $1.2 million for a parcel of land that long has been eyed for projects that simply have not manifested. The bidder remained anonymous other than telling the news source he is an agent doing the work for a buyer.

One buyer had no intentions of doing so when he came to the event. Sal Diaz-Verson Jr., told the news source that he just came with friends out of curiosity. He departed as the winning bidder for a two-office, seven-unit medical building, for which he offered $200,000.

“I just came in with some friends to observe,” the investor told the news source. “Before I know it, I’m walking out with a property. I didn’t plan on doing anything.”

Auctions represent the opportunity for buyers to purchase unique, original items, often for very competitive prices.

Online auctions also are a convenient method for buyers to make acquisitions and they offer the ease of being able to buy from remote locations.

Everyone knows how messy the hair of the four young English men was who revolutionized music as we know it in the 1960s. Excerpts also have emerged as to how messy relations were between two of those legendary men who formed half of the rock ‘n’ roll band borne in Liverpool, Paul McCartney and the John Lennon.

And a lucky bidder in an auction will gain a first-hand understanding of some of that tension once a draft letter penned by the now late Lennon to McCartney is auctioned later this month, according to ITV.

Believed to have been penned at some point during the 1970s, the letter is forecast to sell for the English equivalent of more than $60,000 when it goes on the auction block.

Appearing on personal stationary that features a picture of the late singer and his wife Yoko Ono, the two-page letter is directed to McCartney and his late wife Linda.

Lennon, in one part of the letter, asks two pointed, loaded questions of McCartney, going so far as to tell him he is not crazy but instead oblivious.

“Do you really think most of today’s art came about because of the Beatles? I don’t believe you’re that insane - Paul - do you believe that? When you stop believing it you might wake up!” Lennon wrote in the letter in point.

The online auction is slated to be conducted on May 30.

Additional auctions
This past October saw the sale of another poison-pen letter from Lennon to the McCartneys was auctioned in London. Those musings reflected on the end of the Beatles.

Rolling Stone reports a popular album that the band produced sold at an auction toward the end of last month for well more than it was originally forecast to go for.

A signed copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sold for $290,500 on March 30, excessively more than the $30,000 that was originally assessed for the album. That amount also pushed past the record for similar-type sales, according to the news source.

With a high-gloss cover and gatefold, the U.K. Parlophone copy of the record features the signatures of Lennon, McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, who died in late 2001.

Bidding on that record first began at $15,000 and the early part of the process saw aggressive interest drive its going price beyond $110,000 one week prior to when the album was going to be auctioned.

And, following that point, the bidding figures continued climbing higher and higher.

Quality items on the auction block
One reason why the price went up so high and so quickly could have been because of the high quality of the signatures of the Fab Four.

The Hollywood Reporter indicates the winning bidder of that album was an anonymous buyer who hails from the Midwest. The album also was put up for sale by an anonymous seller.

The previous record for a Beatles record that was signed by all four members of the band was $150,000, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That album was Meet the Beatles.

An expert on Beatles memorabilia told The Hollywood Reporter that he held exorbitantly high regard for the autographed copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Perry Cox also said that he knows his stuff when it comes to the Beatles.

“With my being thoroughly immersed in Beatles collectibles for over 30 years, it takes something extraordinarily special to excite me, but I consider this to be one of the top two items of Beatles memorabilia I’ve ever seen - the other being a signed copy of Meet The Beatles,” He told the news source.

Auctions represent the valuable opportunity for people to find unique, intriguing goods, which often sell for bargain prices.