Asta Auctions

As the pandemic continued, production companies like PSI, where I was General Manager, were facing a double-helping of challenges: no work, and a warehouse full of idle equipment and continuing overhead costs. Fortunately, unlike some production company owners, my employer was not sentimental about gear, so a big pile was selected to be sold, but the auction company that had sold equipment for PSI in the past had no sales scheduled, until they were invited to use the PSI warehouse to host items from multiple consignors and conduct the sale. Equipment was delivered to the PSI warehouse, photographed and inventoried, and then posted online, where bidders could enter bids. Successful bidders made an appointment to pick up what they’d won. I had a ringside seat to the entire process, and I decided that we could do a much better job, especially if we focussed exclusively on professional production equipment. Thus was born Asta Auctions. ‘Asta’ means ‘Auction’ in Italian, which I thought was funny, and also a nod to the ancestral heritage of Steve Vian, PSI’s owner.

I built the website, an email distribution list and announced our first sale, naively believing that I could find a Wordpress Plugin that would support our needs. I was very quickly disabused of this notion. Fortunately, the wonderful people at BidPath answered a frantic plea for help and white-labeled a site that mirrored the design of the one I’d built. Their software platform is used by large commercial auctioneers worldwide, so all of a sudden, we were swimming in the same waters as some major players in the industrial and commercial auction space.

The timing was excellent, as other production companies were facing the same challenges as PSI, and were glad to consign idle equipment to us, knowing we understood it and would help them achieve maximum dollar return. Another advantage was that professionals in the live event production world were a captive audience, as they were also unable to work.

While I had never worked in the auction business, my experience in high-end retail was helpful as our small team greeted bidders during our inspection periods. It was also important that we considered the part of the PSI warehouse where inspection occurred a real showroom, so lighting and audio equipment was deployed to create an atmosphere that showed the equipment to its best advantage and created an inviting atmosphere.

The Asta Auctions adventure was important, because it gave the skeleton staff at PSI a focus, and it helped keep the doors to PSI open, while offering the fun of working on a project that was ‘so crazy, this just might work.’ In the spring of 2022, I ventured to Brockville, Ontario for the first in-person annual convention of the Ontario Auctioneers Association since the beginning of the pandemic. Although I’d only joined days earlier, I managed to get myself elected to the Board of Directors.

In the fall of 2023, with live events back in full swing, competition for space at the PSI warehouse, the decision to put Asta Auctions out to pasture was necessary.

I am forever grateful to Steve Vian at PSI for entertaining my hare-brained idea and supporting the Asta Adventure. I think it helped us both get through the pandemic with fewer bruises than we otherwise might have.

And at least once a day, I think of the Asta Slogan: ‘That’s A Good One.’ My other suggestions (Sell It Fasta With Asta, These Deals Won’t Lasta) were never seriously entertained, and I understand why.