bestfiction Chapter 461
Chapter 461
A month passed quickly, and the four of them reached the end of their journey.
The city's largest auction house was about to hold a grand auction, and they, with their experience, came along without much trouble.
As soon as these people stood at the entrance of the auction house, something felt off.
"We... are guarding this?" The four stared blankly at the magnificent auction house, which resembled a royal palace. Everywhere they looked, there were terrifying restrictions that made their hair stand on end. The surrounding guests were of unknown cultivation levels; they were either "mortals" who could stride hundreds of feet in a single step, or terrifyingly powerful individuals whose auras were so profound that their eyes would explode at the mere sight of them.
"Brother Yue, have we... made a mistake?"
"I didn't misread it, it's this... Tianlan Auction House... They even recruit Qi Refining stage cultivators..."
They were prepared to ask since they were already there, but the security guards around them looked at them with disdain.
The manager's small room was right next door. A middle-aged man with a refined demeanor and impeccable manners emerged and led the four of them into a secret room.
His first words were: "I'm sorry, our security positions are already full."
Four people: .....
We're all sensible people, so let's stop waiting and get to the next sentence.
"Have you considered changing jobs?"
"Tell me, what options do you have here?"
"For example, acting as a shill for bidding." The manager's smile remained unchanged, but Zhong Ming couldn't help but think he was grinning wickedly.
Xuan Jing touched his neck and replied in an exaggerated tone, "Oh dear, quickly touch it, is my neck still there? It scared me to death! I had to bid against big shots who could crush me with one hand? My head would be gone as soon as I entered the arena..."
"You are joking, Your Excellency."
"You were joking with us first."
The person in charge wasn't angry; his job was to put up with being bullied.
"Our auction house provides reliable aura and cultivation level shielding, so you can rest assured that no one will be able to identify you."
He took out a mask and cloak, and after putting them on, his aura was completely concealed. The snow-white mask was also equipped with a voice changer, so when the steward spoke, a gentle female voice came out.
"So, are you interested in closing this deal?" His words were so charming and alluring that they gave all four of them goosebumps.
Zhong Ming relaxed and leaned back on the sofa, only to be pricked by the hard wood again, and sat up straight with displeasure.
This sofa is impressive, made of precious wood, but it's not comfortable to sit on.
"So, how should we negotiate the price?" Zhong Ming didn't care about whether or not he was dressed as a woman. He was here to make money. He would even risk his life to hunt demons. What was he afraid of?
"As for the price, our rule here is that if your bid is more than three times the starting price, you get one percent of the amount that exceeds that price. Of course, all of this is on the premise that you are not the final bidder."
If the starting bid for an item is 100 low-grade spirit stones, then three times that price would be 300 spirit stones. If they bid up to 500 spirit stones, they can get 1% of the 200 spirit stone difference, which is a profit of 2 spirit stones. Whether the final bid is 10,000 or 300,000 spirit stones, it has nothing to do with them.
What if we are the final bidder?
"Then you must really buy it." The steward casually poured away the tea used to wash the teacups and poured a cup of tea for each of the four people.
"Isn't this a bit too risky? Even if we sold all of us, we still wouldn't be able to afford their collection." Chen Dahai said bitterly, his miserable expression making him look like a slave protesting against being sold to the masters.
Zhong Ming knew that this guy was usually quiet, but when he did speak, it meant he thought he could pull off a big job.
"If you can't pay it back, of course we also provide loan services. But you've forgotten the most important thing: what you bought is truly for you. If you feel you don't deserve it, you can hand it over to our auction house for bidding." The manager smiled, clearly having done this more than once.
“There are people who specialize in this business. If they make a mistake once, they can use our auction platform to bid even higher next time, and they still make a lot of money after deducting their commission.”
Zhong Ming ignored his lies and asked directly, "So how do you calculate the commission for consignment auctions here?"
"If this is your first time here and you have no prior cooperation with us, the commission is 30%. If you are a long-term partner and your transaction volume reaches a certain amount, we will issue you a card representing your identity. The highest-level black card users only pay 1% commission, and sometimes we don't charge any at all, just to help them sell their rare goods here and enhance the reputation of our auction house."
You can basically ignore what they say after that; it's all a lie. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator might not be able to raise that amount.
Outside of these rules, it's not that no one makes money this way.
Zhong Ming made a bet that there were definitely people with black cards soliciting customers outside, getting their goods to be transferred to him for auction. Normally, he would get a 30% commission, but if they handed over the goods, he would only get 10%, leaving him with a pure 9% profit. Making money as a middleman and earning the price difference was much more comfortable than going through the trouble of security and running an auction house.
"Okay, I understand. I have a question."
"You said."
Do you have any internal commission discounts?
“Look, we’ve done all the dirty work for you guys. We’re all in this together. We want to consign some items, but we can’t charge strangers for that, can we?” Zhong Ming raised an eyebrow at him, holding a corpse of an earth dragon ready to be sold.
"Of course, that's possible. However, sir, we only auction materials that are at least at the Foundation Establishment stage."
Zhong Ming yawned. Then everything was fine. He couldn't sell the black scroll that he had taken from someone to refine the beast soul into a weapon spirit, and the mirror polishing brick was out of the question. It seemed like there was nothing else he could sell.
Or perhaps it's his hamster-like habit of hoarding things that makes him reluctant to sell anything he sees.
"Alright, a few last questions. You've definitely hired more than just us, right? What if a few shills are bidding against each other and there are no real buyers? What will you do then?"
“Normally, we will remind you to hold this stone in your palm. We can only tell you how to use it after you agree.”
"So, what if we don't succeed in an auction?"
"We won't reimburse your travel expenses, you can do as you please."
After the middle-aged manager finished speaking, Xuan Jing immediately made a decision, "I want to participate. Are you going or not? I think you can go."
He made up his mind to go in and do nothing, just watch the auction for free and broaden his horizons.
"Then I'll go. Thank you for your help."
The manager finally breathed a sigh of relief; business had been tough lately.
His real task now is not to find shills, but to find people to sit in the seats and act as a facade.