Just filed a complaint with the BBB. What a disgusting fall from grace- for what used to be a reputable company. We attended their live auctions decades ago and considered the staff friends. Now that staff runs the show and did not have the courtesy to reply to a simple email from a decades long customer who has spent tens of thousands of dollars, at least, on their auctions. Instead, they had "lower level" staff produce a generic reply- we value your concerns.... yada, yada.... We firmly believe they are now very unethical with little regard for honesty or their buyers concerns. We believe that any/all NYS Real Estate contracts or any contracts with government/state property should be revoked. read more

Scam Alert Do Not Do Business with This Company On June 5, 2025 I participated in an appliance auction on Absolute Auctions & Reality's website. I won two lots, a new French door fridge and an upright freezer. The next day I received instructions on how to pay and set up a pickup date and time. I promptly paid and set up my pickup time & took the day off work as it was almost 4 hours one way from my house to the auction center. Upon arrival at my scheduled pick-up time, I was informed that I would not be receiving the freezer and given zero information or explanation. I was offered a refund in the form of a mailed check, when I asked for it to be returned to the card I used, I was informed "they don't like to do that because it costs them money" LOL. I got my refund returned to my card but no other explanation, apology or offer to make things right. The questions I feel would come to mind with a business who appreciates their customers in this situation are; We should notify him about what's going on, especially if it's his only purchase and he makes the trip for nothing, what if he rents a trailer expecting the other item? What if he hires someone to load the extra items? This is a failure of business ethics on their part. This was a small purchase in the grand scheme of things but imagine dealing with this company on a major real estate purchase, "Oh sorry we don't actually have that land you bought" but now all your money is tied up in a refund cycle and you didn't bid on anything else. Something to consider if your thinking about doing business with AAR. read more

I had an especially awful experience with these folks. I don't want to go into the details here, but suffice it to say it ended up costing me way more than I ever dreamed possible. Stay away. Low value, high cost. read more

Absolutely all hands down fantastic auction house. Customer service front office and warehouse guys couldn't be better. Nice web site for on line auctions. Great experiences so far over 3 auctions as a buyer. read more

I would give a ZERO if I could... Changed date of auction after people bid and won their units.. Instead of owning to a mistake (if there was one - seems like its a pattern) and Zero Out the winning bids, kept the bids, just prolonged the process for another day. To say "SCAM" is not to say anything... Not only will I report them to BBB, I will try to reach out to their legal department (if any). I will not rest until these guys are put out of business. SCAM SCAM SCAM read more

The estate auction section has really become a clean out auction. They will put actual garbage in the auction and insist the bidder take it. That keeps the bids low. The Connecticut estate sales are still normal. The estate auctions on the NY side have taken a steep nose dive since the daughter took over. It's really a dis-service to the estates, to take money for the cleanout and then shluff that cost off on the buyer. The proliferation of storage unit auctions that are not sealed are also suspect and shady. It was good before the daughter took over...since then it's a feeling being chiseled and cheated. Go look at their auctions rooms full of junk with a few decent items and the bid terms are "Buyer must take all" That's you, the buyer doing the job they were already paid for. Went from professional to sleazy........and stayed sleazy. read more

I have been in the antiques and arts business for fifty years!!! i used to do many shows/ have always had a shop doing business with Absolute is always easy and rewarding . the explanations about their merchandise is accurate ...their bidding always easy to enter.....pick up and dealing with the office staff is always first rate ...... sanford Levy jenkinstown antiques read more

A true travesty They manipulate ending times in order to obtain higher prices. I'm totally opposed to this strategy. People please stay away from this site. Prior to posing my review I read the others and I'm quite happy not to have won. Regard the winner good luck with them. A total fixed and rigged scenario. Never again. read more

I am a longtime customer of AAR. I have always found their product to be fresh and exciting, represented without bias, fairly represented, and well photographed. I am always excited to check out their website for new finds. As a local, I stop in often to preview. Both the front office and property curators have been friendly and helpful. The Gabelmans and I have developed a good personal relationship around my interests and they have always gone out of their way to show me something I would like, watches, firearms, clocks, good antiques.. you name it, they get it.. AAR is a good, honest business. They will always have me as a customer. I have read the reviews posted and feel the need to comment. First, I get the impression that many are novices to the auction world and simply don't understand how it works, second, things are never worth what you think they are, third, I have lost bids to buyers all over the world so their e footprint is large, fourth, I lost bids because I lost interest to bid higher.. it is as simple as that, I was not cheated, lastly, I find it incredulous that anyone was treated rudely by anyone there. I have "shown up" 5 mins before closing to take a look at an item scheduled for that night and received nothing but a warm welcome, so if you got the rude vibe, I'm sure you projected it. read more

Not to bad on the front end organizational side of things, but good luck getting paid if you are a seller. They claim to need 30 days to make sure payments process, which is nonsense, but they are comfortable enough with the status of the money to schedule pickup day for the stuff you sold 3 days after the auction ends. marked up my contract to 21 days rather than 30, they agreed, then failed to follow through, though only by a day or 2 and because of a legitimate mix up admittedly, but when they did send the check, it was post dated to the original 30 day, nonsensical time frame. Auction itself was in my opinion was not particularly well advertised and I felt it under-performed. So if you want to sell your stuff for cheap, and then sit around for a month with your items out in the ether with nothing to show for it for over a month, well,,,, then these are the guys for you I guess. Don't make my mistake, do some research first. There are far better options out there. read more

STAY AWAY FROM ABSOLUTE AUCTIONS AND REALTY (AAR). I purchased a Real Estate Property in May, 2021 from these scammers. I won the Multi Family Unit Auction with a bid of $334, 000. The real estate was being auctioned for a second time because the previous bidder decided to back out of the transaction after finding out that property had 19 City Violations, which did not allow the property to be used or rented in any way without clearance of the violations. AAR knew this information and in collusion with the seller made the property available to Auction Public again in May, 2021. The Property came in $80,000 and the Disparate and Greedy Seller along with Absolute Auctions, decided that they would not renegotiate the price in anyway, and ultimately would keep my $33,400 deposit amount if I did not complete the the deal by December , of 2021. I could not get a mortgage on the property and AAR was unwilling to let anyone but an Appraiser into the property, to see the amount of work to be done on the inside of the Building. I ultimately had to get the funds to close without a bank, so as not to lose my deposit. I have read through the reviews on AAR and see that They have ripped off other people in the past, just for much less money. I am leaving 1 star on my review just because I could not leave it blank. I again warn you - DON'T DO BUSINESSS WITH ABSOLUTE AUCTIONS. SINCERELY ROY C. read more

As fire commissioner for our local fire dept. we have sold apparatus through AAR and had a pleasant experience. Personally I have bought and sold many things through AAR from furniture to vehicles. They are the BEST. I have always had nothing but professionalism and courtesy every time. AAR makes it so easy, they do everything for you. They make buying just as simple as selling. read more

Wonderful company to work with. Have used multiple times and will continue to use. Very professional and competent. Entire staff is a pleasure to work with especially Taylor! read more

Absolute Auctions and Realty and I have been doing business for many years....they are people you can trust to help you empty your home or estate or just to bid on one of the many on line auctions they have...they go out of their way to help you and make sure the process is seamless...Lou P. read more

Avoid these scam artists! The phone number is nothing more than an answering service. They rig auctions by bumping bids. They are not truthful about the condition of items, they hide the fact that what they sell is junk and list it as good. The fees are astronomical and they are a total travesty to deal with. What a joke they have become. They are not a reputable auction house. There are thousands of auction company out there. Find someone else to buy from these guys are a bunch of crooks! read more

SHOULD BE ZERO STARS!! Complete scam! Buyers BEWARE! They auction off items with false descriptions. I recently bid and won what we're advertised as fine Serapi/Persian rugs. After winning I took the rugs to a real Persian rug dealer to find out they were cheap knockoffs. Money lost! I've had a few other people tell me that items they won were not what was described in the description as well. Also beware of the storage lots. They stage the lots. Pictures are taken at angles where the entire item can't be seen. I believe they compile junk and then fill the storage units and auction them off. I recently bid and won a storage unit. After going to the unit, I found it was filled with mold filled containers. Broken bikes/fishing poles/toys/ lawn mowers etc. Not one item worked. The pictures and description showed of boxes with power tools and new items in the box. Only to be boxes filled with paper and garbage. Knock off shoes and clothing. What really took the cake was 50 empty pizza boxes. Yes 50 empty pizza boxes. Stacked up and hidden behind what looked to be and described as a nice storage cabinet. Damaged! All the pictures were taken with items moved around to look as though they are good. When I opened the door I could immediately tell something was wrong because all the items were in different spots from where they were in the pictures. After me not emptying the unit and them knowing it contained mold, oil spilled and broken items they went back in and rearranged the unit adding a few new items( which they took from other auctions they have) and made it look as though it was a brand new auction. Please be aware and DO NOT waste your money!! They go through the units and take anything good out and place them in other auctions. PLEASE look up the reviews of this place online before buying! There are tons of negative reviews. Tons of them! I wish I had looked first. If there that many complaints about the same thing over and over and over again then it's obvious there's something wrong! read more

, I have bought items to AAR bids.com a few times with mixed results. However this last purchase which was for a motorcycle was a different story. After winning the auction and showing up to pick it up I was given a stack of papers, and the woman at the desk who took my money said, " this is all you need to transfer the title" . I asked, "Are you sure?" She answered, " yes, absolutely. " I went to DMV , I was told that I needed to get the auction house to provide me with a piece of paper on letterhead that said that the auction house was authorized , by the estate of the person they were selling the motorcycle for, to sell it. I called several times over two days leaving messages and no one called me back. Finally, I got in the car drove 45 minutes to find the office close within office hours . After banging on the door , one of the warehouse workers came out and told me that no one would be there until Friday, and that in fact, no one answers the phone when no one's in the office and no one checks messages and no one calls anyone back. But I should try calling on Friday when they are expected back and see if they can get me what I need before I get in the car and drive over. What!!?! I will never buy a big ticket item from them again and if anyone else is even thinking about buying real estate or cars or anything in the thousands of dollar range that you need documentation for, think twice, and then go elsewhere read more

Best junk dealer in town! Sometimes you can find a gem but be aware they bid against you to raise the prices and wow are the employees awful to deal with when it comes to customer service! Managed like the military by an ego driven..... read more

AAR is hands down the BEST auction and realty company in the Hudson Valley. Their auctions have wondrous bargains on a variety of things ranging from building materials to antiques. Whether you're a buyer or seller (mind you that I am both), the amazing staff and owners work above and beyond to make sure your customer experience is a memorable and joyous one. I highly recommend you just browse their online auction catalogues because you might just find that one thing you've been looking for. read more

These guys were great and easy to work with. Their representatives suggested what to bring back to their gallery that would sell better as it did and what should be sold in the home. They got everything sold so the house could be sold. Their representative dealt with a buyer onsite that gave my sister a hard time at my parents estate and was able to come to a resolution with my sister and the buyer. Highly recommended for anyone needing to sell a home worth of things. read more

great customer service, great people, very good experience, I have been a buyer and a seller for the last 4 years, will deal with them hopefully for a long time to come, keep it up, and good luck read more

Regardless of whether you are a buyer or a seller, stay far far far away from this company. If I could leave zero stars or less, I would. I dealt with this company both as a buyer and a seller. As a buyer, the office-Kimberly in particular-is extraordinarily rude. As a seller, if I could leave stars in the negative zone, I would do that. Again Kimberly is beyond the pale when it comes to rudeness. I tried to pull a few things from the auction at least a month before the scheduled auction date, and they refused to do so for no good reason, claiming that they were going to bind me to their bullshit contract even though they had expended no money or time on my items. Nothing has even been photographed, they had not been to the premises, nothing. They were just assholes. Then, when the auction finally took place, they auctioned off a household of gorgeous furniture for an obscenely low amount of money, insisting on selling everything in group lots instead of piece by piece which would've brought in a lot more money. I am an experienced auction-goer, and dealt with this company back in the day when it was run by Bob and Cal Smith. This company does not do justice to the former owners by a long shot. They are an absolute travesty. They also charged me so much money for "set up," it was ridiculous. They also charged out the yazoo when people came to pick up the items. Clearly they do not care how little they auction pieces off for, because they clean up on their commissions and bogus miscellaneous charges. I strongly suspect, too, that they have shills, that is that they are fully aware of the maximum price people input online for things in the beginning, and someone inside the company runs the price tag up until that initial max is reached. I've never dealt with a more dishonest and despicable company than this one. Of the gross amount that my items were auctioned for, which was suspiciously at the maximum of at least one person I know who bid on them, I realized a net of 20% of the gross amount. That's all! And it took forever to get their check. Anyone who complains about plumbers, electricians, auto salesmen, lawyers, excavators, accountants and doctors for charging too much? They haven't dealt with these guys. A major rip off. read more

TOTALLY RIPPED OFF They advertise lies so you will pay more, and when you sell items Total rip off. When you list items with them their contract gets 20% minimum $20. So they make sure all listings are worth at auction under $100. This way if it sells for $50 they get $20 which is 40%. read more