The 8 day civil unrest and looting that happened in July 2021 will likely affect South Africa’s economic climate for years to come. 

According to the South African Property Owners Association, “of the properties that were affected, 80% were retail business properties, 15% were industrial business properties and 5% were warehousing business properties.”  

Although businesses that were covered by South African Special Risks Insurance Association were able to make claims on the loss they experienced due to the looting, the latter is not true of small businesses that were not covered by this insurance. 

The above mentioned has led to some businesses having to consider selling what’s left of their businesses or folding their businesses. Another lucrative option for business owners looking to sell their businesses would be to auction their businesses. 

Advantages And Disadvantages of Auctioning Your Business  

According to Davies et al 2017, these are the advantages and disadvantages of auctioning a business versus traditionally selling of a business:

Advantages 

• Auctions provide more potential buyers 

• The seller controls the entire auction process because they set opening bid prices and control how much information of the business is revealed. 
• Auction prices can go higher than a seller’s asking price. Meaning a seller can enjoy an additional profit from the sale of their business. 

Disadvantages

• Auction admin costs are more expensive than selling your business.
• Auctions aren’t always successful meaning that the seller will still have to be responsible for the associated costs of the auctioning of their business. 

The Auctioning Process 

Not all Auction houses are created equally and if you’re dead set on auctioning your business, here is a list of auction houses you can contact.