Wholesale Auction Market Home >> Development Services Division >> Jasper County Farmer's Market >> Wholesale Auction Market

Be a part of South Carolina's First Wholesale Produce Auction

Come and BUY fresh local fruits and vegetables OR Come and SELL fresh local fruits and vegetables   

WHEN:  Starting Monday, October 20th at 3 p.m. and will continue every Monday at 3 p.m. and every Thursday at 9 a.m. sharp.  

As the season progresses, the number of auctions per week will be determined by the amount of fresh local produce that is available.               

WHERE:  Jasper County Farmers Market

9935 South Jacob Smart Boulevard (see Directions link on previous page).

WHY:  The public is clamoring for high quality, fresh, local produce.  The wholesale auction links LOCAL FARMERS with LOCAL BUYERS to bring LOCAL SHOPPERS what they want to eat.  It's simple, and it works!

WHO CAN SELL AT THE AUCTION:  Any farmer growing fresh fruits or vegetables.

WHO ARE THE BUYERS:  Grocery stores, restaurants, roadside markets, farmer markets, purveyors, institutions, and anyone else who wants fairly large quantities of fresh produce.

HOW DOES THE AUCTION WORK:

Anyone registered with the wholesale auction office is welcome to buy or sell produce at the auction.  Registration is free; simply sign-up at the office a few minutes before the auction starts.  One hour, or so, before the auction starts farmers deliver their boxes of high quality produce to the auction floor and break it into "lots."  Usually, all of the strawberries a farmer brings in that day are put into one "lot," the peas are put into the 2nd "lot," and the lettuce is the 3rd "lot."  Different types of produce are not mixed in a lot, and produce from different farms is not mixed.  It is very normal to have several different sized lots of peas, from different farms, on the same day.  Each lot is identified by a tag and number.
At 10 a.m. the auctioneer and all of the buyers gather around the first lot.  The auctioneer calls for bids from the buyers until the highest bidder gets the lot.  The buyers and the auctioneer then move on to the next lot.  This is a free and open auction; the price is set by the buyers competing directly against one another for each lot.  Farmers are welcome to stay and watch the action, or they can drop off their produce and leave.
At the end of the auction, each lot is loaded into the truck of the buyer who won the bid.  Buyers pay for the produce before leaving the auction.  Farmers are paid one week after each auction.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO SELL AT THE AUCTION:

The auction charges a 10% commission on all sales, plus a $1 fee for each lot sold.  This money is used to pay the auctioneer and cover the expenses of the wholesale auction.

THE WHOLESALE AUCTION PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY:

Penn Center, Inc.
Clemson University Cooperative Extension
South Carolina State University 1890's Program
Jasper County, South Carolina
Local farmers and wholesale produce buyers
A generous grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about this wholesale produce auction, contact either of the two auction co-managers below.

Randy James, Ph.D.   Joe McDomick
Auction Co-Manager   Auction Co-Manager
(843) 671-6710   (843) 986-6157
randallejames@gmail.com   jmcdomickjr@yahoo.com