70 BULLETIN 1415, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
SELLING IN BRITISH MARKETS , 
The prevailing method of sale at port of arrival is by consignment 
to dealers and to auctions in the port market. The dealers sell 
immediately on the local auction to wholesalers, many of them 
speculative buyers. The auction traders sell to small buyers and 
the stock finally reaches the consumer through a chain of at least 
three or four dealers. 
Other sales are by commission dealers who receive consignments 
from their agent or representative in the United States or from 
Ses associations or who act as agents of the receiver and sell 
to their regular trade consisting mostly of jobbers and retailers. 
Fic. 32.—Selling boxed apples at a Liverpool fruit auction 
PORT AUCTIONS 
The auction method has had the same prominent position in the 
British markets as in the disposal of boxed apples in many large 
cities of the United States. Reports from a dozen large English 
trade markets indicate that about nine-tenths of the import apple 
sales are by auction. Figure 32 shows a Liverpool fruit auction room 
where American boxed apples are sold. 
The auction sales are made by samples shown in the sales room. 
A couple of boxes of each lot as sold are placed on display with lids 
removed, and from these the wraps are pulled from perhaps half of 
the top layer. Prospective buyers have permission to inspect the 
consignments as unloaded at the docks. The buyers themselves in 
some markets are closely organized and insist on regulations and 
practices regarding the taking of samples or the rejection or adjust- 
ment of purchases. 
