The Chinese believe that paying top dollar for auspicious items will bring a year's worth of good fortune. Sustaining fever-pitch excitement is critical.

Auctioneer Lee Imm Ao, 47, said: "You must possess the ability to add life to the whole atmosphere and make yourself heard above the noise.

"The minute you lose the audience's interest, you lose the chance to up the bids."

The job of a professional auctioneer also demands total devotion.

Mr Lee, who is also a cab driver, said: "Everything takes place in just this one month - you can't expect the dinners to be rescheduled."

He drives only half a day during the seventh month so that he can juggle both commerce and spiritual devotion.

But Mr Lim, who runs his own renovation business, "closes shop" during this period.

"It's quite timely because most Chinese won't do renovations during the Chinese seventh month," he said.

Mr Lim said he has chalked up "only 26 bookings" for the 29 days of celebrations this year.

He said: "We're not like getai performers who can 'pao tai' (run from stage to stage) - you can only commit yourself to one place each night."

Accept

Still, some auctioneers accept over 30 bookings as some auctions also take place in the afternoons.

Mr Koh Nam Leng, 50, who stops driving his cab during the Chinese seventh month, said an auctioneer's popularity is built on word-of-mouth.

He said: "You must have 'ren yuan' (affinity with people) because you need to be able to connect with the bidders.

"How you carry yourself on stage, that showmanship, is not really something that can be trained."

Which likely explains why it's hard to "uncover" fresh talent.

Veteran auctioneer and getai organiser Peter Loh, 58, said: "Most young people don't even speak dialects in the first place.

"While Mandarin is also used, it's dialects like Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew that people better relate to."

Also, veteran auctioneers have an inside knowledge that new ones don't - particularly when it comes to dealing with bidders who are bad paymasters or unfamiliar faces.

Mr Loh said: "Some of them will try to bid for fu wu like watches and jewellery, which they sell off for immediate cash, or the money banks (which are filled with some contributions from members).

"And they don't pay up the following year or could just disappear completely."

Successful bidders have a year till the next celebration to pay.

Mr Koh said: "The trick is to stall for time even if the bidder offered the highest price.

"We'll raise the bid and then offer it to a familiar face or in the worst case, a committee member will raise the bid and we'll seal it at once."

Sharp eyes and ears are also a must, said the auctioneers.

Mr Loh said: "You have to be alert and scan every corner and keep your ears 'open' above the noise.

"You can't afford to miss any bidder because there's no second take."