Carolina on my mind

Hello all. New to the site and excited to meet some of you and learn a thing or two as well. Would love any and all advice. Im just now starting to email facilities and make contacts. So far only have one response out of 15 or so emails! Looks like it will become easier once I actually find a auction to check out! Good luck to you all!

welcome aboard!! are you near a bigger city?

Yessir! Im about 15 minutes north of Raleigh.

Hello all. New to the site and excited to meet some of you and learn a thing or two as well. Would love any and all advice. Im just now starting to email facilities and make contacts. So far only have one response out of 15 or so emails! Looks like it will become easier once I actually find a auction to check out! Good luck to you all!

Best thing to do is instead of emailing the facilities is to actually call them.

Welcome to the forums.....and I agree calling works best for me as well.

Welcome! I like the idea of calling the facilities.

made about 30 calls today and will be hitting up our first auctions with the wifey on May 25th. Lots to learn before then. thx for the advise!

made about 30 calls today and will be hitting up our first auctions with the wifey on May 25th. Lots to learn before then. thx for the advise!

The first couple of weeks you should just go and look, listen, observe people and the auctioneer.
Your best weapon in the future is to know your competition and the auctioneer. It will also give you a chance to get comfy with the facillities.

The first couple of weeks you should just go and look, listen, observe people and the auctioneer.
Your best weapon in the future is to know your competition and the auctioneer. It will also give you a chance to get comfy with the facillities.

that is the plan! ive found that there will also be a few auctions on the following saturday so the 25th will be a great lesson for us both.

I always recommend placing some low bids (maybe at the start of an individual lkr) before it grows too much.

This gives you a chance to see what it feels like to actually speak out or wave your hand. You shouldn't even have to
be too careful if you get in early enough on the bidding for any given locker....chances are it will go right on up and you can just stop bidding.

Gives you a chance to really go for it when the right lkr comes up.

Some more advise from one newbie to another:

1. Be prepared to only win the crappy lockers in the beginning.

2. If you get a shot at a decent looking unit, be prepared to get run up. Just pay the extra cost (as long as you can afford it) and don't make a big deal about getting run up. In some parts of the country you just have to do this to break into the game.

3. Do NOT get into bidding wars with regulars, especially your local whales.

4. Try to befriend as many regulars as possible, don't ask a lot of questions, but don't brag about your business acumen either. For example don't say "Yeah, I'm new to storage auctions, but i've been selling cars for fifteen years, and I got a lot of money, and I know how to make money, yada, yada, yada...

5. Go to many auctions, don't do or say anything stupid, and eventually you will meld into one of the regulars yourself and before long the old timers will stop running you up because they realize your here to stay or they start to like you and except you.

Just my experience.

CopiaVita's response in #10 above is VERY GOOD ADVICE. I'd read it a couple of times.

One newbie who came around just BEFORE the tv shows has been accepted by the regulars now.
The newest newbies are having to work harder at being accepted, but they are slowly getting there...if they survive
6 months or so, they have proven themselves. A fair number are already gone.

If you are new to auctions, PLEASE don't say "yeppppp" when you bid. It provides a good laugh for the rest of the newbies but only irritates the regulars with a reminder of where you came from and draws unwanted attention to yourself.