Experienced in Central California

 

Hey there....

Just found this site and thought I would drop in. I have been buying lockers for 7 years so I have some
under my belt...good and bad.

Have been reading here a bit before getting verified and seems like experiences are similar around the country.

One suggestion I have is that when posting in ANY of the forums that the poster somehow indicate what state at least they are in...maybe city too if not a concern for the poster for any reason.

Haven't checked yet, but my guess is a signature line is available here and that would be a good place to put
your locale...it would pop up in any post you did.

Anyway, happy bidding (and good luck with the lockers you get) !

Hello welcome to the forums. What part of Cali? I grew up in San Jose.

Hello welcome to the forums. What part of Cali? I grew up in San Jose.

I am in inland from San Jose and do business from Tracy in the south to Sacramento in the north with cities like
Modesto, Manteca, Stockton, Brentwood, Antioch, Concord, Dixon and areas around Sacramento all being possible buying sites. Oh and mustn't forget foothill communities like Valley Springs, Sonora, Angels Camp.

So is it like they say, that there are more good stuff in CA???
Here in memphis where i am, it can be either hit or miss, and when you miss you miss BADLY, lol and when you find a good one it is never like you see on tv from CA. The best i find is new stuff like, car parts, jewelry, and furniture. Sometimes odd collectibles.
But i have never seen guns, pinball machines, jukeboxes, or any of the good stuff on tv. lol

So is it like they say, that there are more good stuff in CA???
Here in memphis where i am, it can be either hit or miss, and when you miss you miss BADLY, lol and when you find a good one it is never like you see on tv from CA. The best i find is new stuff like, car parts, jewelry, and furniture. Sometimes odd collectibles.
But i have never seen guns, pinball machines, jukeboxes, or any of the good stuff on tv. lol

I have friends who have traveled to Nevada (Las Vegas), Washinton state, Florida and they report that things are pretty much the same where-ever you go. Good lockers and bad.

As to the shows on tv, they DO have disclaimers indicating how many lockers they go through to find the good stuff, and of course they will MOSTLY show the good stuff on the shows. They also give the indicator that most of the buyers they feature have been doing it for years.
(continuing this in next post)

Giv

Given these facts, NO, California is not any better than anywhere else (on balance). Sure, a major metro area is going to have more selection than a town of 3,000 in the middle of Kansas (my birth state), but again, you have to buy a lot of lockers to come out ahead.

I have bought 330 over 7 years and have done well on 300 of them, lost money on 10 and broken even on 20. I track all my expenses and income. Here we figure you aim at doubling your money to do well. If you spend $10K a year, you want to sell it at $20K and come out with $10K profit.

In 7 years I have found 6 guns; a little different than the Spike show Auction Hunters where the first 4 episodes showed a gun a week !

I got a beautiful year 2000 Honda quad in 2009; it took 11 months to clear it through dmv and Honda Finance, but it sold in 10 days for $2600.
 

Forgot to address some of the items mentioned as never being seen it TN.
I did get an old pinball machine once. Sold for $200 on eBay with local pickup. On those the "backglass" condition is very important and of course the game "name". They almost all need work, but some fire right up. I passed up a 2nd one because lkr went to high.

I have had Pachinko (sp?) games from the 70s. Not a biggie. Have found name brand musical instruments, good and bad electronics, and did I mention: stained mattresses, crappy particle-board furniture, bags of clothes (originally obtained at Goodwill stores), bags of trash (old McDonalds meals, newspapers, bills, court appearance documents) laptops that work (and don't work), boxes of keychains, Xmas decorations by the semi-truck load) etc, etc.