Hello from Cleveland Ohio

Hello folks.

I am an IT executive with a long time interest in auctions. About 10 years ago I tried the eBay thing and I did it all wrong. I bought a 10k truck load of returned sears merch. It was almost all garbage.

I learned a ton from doing this.

Now watching shows like Auction Hunters I have a renewed interest; question being is this a good enough reason to try and make a business of it?  Probably not honestly but I would like to try it as a hobby or side business to start.

So is bidding on Auction stuff worth while? How much money does someone need to start with in order to give it a real try?  What about selling your 'stuff'? Where do you start?

Reading this as I post I am thinking of how I might reply if I were on the INSIDE reading this OUTSIDE guys post... and the reply would be don't even start.

So does anyone have some valid input for a NEWB?

Jeff

'

Welcome.Auction Hunters is for entertainment purposes.

You can make money but it is hard work.

Go to a couple of auctions in your area and get a feel if might be interested.

You need to come up with your own business plan and follow it.Too many people when they start do so with their emotions and don't treat it like a business.

You determine how succesful you will be.

Good luck.

As an IT executive, have you ever done hard manual labor outdoors for a living, or did you go straight from college into an office job? The reason I ask is because if you have never done hard back-braking work in the heat and cold, this is going to be the part of the job that will be most challenging for you. No, mowing your yard or washing your boat on the weekend does'nt count. I mean 40, 50, 60 hours a week manual labor. You could of course hire out all the heavy lifting and loading, but this cuts into your earnings quite a bit, and you still have to sort, clean, repair, package, store, re-sort, move, move again, all the stuff you find in the units.

As an executive; creating a business plan, developing a sales network, book keeping, and the capital investment to start this business should not be very difficult.

You will find the answers to how much money? Where to sell? All over this forum.

The TV shows only show the fun & easy parts of the business, bidding and winning, and finding the treasures. Unfortunately this accounts for only about 10%-20% of your time spent operating this business.

Good Luck

The TV shows only show the fun & easy parts of the business, bidding and winning, and finding the treasures. Unfortunately this accounts for only about 10%-20% of your time spent operating this business.

Good Luck

Exactly. And I honestly think it is less than 10 - 20%. but I enjoy every aspect of this business. Except going through the trash, which is a good amount of the lockers. Hard work any way you look at it.
SKILLS NEEDED:

1. Research (even just a general know how to research is beneficial, you will do alot of this, for facilities, the worth of something, how to sell or get in contact with people that know more about your item.

2. Being able to to examine a locker from a distance and get pretty close to what you think it is worth (on what you see).

3. Able to bid in a professional manner, this of course though ranges from several different ways, running your competition up, not to get caught up in a pissing contest, bidding with out attracting attention to your self, and bidding to intimidate others or catch others off guard.

4. Sizing up people and reading them. From the Auctioneer, your fellow bidders, and any future customers, whether it is the end consumer or another dealer.

5.  Being a salesman, or at the very least sociable with people, a since of charm or silver tongue like qualities.

6. Hard work ethic, cause you will be spending alot of time in this business catering your business. From bidding, goign through the locker, loading EVERYTHING ALL UP, dumping the trash, dropping off any donations, cataloging all your sellable merchandise, researching products, selling products, which may include a various ways on selling.

7.  Not be the type to get emotionally caught up in the hype, meaning make a plan, stick with that plan. Pride can be very damaging for you during the bidding.

8. Book keeping, or at very least organization skills. Both are tremendous help.


There area few other things, but these are some of the most important, that most people do not even think of.