Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => New to Storage Auctions? => Topic started by: Lunachick on October 07, 2011, 01:02:03 AM
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What do I do with all the CRAP? I bought my first 2 units a few days ago and unfortunately the hundreds of boxes I was so excited to go through....were crap. I know this is probably the most common problem in this business, but thought I would ask if anyone had any suggestions.
I first donated what I could, but they were picky about what they would take. Then I put aside everything that I can recycle (including anything metal and appliances I can scrap out). Then I took just one load to the dump and it cost me $60 and they were also picky about what they would take. I have several more loads of trash and don't know where to go with it. If the dump won't take it, who will???
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Try taking to the local landfill. Also bag up some trash and put it in your weekly trash pick up. Thats how I got rid of all my trash. Took a couple weeks but its gone. Dont know if where you live allows this but here in the country we burn trash. The metal cans and such is target practice but rest is warmth.
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Then I took just one load to the dump and it cost me $60 and they were also picky about what they would take. I have several more loads of trash and don't know where to go with it. If the dump won't take it, who will???
Now you know why regulars get upset with "newbies" .... the reality is setting in.
My question to you is.... what won't the dump take? You said they were "picky". Was it tires, paint, electronics ?
In many states (particularly high population states or areas) they HAVE to be "picky". We only have one earth to live on and we can't just throw everything in a big hole and expect life to go on as usual.
Typically when a "picky" dump or landfill facilty won't take some item they will TELL you where you can take the rejects.
My city has a special "hazardous waste" facility (located miles from the dumps) that takes paint, electronics, etc.
Depending on your state or city there might be places that specialize in TVs, computers, etc.
It takes effort....an effort the TV shows don't show when the clowns are taking their antique music boxes, guns, coins, decor items to the appraisers !
Welcome to our world ! ???
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Bingo Movieman!
Here is the process: Sell it (for profit), Use it (payed less then retail), gift it (payed less then retail), trade it, pawn it, recycle it (for cash if possible), donate it (tax credit), give it (free), dump it, burn it...
Did I miss something here?
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What do I do with all the CRAP? I bought my first 2 units a few days ago and unfortunately the hundreds of boxes I was so excited to go through....were crap. I know this is probably the most common problem in this business, but thought I would ask if anyone had any suggestions.
I first donated what I could, but they were picky about what they would take. Then I put aside everything that I can recycle (including anything metal and appliances I can scrap out). Then I took just one load to the dump and it cost me $60 and they were also picky about what they would take. I have several more loads of trash and don't know where to go with it. If the dump won't take it, who will???
In response to your current post I have decided to reviewed all your previous posts. So far you have posted like five times and three of the times you describe your merchandise as "crap" and want to send it to the dump. So you have purchased 2 or 3 units and have not found a pot of gold? go figure. Although I have not seen your inventory and purhaps it is all "crap", but then what in the "crap" were you bidding on? I can only hope you just happened to get three REALLY BAD units starting out and you did'nt spend $60 dumping items many of us probably could have squeezed $100 out of through different venues.
Some people think this business is gold mining, but a lot of times it's the American version of scouring landfills for stuff other people have thrown away that we can sell to make a living.
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Wow, I'm not trying to step on any toes here. I realize that buying lockers is NOTHING like the tv shows and knew that going into it... I am NOT afraid of a little (or alot) of hard work. I am knew at this and also have a full-time job, so I am not planning on taking over the industry. Apparently the "regulars" at the auctions also thought I was there to infringe on their territory. I'm not quite certain how one group of people have the claim to ALL storage auctions. I went to my first auction this week and the regulars were flat out MEAN to myself and another couple that was new at it as well. I have never been treated so badly by strangers. If I were to open a coffee shop in my city, I couldn't expect that no one else would ever open a coffee shop as a competitor. The nature of capitalism is competitive.
So when I have posted in the past about the "crap" I have come across, I am not indicating that I think everything is crap just because I didn't find an expensive antique or gun like the show portray. I squeeze every dollar out of the merchandise that I can. That is how I started getting into this. I went to an estate sale and took everything that no one wanted. I spent a lot of time researching what every item was worth, posted the items on craigslist and ebay, and ended up making $1,500 on what other people were going to throw away. I am now taking part of that money to buy lockers to do the same thing. From the 2 lockers I just bought, I am selling EVERYTHING of value. I found 3 used pairs of Air Jordans (2 of which I have already sold), some decent kids toys, and a kids bed. I donated everything that I could, but no one will take beds, headboards, or sofas (including the dump). I am not even trying to dump electronics. I take those all apart and scrap all of the metal and circuit boards. So trust me, I am not dumping items that "many of you would squeeze $100 out of". unless you can get money for old stained mattresses and chewed up coaches.
P.S. I happen to live in the "greenest" city in the US. It is impossible to throw anything away. Oh and we CANNOT burn!
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One more thing...............I have started doing a flea market on Sundays to "squeeze" even more money out of my stuff.
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What I don't get (and I don't believe you have addressed here) is where things like headboards, mattresses (whatever else you mentioned) DO GO TO if your landfills won't take them.
Have you ASKED the landfill or other city/county officials where to take them?
You are not the only one in your area that needs to get rid of old mattresses and the like. I think you need to to a little more local research on those matters and PLEASE, let us know the answer you receive.
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my trash pickup will pick up any household items, like old matresses, couches, refrigerators, etc. One heavy pickup per month but they definitely take them, they don't take construction material or electronics or toxic things obviously. But peed on matresses no problem!
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Okay.....I looked into it further. First every "dump" I called (there are not many) told me that I had to "recycle" my old mattresses. Of course none of the donation stations will take them, especially with the recent bed bug problem. So finally someone told me of ECR- Evironmentally Conscious Recycling. They WILL take old mattresses.........if you pay them $30 for a single, $35 for a double and so on. Holy cow.....I'm about to take them apart myself, scrap the metal and stuff the fluff in my garbage can every week.
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That is ridiculous! So, am I to infer from your "...and so on" that a King Mattress would be around $50.00? That pricing here would make this business pretty much not worth the hassle. As I have mentioned in a previous post... it seems like there are mattresses in 1of every 4 units here. I myself have bought units that had 4-6 mattresses in them. There is no way I would want to have to have paid $200+ to unload them. My total cost to dump them = $6.00
Either somebody is pulling your leg or you are just in the wrong city to be trying this business.
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You gotta love the "green" movement. With the cost of business where you are the margin for error is pretty slim. It's almost a suprise to not see a mattress in a unit around here, I hate them but can dump them for free anytime I want to. Good luck to you.
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ok, what I am reading so far, sickens me. I am not trying to offend you, or any of the other noobies. You all need to start planning on what you are going to do with the stuff you bid on. And think hard before you even bid on something.
My process is this. The really good stuff I unload on ebay, collectors, or the various dealers I have contacts with. Average everyday stuff goes to flea markets, Craigslist, yard sales and the like. Paint I have a recycler contact for that. mattresses and box springs I have a contact that will take them for free. Reason being is that he strips down all that fabric and wood and he recycles the metal coils and springs that are in them. I could do that to make a little extra change, but to me it is not really worth it, since in my area it only brings $11 for every 100lbs. I have a contact that will buy all my NON working appliances for $25 a piece, I could sell him my WORKING appliance to him too, but for the same price, when I can sell them myself for no less than $50.
Alot of the stuff that gets piled up that I have a hard time selling I donate to various charities and thrift stores. Since all of that goes into my tax deductions. Tires and other toxic materials like oil get taken care of the proper way. I used to know someone that recycled tires and gave you like $5 for 8 tires. But I have been unable to find that person since I started doing auctions. Batteries, there are several ways to get paid for used car batteries. Cooking oil, believe it or not, I have a contact that buys used cooking oil. What they do with it, I do not know. I should find out for myself though.
The biggest thing I have that I can not find a viable way of getting rid of, is Particle board. I refuse to sell it, since for the most part people do not buy used particle board furniture, I do not have a contact that recycles it. If I lived out in the country or close to a beach I would use it for bonfires. DO NOT USE IT FOR COOKING THOUGH, dangerous!
As far as trash, I have a contact who will come pick it all up for me and deposit it in his dumpster for $50 a load. Sure as hell beats taking it to the dump for $85 a load plus the expense of gas.
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ok, what I am reading so far, sickens me. I am not trying to offend you, or any of the other noobies. You all need to start planning on what you are going to do with the stuff you bid on. And think hard before you even bid on something.
Really it sickens you?? If you read my posts.....I am doing the exact same thing with my inventory as you are. I just happen to live in the greenest city in the US and they don't believe in waste.
P.S. the guy buying cooking oil probably buys it for a bio-diesel ran car.......also popular in my city.
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Man jrossjr79 you got it going on with your get rid of pile here is an idea for the tires.
http://wuvie.net/tireplanter.htm
My Grandmother had a few in her yard from a distance they looked like cast iron... :)
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Wow, I'm not trying to step on any toes here. I realize that buying lockers is NOTHING like the tv shows and knew that going into it... I am NOT afraid of a little (or alot) of hard work. I am knew at this and also have a full-time job, so I am not planning on taking over the industry. Apparently the "regulars" at the auctions also thought I was there to infringe on their territory. I'm not quite certain how one group of people have the claim to ALL storage auctions. I went to my first auction this week and the regulars were flat out MEAN to myself and another couple that was new at it as well. I have never been treated so badly by strangers. If I were to open a coffee shop in my city, I couldn't expect that no one else would ever open a coffee shop as a competitor. The nature of capitalism is competitive.
You have already explained the reason for the animosity towards you. You have a FULL-TIME job and are doing storage auctions part-time. You are competing against people who have little to no other means of income, of course they are not going to be friendly with you. Before the TV shows this was a underground industry where people with few other alternatives could make a living. Think about people with felony records who can't get jobs anywhere else, people on disability, people who dropped out of school before graduating (high or middle, not college) people who are retired with little retirement income. I am not saying you don't have a right to do storage auctions, you absolutely do, but understand many of your competitors would be lost without the income they make doing storage auctions. If it doesn't work out for you, you still have a full time job.
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Man jrossjr79 you got it going on with your get rid of pile here is an idea for the tires.
http://wuvie.net/tireplanter.htm
My Grandmother had a few in her yard from a distance they looked like cast iron... :)
That is a good way to do it, Not sure how well they will sell, but it is worth a shot. I still have one tire left.
Really it sickens you?? If you read my posts.....I am doing the exact same thing with my inventory as you are. I just happen to live in the greenest city in the US and they don't believe in waste.
P.S. the guy buying cooking oil probably buys it for a bio-diesel ran car.......also popular in my city.
As said I am not trying to offend you. But if you notice my first part of my rant, you would see that you also need to think before you bid. It has been stated that you have gotten 5 lockers, yet only two of those lockers had good stuff in it. The other 3 just trash. This makes me believe one of two things.
1. You are bidding just for the sake of bidding and dont really know what you are bidding on.
2. You dont see all the value that is in your lockers. (And yes I know I read where you do see value).
I do not know what your complete inventory is, so I cant decide which one it is for your circumstances.
Oh and thanks on the tip on the cooking oil, you are probable right on that one.
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What do I do with all the CRAP?
Dump it in your neighbors yard. :P
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Maybe just be a little more picky about what units you buy now that you know what to expect. For myself if I see mattresses or appliances I will not bid on them for now. Maybe down the road when I know what to do with stuff. What I see done around here is people will put stuff up for free on craigslist. You maybe surprised as to what you will be able to give away.
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Dump it in your neighbors yard. :P
Just make sure your neighbor isn't Clint Eastwood!
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When cities impose such nasty fees on disposal of mattresses or any trash they encourage people to dump then in a vacant lot or along the highway. It is counter productive and stupid to charge that much to dispose of a mattress. We have not got that bad here yet. I can still take mattresses and sofas to the dump but they say no more then 6 mattresses a day. I did once dump over 20 in one day all from the same unit. The other way people get rid of thier trash is to rent a storage unit for the $1 move in special load it with trash and then never pay. How do I know well where do you think the 20 mattresses came from. The lesson is if you see matresses in a locker don't buy it. You can try offering them free on Craigs list I have had good luck at that on ugly mattresses some people will take anything or you can offer to pay them $5 to haul it away.
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I will add about the mattresses and non working appliances. You can take apart the mattresses and throw away all the cushioning and take the coils to a scrap yard. It does not pay much, not really worth my time, but I have a partner that will take them off my hands, and that is what he does with them. Same thing for non working appliances. You can find people who will buy them off that fix them up and sale them. Or you can take it yet again to the scrap yard.
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I will add about the mattresses and non working appliances. You can take apart the mattresses and throw away all the cushioning and take the coils to a scrap yard. It does not pay much, not really worth my time, but I have a partner that will take them off my hands, and that is what he does with them. Same thing for non working appliances. You can find people who will buy them off that fix them up and sale them. Or you can take it yet again to the scrap yard.
I burn them. however the metal parts left over still take a lot of space when hauling scrap. And they don't weight enough to pay anything.
I buy matress units but only if I see value ;)
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When cities impose such nasty fees on disposal of mattresses or any trash they encourage people to dump then in a vacant lot or along the highway. It is counter productive and stupid to charge that much to dispose of a mattress. We have not got that bad here yet. I can still take mattresses and sofas to the dump but they say no more then 6 mattresses a day. I did once dump over 20 in one day all from the same unit. The other way people get rid of thier trash is to rent a storage unit for the $1 move in special load it with trash and then never pay. How do I know well where do you think the 20 mattresses came from. The lesson is if you see matresses in a locker don't buy it. You can try offering them free on Craigs list I have had good luck at that on ugly mattresses some people will take anything or you can offer to pay them $5 to haul it away.
Why did you buy someones trash dump unit?
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When cities impose such nasty fees on disposal of mattresses or any trash they encourage people to dump then in a vacant lot or along the highway.
You can't blame them really. With budget crunches, every dime counts.
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Have you tried posting it under free stuff on craigslist? Given I have no idea what "crap" means to you.
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Seems to me that the OP gave up.