WOW!!! I'm surprised your quitting the game so soon after finding that much gold! 

The gold was nice and it seems to reflect other guy's experiences to find SOME gold in every 4 to 5 units.

I found gold in 8 unites. One with over $2,000 total.
Most with around $200 give or take.
One witjh just one tiny piece worth 30 bucks or so.

I quit mainly because there seems no way to sell stuff in this area that's not internet sellable. CL is a nightmare. IF people show up they lowball you to death.

I was lucky that a friend led me on to a new venture that is 100% web based. I hate depending on ebay etc. But one I have an inventory up, I actually should be able to make $$ on my own web site as well..
I kn ow I could have made it work, but just was too much. Not getting younger and with arthritis and all it's just too much.

Probabl;y will be a small unit here and there for fun, but that's it.

Read my post in general talk 'Quitting the game, was a nice run' or something like that.

Offered electronics for bulk purchase.
DVDs, VCRs, lots of speakers.

He: What do you have?

Me: Like I said (see above)

He: Do you have any Iphones Ipads Androids etc?

Me: Yes, because I sell the good stuff for pennies on the dollar. Dip****. (did not send this, just sent NO)

I talked to a former regulqar buyer the other day.
Yeah, it's getting better, but NOWHERE to the old days ort even close.
He is doing it for 10 years. Used to buy a locker a week. Now he bought 2 in the last 7 months.

The rule of thumb used to be: Triple or quadruple your money on a unit on average.
Also add the 4 highest priced items you can see and that's your max bid.

If I'd apply these rules I would NEVER buy a unit.
People bit DOUBLE of what BOXES they see. Of course 90% of the boxes are emtpy or filled with dirty kitchen utensils.

There is money in the game, but the return on inverstment and time and labor involved is too much for a newbee like me, who does not have a network of connections that takes years to build.

Those shows probably caused irreparable damage ton the entire industry.

Evn the people hanging in are never going to have the same returns as they had.

People now know their **** gets SOLD and they don;t get evicted, meaning the quality is down.

Even though every working brain cell in the world KNEW from the getgo the shows were rigged some idiots will still go in and make all the classic newbee mistakes for ever.

Oh well, I hope it was worth it for the TV 'stars'....
Dave Hester was the first to learn that his 15 minuts of fame ruined his career for ever.
I hope it paid well, while it was going strong.

After about 30 units I am done with the game.

I know Rome wasn't built in 6 months either, but I am tired of trying to sell nice stuff and nobody I mean NOBODY wants to buy it. OuR arEA (California Central Valley) is so depressed people need $$ for food.

I know I could have made it work, but I know for a fact no matter what it would have been TONS of backbreaking work.

Thankfully a friend led me on to another very promising business venture that's more along my alley.

I will miss the gold scores and fun people I met at the auctions and still might come out from time to time for some BSing. But I am going to get rid of what's left and move on.

Good luck all and thanks for all the advice and fun!

Years ago at the local Goodwill AS IS sale a Mexican lady bought for 1 1/2 weeks straight. Every day she picked through tons of clothing.
She then hauled it south to Tijuana I believe and sold there for 4 or 5 days.
Then she came back for 1 1/2 weeks and started over.
A GW employee told me, she spent about 40K a year at GW and I am sure she didn;t bother with just doubling her money.

She also was extremely knowledgable in vintage clothing.
She once showed me a jeans (not a Levi's) and said $600 at least. Told me a few weeks later she sold it to a dealer in L.A. for $1,250.

GW and other charities export 1,000s of tons of used goods to 3rd world countries.
Most bulk buyers at these charitable outlets ship overseas.
If you have the right connection it's huge business.

That is really good rent, but REALLY look at it as an average guy driving down the street before comitting.

I rented a super high traffic store once right halfway between 2 of the biggest most successful thrift stores in town and a Harbor Freight Tools anchoring the shopping center.

I really counted on the traffic. But once I had no sales and I tried to analyze why I realized that the layout was so sucky that nobody could see us. Sandwich boards on sidewalk did us little good as well.

The Harbor Freight traffic worked a LITTLE but they all entered the parking lot on the left, and we were on of the far most right locations.

Lasted only 5 months. Advertised in yellow pages, pennysavers, tons of craigslist, hired a sign twirler and had 2,000 sq ft of great reasonably priced stuff but still had $20-30 days. Needed $160 to break even. That hardly ever happened.

Stupidly it was at the peak of the storage auction shows so buying good stuff that way did not work. NOW I get all the stuff my custiomers always asked for but I didn;t have back then.

Go figure
 Murphy's law....

I think you would have to play as it comes.

Antique malls / Co-ops are very popular and there is always the risk of theft and/or shoplifting as is in every retail environment.

As long as you feel the owner isn't doing it, that's just something you need to accept.

More valuable and easily stealable items should be locked in a case.

Otherwise just apply common sense I guess.