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Messages - Adam

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General Storage Auction Talk / Who all have "contacts" for certain items?
« on: September 02, 2013, 07:13:54 PM »
I'm sure most of you have made a contact or two in this business. Whether it be comic books or mattresses (ok probably not mattresses). But have you found it to be beneficial for you to use these contacts over time?

Here are some of my contact examples.

I once had a beat up old dryer which I priced at $50 on craigslist , guy came and picked it up the next morning and gave me his card and told me that he has an used appliance shop. Since then he has bought every one of my appliances, which were all pretty rough, and for a fair price

I have also made a contact who holds a garage sale every weekend (he does house clean outs), its in the city, and there is a lot of foot and car traffic. He does pretty well. I give him all my furniture, general household etc. And he sells the stuff pretty fast. Its a low income area and most people are on welfare, but they pay a pretty good amount for the stuff.  Granted, he keeps a portion, but it saves me time and storage space.

Back on subject. Do any you have contacts that you primarily call up? What do your contacts buy? Or would you rather sell on your own and sit on the stuff for a little while longer?



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Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Storage Lockers and Big Dump Fees
« on: September 02, 2013, 06:42:09 PM »
Once paid $150 for a 14ft box truck full of trash.

There is only one dump in my area and had no other option.

Came back about a month later with a 20ft stake bed truck full, $70.

No scale, so it mainly depends on how they are feeling that day.


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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Yearbooks? License Plates?
« on: September 02, 2013, 06:36:58 PM »
Old license plate sets can fetch a pretty penny online. Once bought 4 old black and yellow California plates at a flea market for $10. Turned out that they were both sets. Sold each set for over $200.


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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Protection
« on: September 02, 2013, 06:33:53 PM »
Never worried about it either.

Someone told me that a couple that buys most of the lockers up here, carry 25k cash in her purse!

Now I think thats a little overkill.



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Nicer clothes go on a rack for me. Stained clothes/underwear go in the trash. Anything that isn't nice enough to sell, I donate. I try to sell clothes in bulk.. I do "stuff your bag" deals.. Take a plastic bag, fit all the clothes you can.. $10 for adult clothes, $15 for kids/teen clothes, $20 for baby/toddler clothes.


That seems like really good way to sell them, never thought of that. I would also would want to do more bulk type sales. Nothing is more annoying than having someone digging through a box for 20min to buy one 50 cent item!

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Online Storage Auctions / The good and the bad...
« on: June 29, 2013, 09:03:47 PM »
Hey all!

Well yesterday I won my first two online auctions! And as the title says, there were some good aspects, and some bad.

I will start with my first unit, it looked liked a pretty good unit for what I payed for it. 10x10 for $210. From what I saw, I estimated 300-400.

But that quickly went down drain when I opened the locker, the lovely smell of mold hit me right in the face. On the couch, recliner, furniture, etc etc. So strait to the dump with 90% of it. But I found a few decent items, that I can make some of my money back on.

Then I bought, what was advertised as a 5x5 garbage bag / clothes unit, just for the heck of it, looked pretty packed from the pictures. So when I opened up the locker, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually 5x10 packed with garbage bags and boxes, a little error on the managers part. But one that I didnt mind ;)

So after sifting through all the clothes, for about 10min, I find a real coach purse, in really good shape. Which will probably be my money back there. And probably 50 more bags and boxes to go through.

So next time, I think that Im going to take a trip to the facility and take a look at the lockers for myself, as long as they are close enough. Or wait until they create smell-a-vision ;D

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Hey Guys!

Since I have started, I have been donating all the clothes I find to goodwill, Vietnam Vets, etc, etc. Not saying that it is a bad thing at all. But I cant help but think to myself that I am just giving away potential profits.

For those who take the time to sell clothes, what have you found to be the most efficient and profitable way to sell them?

I was thinking just a flat 50 cents a piece at the flea market. But by selling clothes at the flea market, do you buy clothing racks, hang each piece up, and have them take up most of your space? Or do you throw them all in plastic tubs and let people go crazy?


Any input is greatly appreciated!






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Picker's Paradise / My Teddy Bear Story
« on: June 13, 2013, 01:54:20 PM »
Hey guys,

I just thought that I would share one of my more interesting "picks". A few months back there was an estate sale about 90min away from me that advertised, teddy bears. Steiff, Hermann, Clemens, all different German made teddy bears. Over 1000 bears / stuffed animals.

Now I had never bought, sold, or even researched a German teddy bear before. So I stayed up a little and started to get a general idea as to what they sell for. Of course, the Steiff were the most valuable brand, but they all were going for a pretty decent amount.

  I decided to take the trip and see if the prices were right in order make a few bucks. There was an entire room full of
them. Not to mention all the other ones scattered around the house. There were only a  few people looking at them. The prices were not all that bad, some were priced well enough to double up on. Most people who were looking at them, I think couldnt get past the thought of spending 50$ on a teddy bear. So not many were being sold.

I ended up buying 500$ worth of bears, animals, from her, went home and researched them all, and found I could get around 1200$ for them. 

So long story short. I went up there and saw that after I bought mine for 500$, very few other bears had been sold. there were probably 800-1000 bears / animals left. She asked if I wanted to make an offer on all of them. I was a little taken aback, but saw that there was money to be made.

At the time I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Pittsburgh with my dad, and had no access to a garage or storage facility. I talked it over with my dad, and he said it was ok for me to make an offer.

Of course I started out low, offering 1500$, figuring there were 6k+ in bears. She really didn't want to take that offer, but her partner told her that they have no where to put it, and I was the only one interested in them. So she accepted the offer. And I was the new owner of 1000 teddy bears.

Needless to say it filled the apartment. But I priced them well, and they sold well. In all I brought in around 10k in teddy bear sales.

So not only did I make some money, I learned a lot about something that I never knew anything about.

One thing that I have learned in the past couple years, is that knowledge is everything. So I soak up as much as I can.

Just thought I would share my most interesting and unusual pick!


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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Box Truck or Enclosed Trailer?
« on: March 30, 2013, 11:02:21 PM »
I just rented box trucks. I always wanted to buy one...got real close, then Storage Wars & Auction Hunters came out and that put the brakes on that idea. You can find some really decent box trucks in the 8-10K range. 

That is what I did last week when I bought two decent sized units. It worked out great. Just dont know if I want to keep on paying rental fees week after week. But if your making decent enough money on the units, guess it doesnt really matter!
I'd also look into a step van. You can get a nice 14 foot step van for about $4k around here..

I was looking into those, I feel that would be the ideal vehicle. But maintenance and insurance is what I dont want to pay, when first starting out.
Just starting out I'd say trailer.  Don't want to dop to much cash.
In fact just a flat bed(open) trailer could work and cheaper.  Around here you can get them for $500-$1000 depending on size.

Might want to rent a trailer and see how it works for you.  Can be tricky driving them....

Yeah I used to use my friends trailer when we were landscaping. Wasnt too bad. Except for backing up. Never really got the hang of it. And backing into loading docks is what I am worried about. But practice makes perfect, and a couple hours in a empty parking lot may do the trick.

Im probably going to try to find a good deal on a trailer. And see how that works out. Worst case I sell it for a little bit of a loss and upgrade.

Dont want to bite off more than I can chew.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

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The Treasure Chest / Re: call it beginners luck
« on: March 30, 2013, 10:51:08 PM »
You might have hit a 1 in 100 to a 1 in 500 unit depending on your market straight out of the gate! Nice score on the Krug, I probably couldn't have parted with it. Now the test is can you continue to buy, sort, & sell units with only common, modern, used stuff in it; day after day, average to junky unit after unit.

The good news is you could retire now a winner!
You might have hit a 1 in 100 to a 1 in 500 unit depending on your market straight out of the gate! Nice score on the Krug, I probably couldn't have parted with it. Now the test is can you continue to buy, sort, & sell units with only common, modern, used stuff in it; day after day, average to junky unit after unit.

The good news is you could retire now a winner!

Yeah I know how lucky I got with this unit. Believe me, I know that they arent all like this. I have been getting pretty good moving merchandise on c-list, ebay and flea markets. So Ill stick with it for a while.

Once you get a taste like that, it's very difficult to stop. My fourth unit I ever bought contained a safe with a coin collection, several boxes of gold rings, 18K gold cross, a antique pocket watch collection, a antique revolver, a stamp collection, antique watches and WWI &WWII memorabilia. The unit also contained vintage Silvertone guitar with a amp built in the case.

Hundreds of units later, I'm still waiting for a score like that again. What a rush!

Wow, sounds like that blew my unit out of the water! It sure is a rush when you find that valuable item hidden away. Makes all the moving and cleaning worth it!

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General Storage Auction Talk / Box Truck or Enclosed Trailer?
« on: March 29, 2013, 12:22:29 PM »
After buying some units, I quickly realized that my F150 woulnt cut it. Im looking to get something that would make things a lot easier moving things from facility to storage.

I really dont want to spend too much. That is why I am leaning towards an enclosed trailer.
-Lower Initial cost
-Low maintenance cost
But...
-harder to maneuver in tight places
-cant store as much as a box truck can
 
I really want to make the right decision so I dont regret it later. Have any of you used a trailer? Any problems using one? Or did you move to a box truck? Is it worth the extra cost to get a box truck?



Thanks ahead of time for your input. Advice is much appreciateed!

12
Hi Travis,

I am currently studying business. Probably going to major in Marketing. I hope to own my own business one day, but not really sure what kind of business.

I have bought 5 units so far, all making a decent profit on. Trying to turn the stuff fast to keep room. Mostly on craigslist and the flea market. Some on ebay.

My last one I did really well on, I posted it over in the Treasure section, fells really good to score a good unit!

I really look forward to learning from you all!

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The Treasure Chest / call it beginners luck
« on: March 29, 2013, 11:15:02 AM »
I have bought 5 lockers so far this year. Most contained furniture, clothes, misc house hold goods, etc. Selling the goods on craigslist and at the flea market with little trouble. Not making a fortune but doing pretty well.

Well last Friday I went to an auction, about 15 miles north of Pittsburgh. They had 16 units up for auction, and suprisingly, there were not as many people as previous auctions have held. Nothing really interested me until the second to last locker.

When they opened it up, there was a schwinn lil chik bike. Kingsbury toys electric advertisement car (Hillshire Farms) old milk jug chairs, trunk visible, a long with some other things. Then boxes and boxes.

I decided to go for it. Bidding quickly escalade to 800, but then most dropped out and, it was only between another guy and myself. I ended up getting it for 950$. A little more than what I wanted to pay. But I thought it was worth the risk .

Well after cleaning out the unit. I a few boxes full of old board games. Tons of old fisher price and other toys from 1970s-80s. Matchbox cars from 1970s. Then lots and lots of older books. As I was going through one of the last boxes, full of clothes, I dug down a little and picked up a heavier box that said master bedroom. Quickly opened it up to find a old Thoren Music box with lots of discs. 10k gold mens class ring. 21 silver certificates. Old morgan dollars. Tiffany and Co silver pen. Then the icing on the cake was a real krugerrand!

I couldnt believe it. I then went to a reputable coin and gold shop and sold the krugerrand for more than 1500. Decided not to sell it on ebay, due to fees, risk etc.  I decided to keep the rest and try to squeeze out as much as I can, since I already have made my money back + some.

Going to be a lot of work listing all of the toys and games. But it will be worth it in the end. Now Im trying to decide whether I should list the books individually or wholesale them. I think I will spend the extra time and list them individually.

So all in all it ended up being a good buy. I know not all will end up like this, but it sure is nice to score!

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / New Guy in Pittsburgh
« on: March 29, 2013, 10:47:02 AM »
Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Little background, Im in college and have always gone to flea markets, estate sales, garage sales etc. Making a decent profit re-selling on ebay. Decided that I wanted to try something a little different, so I started going to storage auctions, getting a feel for what its like. I liked it and saw the potential for some profit to be made, that is, as long as the price doesnt go to high.

Everyone has been really nice at the auctions, answering my questions, telling me about the business etc. And this forum seems like a great place to get answers for a lot of questions as well!

I look forward to talking and discussing the storage auction business with you all!





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