So far I have found one fake Rolex and two fake Breitlings.

I have found two C.O.A.s for real Rolex. The next time I find a fake I am just going to stick one of the C.O.A.s with it and rock it out at the flea market! 

Your wife sends you to the store on saturday morning for feminine products, you go to a storage auction hoping to get score some in a unit.

I can't tell you how often I hear "Be on the look out for toilet paper at the auction!" 

I've noticed that both Public Storage and Uncle Bob's in my area are changing out the doors on storage units and replacing them with built in cylinder locks. Is this happening in other areas?

We will have to scrap our padlocks and disc locks and invest in a bunch of cylinder locks. 

When it comes to expecting the unit to be completely en-tact just like the tenant last left it at auction time, TRUST NO ONE! 

Don't trust the mom & pop facilities.

Don't trust the small company facilities.

Don't trust the mega-chain corporate facilities.

I've won several units from an "unnamed" nationwide storage facility that "cuts" the locks in front of you at auction time only to find additional cut locks inside the unit, footprints on the furniture (from climbing over stuff), rummaged boxes, rental agreements from the facility with the tenants name but different unit number, personal items from two or more distinctly different people or families, etc...

The gig is up due to the TV shows. Facility owners, managers, and employees aren't letting the obvious high value merchandise make it to auction like they use to. More and more the great stuff either disappears and we never see it or they make sure it makes it's way to the front of the door so everyone can see it.

I agree, the storage auction reality shows have left out important parts of our business. Don't just show the exciting parts, get into the nitty-gritty. There is so much more than buying units and having items appraised.

I've rarely found anything that I couldn't get a ball park value from Google or Ebay. The few items I thought might be unique and had "appraised" all I got from the experts is whaant, whaant, whaaa... Not very valuable. 

I think it depends on geography. Yard sales do better for me then the flea market, not sure why the difference between the North and the South. As far as trying to hand over 47 cents, i'll slap it out of their hand and tell them to get lost! Seriously, I don't take less then 1 dollar for anything anymore. I just tell them if it ain't worth a dollar then I will just donate it.

Depends on how you calculate loss. Hobbyists and newbs may only think a loss is buying a unit for $500 and only selling the contents for $400 so that is a $100 loss. Full-timers know you have to add in direct expenses and even indirect expenses into the equation to determine profit or loss.

I can say for sure my biggest direct expense loss on a unit was $600. Paid $750 for the unit, dug through it, saw nothing but garbage and yard sale smalls, re-sold it that day to another guy who was trying to get in the biz for $150.

I have had small units that probably were a couple of hundred in the negative, and large units that "broke even" but once I honestly added in all the direct and indirect costs associated with processing and selling the contents, probably lost around $500.