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Topics - Jedi

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Stories about Storage Auctions / Got 2 on Friday
« on: June 25, 2011, 07:57:34 AM »
Went to an auctioneer's advertised sale yesterday with 4 units.  about 20 people, 2 that I recognized as serious buyers.  Won the first locker, a 10x5 for $100.  It had lots of boxes, the back looked neatly stacked, the front was falling over, with a few garbage bags near the front.  Clearing it out revealed that it was probably an elderly woman, the boxes had her collections of cat figurines, and teddy bears.  She had some teddy bears that came in boxes labeled collectors edition.  Going to hAve to look them up.  There was also a box that held 24 of those acrylic cubes for displaying beanie babies....each one with a beanie bear in it with tag protectors and the whole works.  I recognize them from when my wife collected these things as ones that were very desirable back then, but I imagine they've tanked like all the others. 
The other unit I won was a 10x15, I call it the single mom apartment unit. Got it for $210.  couch and loveseat, table with chairs, patio set, crib, twin bed, some other kid stuff, toys, etc.  We could see a lot of boxes marke fragile.  Turned out to be mostly kitchen stuff...glass bowls, etc.  There was also some real wood furniture, a dresser, a coffee table, and two end tables.
I think I'll be able to make a little money.  I see lots of good yard sale items, and I usually do well at my yard sales.  I'll spend this week getting it sorted out and ready and do a fri-sat sale next week.


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There are lots of auctions going on locally this week, two today, one tomorrow, and one friday.  I went to the first one this morning which was at a Uhaul location.  They had 2 units for auction, a 10x10, and a 5x5x4.  It was run by the employees of the location, which usually I like because there's usually smaller crowds and cheaper prices.  The crowd part was accurate. 6 bidders, 2 looky-loos (2 older ladies that were clearly influenced by the TV shows)  Anyway, as we're walking to the first unit (the 10x10) the woman running the auction announces that there is a minimum bid that they must get for this unit.  OK, never really heard them charging a minimum reserve bid before, but whatever.  She opens the door on the 10x10 and it's only about half full, neatly stacked cardboard boxes, some stuff on top that's open, looks like craft supplies, I see some fabric, and one side is piled with garbage bags that look like clothes/bedding.  Then she announces that the bidding must start at $700.   WHAT?! 
There were 2 other guys there besides myself that I consider auction regulars around here, and the three of us kind of looked at each other, then one guy asks 'where's the next unit?'  The 2 older ladies I mentioned earlier were like 'how do you know what's in there?'  needless to say, it was a 'no sale'  One kinda funny note, before she shut the door, the employee asked 'does anyone want to throw out any offer?'  I said 'yeah, 5 bucks' which she didn't seem to appreciate, and one of the 2 older ladies said to me 'but then you'd have to clean all that out of there?'  I just smiled and told her that's what I do.

So we go to the 5x5, again, minimum bid: $300.  The employee kept apologizing saying she was only doing what she was told to do, etc.  The 5x5 looked better, I could see a couple of computers, and I saw some newer Gi Joe toys which caught my interest.  One of the other regulars said he could offer $100, which I thought would have been fair for the room, but again it was turned down.  She did mention something about the bids being a percentage of what was owed, and what they wanted to recoup...but that just seems wrong, like get the stuff out at whatever cost and start renting it again to someone else.  At the end, they did tell us that they were looking into working with an auctioneer for future sales, so maybe they'll get it together later, but they didn't seem to know what they were doing at this one.
waste of time, hopefully the rest of the auctions this week will be better.

has anyone else run into this extreme minimum bid scenario? 


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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Hi from SW Florida
« on: June 21, 2011, 04:34:15 PM »
Hi guys, been reading the boards for a little while now, and decided to sign up.  I'm originally from VT, but moved to SW florida last year to take care of my dad who retired down here and is getting to the point where he needs extra help around the house and getting doctor appointments, etc.  
When I was in VT, a friend from work introduced me to storage unit auctions, and I bought a few as a sideline to my full time job.  I got laid off from the factory I was working at, which is part of what led to me coming to FL to help my dad out.  Since living in FL and seeing *A lot* more auctions, I've stepped up my game and now do auctions/ebay/craigslist/yard sale full time.  I like it because it give me total felxibility in my schedule to work around my Dad's numerous doctor appointments.  Worked out a deal with my dad where he has agreed to leave the cars parked outside so I can use the garage as a 'processing center' for stuff in storage units.  It's worked well so far..last month I bought 3 units, one of which I only paid $5 for!  I've sold almost everything from those 3 units, and the garage is empty just in time for the next round of auctions coming up later this week.  Hopefully I can get another 1 or 2 units this week to keep the flow going  :D
Growing up my parents used to drag me off to auctions all the time....I remember big tents set up and them buying all sorts of weird things; loading up the station wagon with stuff to sort through at home.  It seems natural that I've taken to auctions myself now.
I've sold a variety of items doing this, but my areas of specialty are in video games from all eras, toys from the mid 80's and back, and comics.




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