Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => Stories about Storage Auctions => Topic started by: MovieMan on December 31, 2012, 01:08:55 PM
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Some hours left to the new year begins, but better now than then !
Hope we all have a good first week of 2013...at the sales and beyond. ;D
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No regular auctions this week for me, but went to a "piece by piece" auction and got a few things. For me the picking (whether at the piece by piece or yard sales, etc) has been as productive or better than the auctions.
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Another day of all auctions cancelled.....3of5 for Wednesday have been cancelled.
Starting off to be a slow year. Not even any estate sales this week that look good.
Got two resturant auctions lined up but going just since I have time. Not really expecting much.
Did make a few picks today. That's something, I guess.
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Went to an auction in Chico yesterday and something was very wrong. Units that should have seriously gone for not more than 800.00 max. were going for 1500.00+ Granted I know that when they have rural auctions (this was with an auctioneer that also has an auction house in this town), I will see more locals since they don't seem to travel around but, the prices were really stupid! I stood and laughed at how high they were going. Not sure what was going on exactly..one guy told me the scuttle-butt was, these people work with the auctioneer and they get a kick-back of some type, bid high, win and then either split with him or he reduces the prices and they sell at his auction house for him?? I didn't pass that along because I know all kinds of rumors go around but it did seem very strange. Planning to go to the auctioneer's auction house just to see if anything shows up there. I hate it when I feel I have wasted my time going to one of these that may be rigged this bad. :-X
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Went to three auctions yesterday (1/16/2013) with each facility having 5 or so lkrs.
Crowd was good at each place about 15 people, half of whom were regulars of at least two years.
At the first place we were lined up in a hallway when a guy walks right along the side of the line right up to the 5 x 10 and starts looking in (not from the doorway but 3 feet away directly in line with the opening).
Me: "What part of the line concept don't you understand?"
He: "Whad you say?"
Me: (repeated above)
He then walked toward me and said "You got a number or somethin ?" and he walked on back toward the hallway door behind us.
All the regulars and other newbies heard this exchange and it didn't take long for the regulars (once outside) to agree this guy was just begging to be "run up" if he bid on any locker.
Well, he did bid. Auctioneer was asking for $25 start and the guy shouts out "one dollar!". We were unable to bid him up as that was his ONE BID !
You've got to be RANK NEWBIE to pull the line cutting and bidding bulls**t this clown pulled. To his credit, he got the idea and was quiet again for the next two auctions though he did get the courage to bid $25 for a locker that sold for over $400...so he made two bids that day.
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The other two auctions pretty much reflected the first one with same number of lkrs, buyer and decent prices, but I didn't bid once on any lkr...just weren't what I was looking for. More auctions next two weeks with hopefully something worth buying.
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Today's...
6 units. 38 people....and a baby.
Sizing up I'd say 8-10 people there to actually bid.
1st: Kirby vac. Old school. Several beat up boxes. Smelled like piss.
First time newbie got for $145. I passed. I have 2 Kirby's I haven't sold yet.
2nd: Matteress. Ton of pink children's toys, tables, easy bake....
Looked like someone cleaned out kids room. Was two laptops in a bag...
Went to 20-ish year old for $130. Had potential for small profit (or big if laptops were newer)
Again, I passed. Lot of take up space stuff.
3rd: Flat cardboard box with bubble wrapped framed art sticking out. Grand Father clock with no
wieghts. Went for $175. Didnt bid. I know nada about clocks but looked pretty cheap to me.
4th: Dresser. End table. All scratched up. Don't know bid, went to restroom....
5th: Non-army, army style duffle. Car amp. Monitor. Some electronics.
I put a cap at $100 and thought that might be high. Went for $115.
This one was the one that struck me as the gamble. Either a money maker or total bust.
I skipped out so didnt see the 6th unit. Auctioneer's one and only auction today and was talking and BSing. I ran out of time.
What I did notice thru all this....
1st: all boxes were spread out and slightly open with something of interest showing. Kirby was next to door but you could see dust outline in back to where it was before.
2nd: right in middle ws bag with laptop but while everything else was tossed in, this was wrapped just so as not to see what kind of laptops thy were but totally noticeable.
3rd: art was slightly pulled from box
4th: all the boxes were covered by blanket but the furniture wasn't and had no dust on it.
5th: duffle was opened towards door. Car amp right up front but car stereo boxes ans electronics all in box in back. And monitor and all other electronics were in such a way that you couldn't see the name. Every piece just so happened to have something lending against it.
This is a place the cuts locks before you arrive. Totally looked like they arranged the lockers.
I mean, who has a 6x6 locker, about a dozen items in said locker but lays it all out so you can't even take a step inside? It seriously looked like how people spread things on a tarp at a flea market.
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This is a place the cuts locks before you arrive.
Interesting report !
As far as the locks being cut before buyers arrive....in my area that is the norm. It is VERY, VERY, VERY unusual for them to be cut at the time of the auction.
On the plus side, if STAGING has taken place it's obvious and the regulars won't bite most of the time. I don't even go to that kind of facility anymore.
This week there are auctions Wed, Thurs, Friday but I go more for the socializing than anything....very careful these days to be a picky buyer.
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Went to two of four possible auctions today bypassing two that were out of town far enough I didn't want to go.
Unfortunately, the crowd was 50 or so with only 6 to 10 being regulars; the majority of the rest were newbies and some from a metro area about 70 miles away !
First place had some OK lockers but once again I wasn't willing to pay the prices they were going for. I think the NY Storage Wars brought out some new idiots. Not a one of the 6 lkrs went to a regular.
Second place I went to...same story. One 8 wide by 12 deep went for $1,625 ! The front edge showed the back of a couch sitting on end, ends of mattress/box springs, a few boxes (nothing special in appearance and marked "Xmas" and "pots and pans"). Regulars were getting ill seeing this go above the $600 or so any of us would have bid.
So, not a good report, but more auctions tomorrow and Friday....there's always hope.
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Not sure if SWNY is the problem as much as some getting their tax returns already. We have seen the same issues and I just laugh and shake my head. Let them waste their money and hopefully not return again. It makes it tough to get a locker but we just keep going until it happens and they go away.
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Not sure if SWNY is the problem as much as some getting their tax returns already.
Yep, it's a double whammy all right. After seeing this trend for the last two years one wonders if it will ever really go away or just go up and down with the influx of new tv shows and repeating tax returns. Too bad the newbies can't just read about how much work it is and the true possibilities on ROI for most people. But then, they would have to know what ROI meant !
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I went to an auction this morning...not too bad about 30 people and about 20 actual bidders. 7 of which were from the local nursing home...it was like a mobility chair convention. ;D
Got a great furniture/appliance unit for $400. I see an $1100 return in big ticket items and I haven't even gotten to the back of the unit which I think is full of baby furniture and expensive children's toys. A lot of the toys I can see are new in the box. I'm probably going to rent the unit so I don't have to move the heavy stuff. Should be a money maker!
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Went to 3 auctions yesterday (1/24/2013) and while I didn't buy anything it was a better experience than the auctions of the day before.
Crowd was only about 20....an improvement on the 50 of the day before.
Facility #1....5 lockers...3 were trash. Others were 5 x 10 and went in the $150 range. Nothing interesting to me.
Facility #2....8 lockers...best one went for $425 showing some nice furniture (more than I wanted to handle)
and one of the regulars was kicking himself later for not going for it. If he had it would have gone
on up to maybe $600 due to the $425 winner being a high volume buyer.
Facility #3....Some of the crowd had dropped out. Three lkrs...two went to one buyer who had passed on the
furn locker from facility #2. She got two 5 by 10's packed...think she paid $150 plus for each of them.
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One more auction today (1/25/2013) and then a couple next week.
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The crowds and prices have really jumped up around here this month. Seeing the return of more 6 month, 1 year, and 2 year newbies. It's a funny cycle, word gets out that prices have come down, old newbies who dropped out months or years ago come back, prices go back up again, dazed look of confusion as to why the can't seem to win the cheap units they been hearing about.
Average cost per unit for me in December was about $280, average cost this month has been about $625!
A yes, new TV show about Storage Wars, and Tax Return checks, sprinkle in a little new years resolution of starting a new career, or starting their own business, and we get the cyclical Spring time fedding frenzy.
Just gotta wait for the 90 degree weather and the tax money to get spent by May and we should be back to "normal".
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I hope the 90+ degree weather slows them down also, but when we lived in Texas and it got into the 105+ they still came out, just with less clothing on :-) Since we have been back to California, I am not sure how it will be in the Sacto area. We got out to an auction yesterday that wasn't real terrific but good enough. We did get one locker for a decent price and we'll get a nice return on it. Couldn't get to the second facility due to time restraints but the crowds would have been enormous anyway as it always is there.
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Went to 3 auctions yesterday (1/24/2013) and while I didn't buy anything it was a better experience than the auctions of the day before.
It seemed to be smaller yesterday for us also. Not quite sure what the crowd was all about, people looked older and regular but only a couple of bidders. We needed a good filler locker and got one that will do us well for the week. Got furniture up the ying yang so we are "trying" to avoid that for a few weeks. Good Luck today if you go out.
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Went to an auction today with 24 lockers and two vehicles for sale. Sounded promising as facility hadn't had an auction in over two years.
This facility used to be a large lumber yard type store with a lot of open space in the store plus a lumberyard out back.
The regular sized units inside don't have tops (no ceiling) but wire mesh over the tops. It's another 20 feet to the actual ceiling of the main building.
I have gotten good lockers in the past, so was looking forward to it.
They also have rinky-dink container type lockers outside...all 5 x 5 or 5 x 10 kinds of things. Of the 24 lockers, 16 were outside. Units sold for $1 to $180. The 180 should have been $80, but oh well.
Inside the usual 10 x 10s didn't have much to offer but sold for $25 to $250. Only one of the people I run with got any of the 24 lockers. Regulars couldn't get away fast enough from the outside bins and the inside ones weren't inspiring either, but were better at least.
A 1992 RV (trailer) went for $600 despite the leaky roof which resulted in green mold growing in the walls of one bedroom. A "quilted" looking food trailer went for $3,100.
So, another day with no buys from me, but getting more OK with that as the picking is doing well and I have stock that hasn't seen the light of day in a while. ;D
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Public Run has been this week. Yesterday was a big waste of time. I don't know for sure, but like someone else said, I think the New York show has brought some more future millionaires (cough, cough) out of the woodwork.
Prices are down on some lockers, but they are full of garbage......one guy is buying up a ton of $1-$50 lockers, as many as he can get. Last month he did that too, and he told me that after he paid for diesel for his big truck and paid dump fees, he still lost money. Usually, when it looks like junk......it's junk. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but basing your business model on "getting lucky" is a poor business model in my opinion.
On the brighter side, a friend of mine went on another run happening at the same time and scored a nice little unit with a bunch of tools and stuff for only $35 and he should probably come out with around $400........the downside being I don't get to share in any of that! :-[
I still think that the overall quality of the lockers has declined dramatically over the last couple of years. Too many storage locker renters watching the show and either not putting their best stuff in the lockers or pulling it out before they get locked out.
Doing a lot better picking right now.....and have bought a couple of nice estates lately. I'll keep doing a little bit of everything to keep the cash flowing!
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Went to auction today, advertised 5 locations, but last 2 were cancelled. About 50 people there. Most lockers were trash, I did see 1 that wanted to bid on, It had a pretty nice bed frame and dining room table although i could only see 2 chairs for table. the mattress looked totally trashed and alot of clothes in trash bags. I was thinking I could maybe get it for around $400, wound up selling for $650. I just didn't see spending that for a bed and table. only other locker i was interested in, only had a washer and dryer, I bid $100, and it quickly went to $275, I wasn't gonna pay more than $200.
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Well I could tell the NY Storage wars started up. Saturday was my 3 facility auction that I've done well at before. This month we had over 30 registered bidders, a good 60 - 75 people total for a big total of 7 units. Only about 10 regulars, everyone else was new faces to me. Only 1 good looking unit that I'm sure was up there in price as it had a small digital lock style safe in the front, lots of furniture, and was packed. Only 1 other unit was decent, the rest were 0 bids for me.
Auctions really kick off again next month.
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Finally made some auction purchases in January, 2013, BUT......not lockers.
Again the piece by piece approach is working. I went to a piece by piece auction featuring 20 lockers and YES it did take six hours but I spent over $200 and got what I think will convert to 2.5 times the money.
Several years ago I couldn't stand this approach and thought it was a waste of time, but with prices and the trash value of lockers in my area being prohibitive right now (at least to me) I'm liking this approach better all the time.
YES, you have to get used to watching stuff come out of a locker and being spread in the "street" between lkr rows, but just like buying a full lkr, you can sometimes tell immediately if it will be a good one or a loser as the stuff spreads out.
One thing I have noticed is that more and more the regular storage lkr buyers are starting to appear at these things and YES this can even affect prices HERE as some of the dummies who pay too much for a full lkr also pay too much for one-at-a-time items.
The main advantages are:
1) buying what you want
2) NOT getting all the non-sellable stuff (burned pots/pans, broken (non-repairable) items
3) NOT getting outright trash
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5)
6)
So, the month is ending on an OK note, but nothing like it was prior to December, 2010 !
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I've approached a few people at auctions looking to piece meal thier unit and they've always turned into Gathom from 'Lord of the Rings' protecting thier Precious. lol
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Prices are up in Atlanta. Thrift store owners are packing it in for irs refund time. Always like this here. Thrift market seems to be doing very very well. People who have opened stores in the last 2 years are growing a lot. Units have less quality but scrap has been paying the bills. I really do think that it is mostly the state of the economy. People have less money so the stuff they store isn't very good. Lots of furniture with Goodwill stickers on it.
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Went to one auction yesterday (Thursday, Jan 31) and crowd at this location was at about 40...a good half of them were regulars and those were the people who bought maybe 7 of 8 lockers.
Most interesting lkrs were 5 that looked like they had the remnants of a surplus sale somewhere. Lots of old electronics, old creme-colored computer towers, etc.
I've done well with those in the past but I didn't bid on one of these lockers....just didn't want to do the work. Call it lazy if you will, but I have been spoiled by picking the last few months and dump runs and heavy lifting are becoming a thing of the past.
One lkr DID have about eight good looking boxes but I guess the frig and freezer turned me off...not to mention the $400 plus one of the "gamblers" paid for it....aside from the two bulky refrigerator items that works out to $50 a box.
I've always liked the facility and have done well there over the years, but things change (or I've changed) and I'm not the competitor I used to be....buying has evolved for me...it's got to be a great locker for me to buy it anymore.