Auction Scene #11.....November, 2013

Beautiful fall weather begins.....hopefully the only turkey this month will be on Thanksgiving !

Ugh is it really already November? Now the long wait for spring. Not a fan of the cold wet months!

I went to an auction the other day at a facility that had just changed ownership; the place hadn't had an auction for a year.  So, 12 or so lockers. First one goes up and its CLEAN (a rarity) and my prediction was about $600. Started at $50 and then someone bid $400. Went up from there and sold for ...... $650.

People were commenting on some aspects of it....including its clean appearance....maybe a setup?  Next locker just down the row about 3 lockers (sure it happens)....but...another BEAUTY.  Another setup?  Goes for $400.

On to the next one.....this one you won't believe.  Door goes open on a 10 x 10 showing a carpeted floor and empty thorugh the middle, but the two side wall and back showing about 20 GUITARS, standing in their OPEN cases against those walls. Also some big speakers, a BANJO, etc.  Can you say SETUP !

I predicted $1,500 to the disbelief of a newbie who heard me say it to another regular.

Starts at $200, goes up from there...bogs down for awhile at the $1,350 level with just two guys left now and finally someone I had never seen before (and neither had the auctioneer) gets it for $1450.

From that point on the lockers got ordinary but the talk increased about the new facility owners.  If those first three were setups the facility owners might have learned a lesson in marketing....spread the good ones out for one thing !
Anyway, just more frustration and will wait to see what the next sale looks like from these people.

Halfway through the month and one post by someone not named Movieman? Let me contribute! Went to a small auction in another state today (hour drive) for what seems to be a pretty good payoff. Small depressed town, three bidders total including myself. Bought three of the four units sold for a total of $215. The first unit had some furniture that looked better from the door... bedroom suite but parts of it had water damage, table and chair set but the chairs are falling apart.

Second unit was a better furniture unit, with what appears to be a pretty nice sectional. Two or three bed sets. The last unit is the one I am most excited about but also dreading. Ton of boxes and knick knack type stuff, but also a ton of magazines. Stupid magazines no one should have a reason to hoard...lots to go through and lots to recycle!

I have a full size truck and a good size trailer, but I'll still be looking at 4-5 trips to clean out everything. Basically by the end of it I'll have in gas but what I paid for the lockers, but that is the way it is around here. If you want cheap prices, you pay for it on the back end.

Auction today had 6 units. Only 10 bidders and most were regulars. All units went under $100 except for the last one which was not bad. I ran it up to $400 but it went for $500. It had a really nice bike, entry table, lawn mower and hedger, several boxes, full mattress and a small safe. Everything was very clean and nice. I have a customer that is looking for a mattress and could have gotten $100 out of that. Next time...

Halfway through the month and one post by someone not named Movieman? Let me contribute!

Thanks for the contribution!  I think this is just another indication of the general decline in interest about talking about auctions. Sure, people are still going and still buying, but it's more like work once you've bought 10 to 50 of them, and unless something really fun pops up in one, it's just another day at the office.  Meanwhile...

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I went to one auction today (one of 4 or 5 by same auctioneer) and the crowd was large again...maybe 40 or so...up from 15 to 20 of late. No telling what accounts for this up and down.

Place had 10 units. First one was a 10 by 10....chock full of mattressses. I don't even know what it sold for. I walked off to next row.  Next two were 5 x 5s and went for I think $75 and $100 which was 50 and 50 more than they should have, unless I missed something about black garbage bags being the next big thing in luggage.

So, 3 down, 7 to go.  Then #4 opens up...a 10 x 24 with doors at each end. Looks pretty good with a lot of totes AND neat cardboard boxes, but with miscellaneous stuff strewn around too. A couple of mysterious heavy plastic cases (one was a rectangular guitar case (bet it was empty), a spider box (temp power distributor), some plants stands, a PLANT (in dire need of water !), some stereo stuff, about 4 shelving units with small stuff on them. Overall a good looking locker.

I would have paid maybe $600 to insure some good profit, but it started at $400 and went up from there pretty fast. Slowed down at about $1,200 but the auctioneer milked the regulars and newbies for the last dime and it went for....$1,700. So my $600 bid x 3 almost. Don't know what kind of profit if any they will make.

Never saw this guy and his wife before, but he got on the phone right away and just after the last locker was sold his pal drove up in a $30,000 big Diesel truck towing a 16 foot or so ($5K ?) trailer to haul it all away.  I stopped by later in the day to talk to the mgr and she said they had taken it all out in one swoop and when she asked how they did, she said they were happy, so maybe they knew more about it than I did.

Anyway, that's my story...except for the fact I didn't get a locker there and skipped the other locations so I could work on 6 picked items I had acquired at a flea market and yard sale earlier in the day ! 

Not much new in the scene to mention around here. I will say prices and crowds have crept up since summer time. We seem to be in the full spectrum of the "new" normal. Light crowds, junk units will go reasonable to cheap. Large crowd, even junk units go too high. Good looking units, light or large crowd they are gonna go high. Even with a small crowd of mostly regulars there will always be some schmuck who will run a half-way decent unit up towards your max bid before giving up. There always seems to be a handful of newbies who have got in there head they are supposed to bid into the high hundreds and thousands on units. My guess is they are not all newbies but many are those who have dropped in and out of the auction scene since the TV shows. They may show up for an auction or two then disappear for 4-6 months, then pop back in, run units up, etc. Wouldn't be a problem if there were just one or two who do this but my gut tells me there's probably around 25-50 in my area who pull this routine.

I had my first sealed bid auction last week and it was interesting.  Only two units out of the seven showed any promise.  One had a couch, love seat, coffee table, and dining room set and I bid $80
Another had two tool chest on casters and some random power tools as well a ton of boxes and junk.  I bid $120

I won the $80 one and was able to sell the dining room set for $60 to the storage manager.  The couch and love seat became my first setup at my new place
https://www.facebook.com/JMThriftboutique
Hopefully I can sell it and all will be well .

I've only bought 1 locker this month. I've been doing a lot of yard sale picking, cleanouts, estate cleanouts, etc. to keep busy.

The locker I bought was for $220. Had a beautiful marble high top table with 4 pleather chairs. Sold the set for $400. Had a 50" TV stand in it, sold it for $80. Also had a men's bike ($30) and other items which I have not sold yet. Coffee table and matching end tables, pictures, home decor stuff.. Was a good score, but nothing exciting inventory-wise.

Magazine locker was a bit of a bust. About 1000 LBs of paper recycled, and 15-20 tubs of cloth material. Anyone have any experience selling cloth/material? It has been various sizes and patterns, but most is brand new and tagged in some way. I know if I cant sell it quick it will either seriously clog my space or be thrown away.

Magazine locker was a bit of a bust. About 1000 LBs of paper recycled, and 15-20 tubs of cloth material. Anyone have any experience selling cloth/material? It has been various sizes and patterns, but most is brand new and tagged in some way. I know if I cant sell it quick it will either seriously clog my space or be thrown away.

Thats to bad but the fun factor helps till the second hour.  I bet you could sell the cloth and material at a local crafts fair to some of the venders.  Check out the venders and see if they are using some of the material in their crafts.