Auction Scene #5...May, 2013

OK, it's a day early BUT I for one can't wait for April to be over and hoping that MAY will see improvement in the locker buyer business. 

Of course there are no auctions in my area through May 3rd !

Right there with ya!

Though there was a huge run on all my favorite locations last week so thinking May might suck.


But they are back to holding auctions every month.   Might only be 1-3 lockers but a year ago it was 3-6 lockers every 3-4 months.   


Prices are still sky high.   

Well I have one on the 3rd (norm low quality / high price) and one on Saturday.  The Saturday auction is always hit or miss for me.  One month I win multiple units and the next month or two I win 0.  Silent auction so you just have to take a stab at it and hope don't overpay.  Last month they had 1 unit...waste of time.

I honestly need to sell instead of buying.  Have a good amount of inventory and low funds.  Bad weather the last couple of weekends has resulted in low to no sales.  Couple that with 2 trips to the casino -- under a $100 in gambling money for the weekend.

Went to a piece-by-piece auction that was a bust !  Usually get something there but this time the six lockers were all trash.  Wait, there was one 40" flat screen TV (forget the brand), no remote. I thought I would maybe pay $75 or so on a gamble ...went for $150. Too much gamble for it to even be working let alone sellable beyond that price. Maybe they wanted it for themselves.

Some folks (mostly newbies) say...."Why would they put it in a lkr if it wasn't working?"

My reply is basically..."Haven't you ever held on to some non-working item thinking one day you would either fix it yourself or get someone to fix it?"  I've found a fair amount of stuff in regular storage auction lkrs that fit that bill, maybe you have too.

Some folks (mostly newbies) say...."Why would they put it in a lkr if it wasn't working?"

Maybe it was working when it left the house. Then either got damaged during the move, or from extreme heat or cold while in storage. On a piece auction, the people running it were fools to not plug the TV in and test it. If they could say it was working they could've potentially got more for it.

Maybe it was working when it left the house. Then either got damaged during the move, or from extreme heat or cold while in storage. On a piece auction, the people running it were fools to not plug the TV in and test it. If they could say it was working they could've potentially got more for it.

Why do peopel store actual GARBAGE in their lockers?
Why broken stuff?

Tons of reasons, mostly they were in a rush. Likely HAD to move stuff out quick. Garbage access is limited in most cases. So dumping tons of stuff into their garbage bins was not an option. Lazyness to not take it to the county dump is the second.
Or what I believe is the most common case: They never intended it to become a permanent situation. It was just for a few weeks until they 'get to it'.

Which also explains the common miconception that someone that paid 10 years on stuff MUST have something valuable in there.
No tenant looks at it as: I spent $8,000 or whatever on rent to store my stuff.
They look at it as a monthly charge. They only pay $50, 75 or 125 for it .... (every month, but they don't think like that).

I went to an auction yesterday in Clinton NC. Only 3 bidders showed up including myself for 5 rooms. Before the auction started it was stated that no bid would be accepted that was below rent owed. To make a long story short, no rooms were sold at all that day. Two rooms were mostly empty, the other three would of been a small profit after paying what was owed. (Between $300 to $600.)

it was stated that no bid would be accepted that was below rent owed. To make a long story short, no rooms were sold at all that day.

Tell the dumbass manager the minimum will be higher next month.

Bought a locker on Thursday. Paid $300.. had a lot of boxes which was home decor and clothes upon clothes. Had a Directv HD DVR cardboard box in it. The top corner was bulged up just a bit and I caught a remote in the box, nobody else noticed, or knew enough to see it. In fact, most kidded that the DVR was "in the box!" .. Turns out it was in the box along with 2 standard receivers. That's my $300 on Amazon right there. The rest is profit.. Although it'll sell at $2 here and $3 there..

Think i'll make a STORAGE AUCTION post before this forum becomes completely irrelevant!

First week slow. One auction, a couple of regulars & a hand full of 6 month to 1 year newbies. NO brand new newbies. Looks like if this trend continues the misery is over! Yeah!  maybe?

Only one problem. Stupid fyck 6-12 month newbies don't know what prices were like BEFORE  the TV shows! Only a handful of people at the auction and they STILL ran each other up!  And the best part is they were trying NOT too!!    

They've never seen units go for $5 -$50 so in their shallow minds only taking a ho-hum, flea market type unit to $250 is being nice! 

Bad news is their might not be enough pressure from any new newbies to force this group out, so who knows how long before they figure it out!

Oh Well, that's life in the fast lane I guess! 

Here's a post Cobia made in another area, but I think he might agree it fits here too.

Boy, I guess the storage auction industry has just shriveled up a died away!

My response is that finding quality lockers is IMPOSSIBLE in my area (or at least as far as I travel) and that
prices are out of line for the lockers that are for sale.

Here's a post Cobia made in another area, but I think he might agree it fits here too.

Boy, I guess the storage auction industry has just shriveled up a died away!

My response is that finding quality lockers is IMPOSSIBLE in my area (or at least as far as I travel) and that
prices are out of line for the lockers that are for sale.

I was mainly talking about how the conversations on this forum have drifted into everything except storage auctions and re-sale, but your point is accurate too.

The price of what a good deal should be on a unit has probably been forever altered by the TV shows. A unit that went for $500 last year, now maybe goes for $300 and they(newbies)  think it's a killer deal. Some know but most don't know that we shouldn't be paying more than $50 on those type units to make a livable income.

Not only that I here multiple times on the circuit how people can't sell this or can't sell that or how do you sell this, blah,blah,blah but they keep bidding on more units!! 

The other thing I've have noticed in my area anyway is how my posts are getting absolutely BURIED in short time on Craigslist! I've wondered why sales have gone down so much, and I think it's because of the competition. Soo many more people are selling stuff on Craigslist now compared to a couple of years ago. Before my postings would get buried after a few days, and generally just waiting to do the normal refresh was enough to keep them at the top. Now they get buried within a few hours of posting and for some reason Craigslist only shows the latest 100 or so posts for that day before moving down to the previous day. So if too many people post on the same day and my posts are early in the day they won't even show up on list view!

I was mainly talking about how the conversations on this forum have drifted into everything except storage auctions and re-sale.......

Yep, we're grasping at straws to keep any kind of coversation going. How about a new thread..."How old do you think Dan Dotson is?". 

What about "How many auction buyers really want to sell the remnants of their buys at an online auction site?"

Then there's always "Here's one more shot of Brandi's attributes" (I like to start those !).

The other thing I've have noticed in my area anyway is how my posts are getting absolutely BURIED in short time on Craigslist!

You can thank the CL posting service companies for that spot of aggravation.
http://www.craigslistpostingservice.net/

Bought another locker yesterday.. another $300. Lots of toys and kids clothes, which I do okay with at the flea market.. and my wife likes going through that stuff. Should be a decent profit, not breaking the bank though. Got 22 units to view tomorrow, but my funds are shrinking as I have lots of inventory held up and bad weather the last 3 weekends is killing me!