Got 2 on Friday

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.

One of the rooms up for auction, they told us that it was relinquished, not a lien.  We were told the tennant couldn't afford it, and relinquished the items to be sold.  It was a 10x10, but it was not very full, and 2 feet in from the door was a 46" LCD HDTV.  there was a patio set, a kids bike, not a lot of great stuff showing, but the 2 guys that I know as regular buyers went at it, and it sold for $450.  My concern was that if the person had that locker and knew they were going to give it up, wouldn't they have taken the TV if it worked?  Judging by the amount of empty space, it seemed like they must've taken other stuff out.  just seemed odd.
That locker was just down from one that I won, so during clean out, I wandered over and asked the guy that bought it how it looked.  He was disappointed, he said if the TV deosn't work it's looking like a total bust. 

good bread and butter units

This might be crazy, but...

Don't give up on those beanie babies yet, they might come back around. I can't tell you how many things in my life I have seen that were popular in the past, go through a period of time when nobody wants them, then all of a sudden get real popular again. If the beanie babies don't take up much room maybe you can store them away and see what happens. Seems like things run on 15 -25 year cycles, could be furniture, clothing, toys, jewelry, hair styles (we don't sell those), etc.

good show jedi- sounds like you will do well at ur yrd sale.   my lady taught me that fri is the best day to hold one.  we kicked ass that day!  who knew?  sunday is so passe!   lol
@copiavita- i heard that bro- fron my first locker i have a pair of 1986 levis cordorouys...MINT- been hanging on a hanger at least 25 years straight, you can just tell thay were worn once...-- one day they will bring the dough!

hey how do i post a pic of them here?

jg

Been going through boxes from the 2 units today, and have had some nice surprises.  More video games, which I mention only cause collecting video game stuff is my hobby.  Also found a couple zippos with a neat leather holster that goes on your belt, a sony MP3 player..gotta find a charger now to see if it works, a JVC video camera; complete with a tape inside of home made porn (really people, don't put your home made porn in a storage locker! lol)  I found some antique weller pottery, a Kron TV lamp from the 60's (siamese cats with a green lightbulb that makes the cats eye's glow green) and I'm most excited about a small jewlery box that has some assorted silver jewlery, a ring with a large stone that I'm not sure what it is, but tiny stones around it that I'm hoping are diamonds, and two stud earrings that I'm also hoping are real diamonds (they're mismatched, one is bigger then the other)  anyway, can't wait to take them to find out if they're worth anything.
If aynone has any tips for selling single diamond earrings, I'd appreciate hearing them.  Do you just sell them at a gold and silver place?

Edit:  oooh! Had to come back and update with something I just found: 2 small carved elephants. I'm cautiously optimistic that they may be ivory.  They're slightly off white, I an see grain in it, there's some light brown streaks in it, there's light cross hatching on the bottom of the feet, and I tried the pin test (yeah, saw it on the tv show, and also found the same test on isitfake.com) and I could not push a red hot pin into it.  Now I just need to figure out where to go to confirm it and get an estimate.....

You can find a diamond wholesaler to buy the diamond, just dont be surprised not to get much for it.

Wow...I always hear the vets say 'there's nothing in trash bags but trash' but I got down to a few trash bags that were in the $100 locker:  first few bags, yup trash.  then one of the last trash bags turned out to be full of vintage dresses and coats from the 60's!  There's a matching dress and coat that look oriental, and have a fancy tag sewn in them that say mandarin boutique with an address in hong kong, as well as some lilli ann stuff.  Was looking it up Ebay and seeing prices hitting around $75 on some of them.  Glad I was thourough with the trash bags!

JEDI!!!  SAHHHHWEEEEET FIND ON THE IVORY- TAKE IT TO A COUPLE OF AUCTION HOUSES FOR AN APPRAISAL AND TO SEE THEIR SELLING FEES... THAT IS THE WOW FACTOR I AM LOOKING FOR FELLOW FLORIDIAN!  CONGRATS ON THE JEWELRY TOO!  I AM PUMPED FOR YA! DAMN!  
So I went to an auctioneer's caravan of facilities this morning until noon--- 21 units!  
1st facility(uncle bob's SS) had about 50 people (no kidding) and crap went for 275+++ ugh.  supposed to have 6 units- 3 paid up.
2nd facility(uncle bob's SS) supposed to have 9 units, 4 doors were cut open and every one went for 300+!!!! WTF... i decided to hold onto my 400 and save it for a much smaller crowd--- figured the reason for the crowds is they search storage auctions online and get our local autioneers website which lists their upcoming caravans- sign up and get emails of upcoming auctions=tons of people=overpriced lockers.  believe me- today's lockers were not that impressive.  

HERES A TIP- IF YOU WANT INEXPENSIVE UNITS, GO OLD SCHOOL SEARCHING FOR STORAGE FACILITIES THAT DON'T USE AUCTIONEERS (PUBLIC SELF STORAGE, the big orange P, uses their district managers to caravan once a month and handle the bidding wars=boring bidding not trying to skyrocket the price for a cut of the profits=more money you and i save!)  

A note about our local auctioneers that irritate me- they make us form a line and after only 10 or so people see the locker she starts the bidding at 100.00!   its usually up to 25 by the time everyone sees it...  anyone else have any thoughts or ideas--???

(going to repost this in another topic btw)

good job on the trashbags too!  i went thru everything in both lockers i won.  all the pockets and shoes, etc.  be careful of heroin or random needles- make sure u wear gloves!

That is why its a good idea to GO THROUGH EVERYTHING. If you dont, you can almost guarantee you will lose out on some good finds.