Lookey Loos Part 12.....December, 2011

Here we go again. This will be the 12th month I've started a thread with Lookey Loos in the title.

Come January, 2012 will have to figure out the numbering system for that year.

Anyway, I'll come back here Thursday, Dec, 1, 2011 in the afternoon after going to a flea in the morning (for buying) and then 3 or 4 auctions out of 7 possible hoping to get a lkr.

Here we go again. This will be the 12th month I've started a thread with Lookey Loos in the title.

Come January, 2012 will have to figure out the numbering system for that year.

Anyway, I'll come back here Thursday, Dec, 1, 2011 in the afternoon after going to a flea in the morning (for buying) and then 3 or 4 auctions out of 7 possible hoping to get a lkr.

We used these threads with Lookey Loos all year to discuss the auction scene around the country, but for 2012 we should change the title. In my opinion the Lookie Loos were only a slight nuisance during the year, mostly over the summer with the kids and strollers and grandma and grandpa having to ALL get a look at the units.

 The big problem was the casino gamblin' newbies. We all saw them and suffered them. No flashlight or new flashlight big enough to use on the front of 747. No locks. No research. They either got ALL their info from the TV shows or they have been doing this for years and have found lots of treasures, even if we have never seen them at a auction before. Lots of money to gamble.

Typical casino gamblin' newbie strategy for 2011. 10 X 10 unit: garbage bags filled with clothes, particle board furniture, boxes labeled "cups & dishes", but  a 48" LCD plasma flat panel TV BOX at the very top of the stack, hmmm.

Bidding starts $50, then $100, then $150, then $250... casino gamblin' newbie thinking "That TV is $1200 new at Best Buy!" casino gamblin' newbie jumps in $500!!! He's ecstatic, he's got this one in the bank. But wait, oh no, it's casino gamblin' newbie #2! He thinks "That TV is $1400 new at Sears!"
Newbie #2 jumps in $750!!!! He wins!! The high-fives go all around with the group of buddies he brought with him.

Well a month goes by and we return to the same facility for another auction. Where is casino gamblin' newbie #2? Nowhere to be found. Don't worry, #3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,etc... have all showed up for this one.

We used these threads with Lookey Loos all year to discuss the auction scene around the country, but for 2012 we should change the title. In my opinion the Lookie Loos were only a slight nuisance during the year, mostly over the summer with the kids and strollers and grandma and grandpa having to ALL get a look at the units.

Money4nothing has started a thread looking for possible new titles for the Lookey Loo series that is only a month a away in January, 2012.

Here's the link:

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=2080.msg12853#msg12853

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Anyone who has followed these threads from #1 through this #12 might want to go there and make some suggestions.

Meanwhile I'll make my suggestion here (and there) and everyone is welcome to chime in; if there are no outstanding ideas, I'll just start the Lookey Loos Part 13....January, 2012 and we'll just rack up new numbers with the same theme.

A simple suggestion would be "Auction Scene #1....January, 2012", "Auction Scene #2.....February, 2012", etc.

Well a month goes by and we return to the same facility for another auction. Where is casino gamblin' newbie #2? Nowhere to be found. Don't worry, #3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,etc... have all showed up for this one.

Yep, that EMPTY big screen box took care of #2. But as you said there are always a hoard of others waiting to win their first EMPTY box too, so on we go.

A similar story is this one:

A regular told me he went to a site (which I stopped going to about 3 years ago) and since he is a friendly guy and on good terms with the manager, was asked in to see their new big screen tv. In he goes to their apt behind the counter and sees "Gizmo Deluxe 42" LCD".

Later the auction begins and low and behold there in one of the lockers (prominently displayed) is a "Gizmo Deluxe" sealed box.

Now whether the tv was there and pulled out by prop mgrs or that they placed the box there after buying the tv at a store, the fact remains that fraud was in the works.

Well I have my normal Friday the first of the month silent bid auction tomorrow. Anyone want to see what I'm bidding on?

Well I have my normal Friday the first of the month silent bid auction tomorrow. Anyone want to see what I'm bidding on?

Sure, shoot us a link and some lkr numbers.

What a disastrous start to December, 2011. 

Went to what was to be #2 of 4 or so today by same auctioneer.

First one cancelled, nobody thought to tell anybody.

Second one had 60 people with only 8 regulars.

First couple of lkrs were owned by same person who supposedly was a collector (this from the mgr partner who looks like a meth addict).

Well, some folks took him at his word. First 5x10 looked like a pile of trash 5 wide by 10 deep (front to back) and 4 feet tall. I swear, nothing looked good. Sold for $750 to a six-month regular who is opening a store at end of May, 2012....at least they'll have time to sort out the trash.

Next one (same owner) same look, same size sells for an even $500 and thinking back on it, the guy who got it was in the bidding for the first one too...I think the $500 guy was just bidding the first guy up and THIS TIME got stuck with it. One of the perils of doing so....got to be able to read these folks or you get stuck.

In my opinion they both got stuck. I would have paid $100 today for either of the lkrs; Last November (BS...before shows) these would have gone for $100 max and more likely $50 to $75.  Oh, well.

This also stopped me from going on to the next couple of places today.

No auctions today for me.  All my auctions are mostly between the 5th - 13th.  Did spend a few hours chatting up 2 different facility managers.  Found out my 3 caravan silent auction is switching to a live auction in January.  If it wasn't for my daughter I'd prob not bother to attend.  Is a saturday auction with 60+ people last month and 100+ people last saturday.  Will hate to see what happens come January, but I'll be there.

Did find out 1 unit currently behind has a vehicle in it, and another person has 3 units 39 days behind.  This person has the units for his mother who is an interior decorator.  No name - but I'll be keep my eye open come January for pair / 3 units with same name.

One auction today.  Cold and drizzly~rare in Tucson.  3 units.  Approx. 70 in attendance.  maybe 10 'regulars' and 5 serious bidders.   All units were 5X10.
 
1st unit:  a toilet, (icky) Christmas tree in box and some window shade screen thing= $35
2nd unit:  a nice entryway tile top table, some 'art' and misc. items= $170~I bowed out at $60
3rd unit;  first time I've seen a lock actually cut.  Opened the door and there was (crammed in) a sofa set, a truly scary looking mattress, misc. boxes and supposedly a coach bag (I did not see it, as I didn't linger at this unit).  A buddy said he'd go to $300......the unit went for over $700.

I've really got to do more research as following this one auctioneer has become huge and frankly......just not worth the time.  I did cut my teeth on an auction by him, but since........far too many newbies to make it profitable.

As of right now, no auctions (that I'm aware of) next week in the Tucson area.  The following week (Dec. 13th esp.) there are tons and my husband and I will have to split up in the hopes of 'stealing' a decent one~

Well, it appears that I have a little bit more learning to do. Got two units today the first so far looks like I'll make my money back. Overbid by about $50, but I'm glad I got it I know between the bigs alone that I will make my money back. when I talk to the site manager he said the lady wanted buy back her units at half her rent, so I'm hoping that I find something very valuable it in 10 x 10 or the 5 x 10. I'll update you guys on Sunday afternoon or Monday afternoon on what I find. I'd say tomorrow but I have some estate sales to hit, and then MSU plays Wisconsin for the big 10 title(huge Michigan State fan), so I probably won't get to listing everything until Sunday afternoon or Monday afternoon.

Went to an auction out in the country today, 4 units, 4 people showed including myself, all regs. When I walked in the office had 5 or 6 of those sweepstakes slot machines, thought that was pretty odd. As soon as the others get there, they start to tell me about the owner/auctioneer. Last time he had one, he bought all the units himself.

He turns out to be an old man in a power wheelchair, and sure enough he buys all the units again. It got to the point where during the last couple, we would just ask him what he was going to take/start it at. Was very shady indeed, and all the others talked about when it ended was how he could 'buy' it for 700, but it is his money either way.

A couple of the units were nice, some heavy wood cutting equipment. But he wouldnt start for less than 700 on either. The whole thing has got me searching google for the proccess of reporting this to someone.

The whole thing has got me searching google for the proccess of reporting this to someone.

You may already be ahead of the game by the time this is posted, but here are a couple places you can check out.

northcarolinaauctioneers.org

ncalb.org

Hope this helps, but it may trickier if this person owns the facility and is not a true auctioneer.

Well today was a complete bust.  Normally we have around 20 people at this auction.  Today we had over 50.  I think the majority of them were looky loo's.  We did have a few new faces that either are regulars somewhere else or have more cash then sense.  They came with trailers and everything.  Prices were all over the board but to me inflated.  Two of the units I liked and bid on went 3x my max.  These are units I could of gotten for under $50 last month.

One of the ladies I know is new.  Was told by one of the regulars that she purchased her first unit last week.  She gave a table and chairs away for like $30.  She just got very luck to find a nice gold necklace and other jewelry in this unit.  So she was back out today and bidding like crazy.  I know it's bad when the preacher that has some deep pockets and buys lots of units walked away from a unit after she bid $400.  Was a 5x10 with washer/dryer, fridge, few boxes, and some 2 foot wide by like a foot deep cabinet with a glass front.  Not a $400 unit to me.  Think she got it for like $450.  I'd say a good 80% of the units went to people I've not seen before.

This has me re-thinking the thursday auction as I burn a vacation day to attend this caravan.  May just call them and see how many units they are down to.  If it's going to be another 60-100+ people there just not worth the time / effort.

Went to a new facility for us. Was quite interesting the owner of the facility hates doing Auctions... He knew all the regulars by name. Advertised 13 Lockers down to 8 at auction time. Said he had to cancel this auction last month.  6 regulars and 6 lookey loo's. Prices were really good.

We bought 2 
1st one 5x10 full $150 So far looking pretty good have not gone though the small stuff, But the furniture should double our money.
#2 just furniture $105 Not looking to good sofa and matching chair garbage once we got to look at it. dinning room table may bring us $60. So we should break even. With the other things in there.
The guy said this is the last one so people started leaving then he remembered he had one left...LOL They came running back.
There was a couple that we had seen with the news paper auctions. They bought some nice units at that auction. They bought 3 today. We had to take a load and come back with a trailer to get the rest. This couple was there and they were complaining about stupid stuff and called one of the regulars DAVE. Anyway they decided to leave stuff behind because really they did not want it. Wished we had room to take the stuff so the guy would not get left with it. He did not charge a deposit.

We bought 2 
 

Sounds like overall you'll do fine...works that way more often than not (one making up for the other).

I went to 3 auctions today...same auctioneer.

Crowd AND prices were pretty good. There were about 6 regulars and the other 15 or so were new. The contents at the first place were pretty junky, but I sprung for the first one...$30 for a five by 10 about 1/2 full...I need the totes I saw and maybe the contents will work out.

Second place still kind of junky, but a little better. I got one 5 x 5 for $110 with very clean looking boxes. Got in afterwards and it's coming out pretty good...45 DVDs (like new) and one box set of 7 that should go for about $30 or so. Should make some money on it.

Third place had 2...2nd one was 10 x 30 and half full, but telling clues were those galvanized metal a-frames used for flea markets and the planks they put over them. Went for $210 and that was an ok price. I only was interested in a couple of the display pieces but the fellow who got it probably won't sell them to me at a decent price.

Crowd and prices good....wish it would stay that way.