Lookey Loos Part 2...February, 2011

Thought I would start this as maybe a monthly report to see if we can really see a difference as time goes by in the number of lookers. There are certainly variables of course, but I can speak for my section of the country anyway.

I went to two auctions today both by the same chain and both in the same town. Neither of these had a professional auctioneer, but that is ANOTHER story.

The first auction had about 15 people and 5 units. Three units were losers (IMHO) and went for $25 and thereabouts.  The other two went for $70 each.

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The 2nd auction had about 30 people and 5 units.  A couple were OK and went in the $25 to $50 range. One went for about  $375 but for good reason. The 15 year veteran who got it wanted the contents for his daughter's new living arrangement. She moved from an apartment to a house.

So lighter crowd but not biggie auction by well-known auctioneers...that was the main factor I think.

100 views of this thread as of Wednesday Feb 9, 2011 but no one has anything to say...oh well, I do.

I am getting varied stories from other buyers in my area. Some auctions are having 75 or so "bidders" while others are only getting 30. Seems that time conflicts are accounting for most of this trend, with some smaller locations also getting the lower numbers.

Another few months needed to see real trends in bidder numbers.

Good news here in Memphis,TN.

They are now starting up a new thing. Wohooooo could not come sooner.

All storage auctions in Memphis,TN will from March 2011 start with fees for newbies.
It will cost you as a newbie 100 dollar to even be able attend the auction. Bring your family and it is 100 dollar per head.

If you can not show that you have bought more then 10 units or attended more then 50 auctions the last 3 months you will have to pay up to get in. Of course they give this deposit back to you if you don't buy a locker. And if you buy a locker you get it back after the locker is inspected by the manager. (Must be empty and clean)

This will here in Memphis,TN reduce the crowds with atleast 40-50%
The same thing is beeing looked at in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas.  And more and more places will be doing it

Best thing about this, it is supported by fedral law as guidelines for the auctioneers.

Mr. A....

That is BLOCKBUSTER news !  And the fact it is possible in more than one place even better. I'll let the major auctioneers in central California know about this. I don't know if it will fly or not. One greedy auctioneer will say "going , once, going twice..."and before saying "...going three times, sold" will pause after "going twice" and say anymore bids, I'm going to sell it", then he'll pause for about 15 seconds, and HE WILL sometimes get more bids and we keep going. His take on that extra $10 bump would be $2.50, and he wants it. HE ALSO WANTS THE BIGGEST CROWD HE CAN GET.

Bigger crowds = inexperienced bidders = more money for the house and auctioneer...........

I imagine laws probably very from state to state but in my state and at auctions where I'm freindly with teh auctioneers I was told they don't make a commission they just get a flat fee for facilitating the auction.

I'm not really big into auctions besides storage but I believe thats what differentiates a bid caller from an auctioneer, auctioneers do tehir own marketing, run the auction make a commission, bid callers just run the bidding.

Also, more money for a unit in my state isn't more money for the facility. I believe they get whatever they are owed in back rent, fees, late fees, etc but the remainder of the money by law goes back to the person that owns the auction.

it's good for them to get money so the facility gets all they are owed but over and above that I dont think they get to keep any of the money. At least in my state that is.

Good news here in Memphis,TN.

They are now starting up a new thing. Wohooooo could not come sooner.

All storage auctions in Memphis,TN will from March 2011 start with fees for newbies.
It will cost you as a newbie 100 dollar to even be able attend the auction. Bring your family and it is 100 dollar per head.

If you can not show that you have bought more then 10 units or attended more then 50 auctions the last 3 months you will have to pay up to get in. Of course they give this deposit back to you if you don't buy a locker. And if you buy a locker you get it back after the locker is inspected by the manager. (Must be empty and clean)

This will here in Memphis,TN reduce the crowds with atleast 40-50%
The same thing is beeing looked at in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas.  And more and more places will be doing it

Best thing about this, it is supported by fedral law as guidelines for the auctioneers.

I like the concept, particularly reducing the family crowd just taking up space and wasting our time.  In practice I think this will be more trouble than it's worth.  For example, are you going to carry 10 locker receipts with you? Will they honor receipts from other companies? Will you get receipts for attendance but not purchasing? What if I leave a tour early - who gives my money back? Or does each location take the $100 bill deposit? These are just a few of the many problems I can imagine.  More than likely larger crowds are here to stay, but the "lookers" should fade away before long anyway so why would the auctioneers/storage companies invest time/money/effort into deterring people? I'm willing to bet the crowds=max revenue far outweighs the occasional locker left with stuff in it.
 

Has anyone talked to the auctioneers to see if the longer auctions and more bidders is costing the auctioneer money?  I would think the increased bids will outweigh the longer time periods.

And the new practice of a attendence fee started today, i am glad to report that 15-20 people ( newbies / onlookers ) turned around and left. Suddenly the crowd was down to 20 people. Nice to see "waste of time" people are gone.

It is the auctioneer and storage companies who want this change, they lose big amount of money on newbies and onlookers.

No new fees here in California for new would-be buyers.
On Friday, Feb 11, 2011 the crowd at two auctions (same auctioneer) was about 75; I didn't go to the 3rd auction.
Prices were somewhat high at first two auctions, but I got one for $500 (showing 3 laptops, two of which work);other stuff OK too, but total lkr not a huge money maker; three months ago this would have gone for $250 or $300 and would have made me that much more profit.

I talked to a guy today who is a newbie, he won a couple of lockers last week, and everyone i know thought he overpaid by a lot.

One unit he paid 675 for and the other he paid 800 for.
Well after talking with him today he was in deep ****. He had spent all his money and taken out 300 dollars on a CC.
His problem is as following.

He has no one to pick it up for him, he only has a 4 door sedan, he has nowhere to put it, and have been told by the storage places that he will be charged 1 month rent at both places. He asked me if i wanted to buy his units for his original winning bids, something i said no to. In one week those lockers are picked.

On top of this he asked me if i could have my guy's picking it up and drive it to his moms place in Alabama, it is like a 4 hours drive one way. He is broke and can not pay for it.
So i said no, well then he went on to say that i was working against newbies and i was making their life harder. So i told him it was not my job to babysit him, he went into this on his own, now he has to get out of it on his own. This pissed him off i think, then he said he was gonna show up on ever auctions and bid every "old timer up" He was gonna make it hard for everyone in the business.

I tell you, this is the newbies in a nutshell, they get burned and then they blame it on everyone else.

I don't know how many times in the last two months that I've overheard noobies saying that the auctions are "rigged" or some other such BS.  They pay a lot of money for a locker, and it's full of crap, and then it's somebody else's fault.  The only thing I'm more tired of hearing (at every damn auction!) is "Yeepp" done in Dave's tone of voice!

1,400 on two units as a noob???  Not exactly a sound investment.  If someone new to storage auctions is serious about making money in the long run, my advice to you is, start slow, buy units that do not exceed $200.  If you have a home run mentality, more times than not you will strike out.  I remember my first unit, got it for $150 and sold the hell out of everything, I would not allow myself to buy another unit until I sold everything that I could.  I think I ended up making a $500 profit off that unit, but it was hard work. 

Wonder what will happen to the guy in your story, things could get dicey if he tries to bid up other people only to have the unit dumped on him. 

Well i am a mirror, the way you treat me, is the way i treat you.

When he started to curse me and saying all kinds of F words in the book, guess what i will be doing tomorrow if he shows up. I will be telling all the old timers exactly what was said and how he is, and they will be aware of it. So he will get alot of units dumped on him. Trust me it will happend.

I will make sure he is a financial disaster when i am done with him.

It sounds like he is already a "financial disaster"!