Lookey Loos Part 5.....May, 2011

We continue our watch on crowds and prices always hoping for a decline in both.

I went to a couple of auctions in late April, and OVERALL the trend was downward in crowd size,
but IN MY AREA prices were still relatively high with even regular buyers kicking in some bucks just
to maintain some NEW inventory.

Hopefully as time passes the prices will go down a bit too. It's centainly true that it's not what you
sell for, it's what you pay that makes the difference.

First two auctions in May for me.

First one had a crowd of only 20 or so people and this was one of the 4 major auctioneers. A GOOD sign.
On the other hand, 10 of the people were high bidders!

Five lkrs....a 10 x 10 (I think) went for $900. It was older furniture (antiquey) BUT the lkr owner had painted it.

I got one, a 10 x 15, only full about 1/2 way (the length) and 3 feet high.

For more details see this link:

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1112.0

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Drove another 25 miles to the 2nd auction which had fewer people (some of them different people) and 9 lkrs, 2 of which were manager lkrs. (one newbie asked what that was and we let him know (nicely)).

One lkr had about 10 to 15 mattress sets in it; they were new (mostly in plastic) went for $425 I think. A 5 x 10 went for $600. It had the famous "crystal" box in it. A regular for that area got it, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking "crystal" all the way through. It was a 2 x2 x 3 feet high box. Would YOU put real "crystal" in a big and therefore heavy box like that, or would you put it in a box 18" square all the way around?  I think this "crystal" was a person's name.

Then a 10 x 15 packed with older furniture (again "antiquey") went for about $475....looked OK at that price.

So, the crowd smaller on this day, and prices pretty good. Things may be looking up.

When it rains, it pours.
Got one yesterday and 3 today.

Crowd and prices good today.

The auction today was one of the major auctioneers, but the bulk of the big buyers were out of town..thanks guys!
Only 10 bidders and if it hadn't been for one big bidder I would have done really well.

Got one 10 x 30 but only 1/4 full....price was good...$50...it'll make some money.
Got one 5 x 10 maybe 2/3 full........$170. It'll do OK.

Got one 10 x 20 with maybe 30 really clean totes, 20 boxes, small furn, two bikes, etc. This one I could have had for about $450 but the other big bidder thought she could outbid me (she's fairly new). So, when I got it for $675 I was happy and she now has (hopefully) a lingering impression of what I might go for. This lkr will come out quite nicely I think. I looked in 8 totes and found 3 with clothing (nicely folded) and the other 5 with usual household, but quality stuff; hopefully the 22 other totes and boxes will bear out the quality I'm looking for.

So, now to work....and posting here only at night for the next 5 days or so....4 total lkrs to clean out including yesterday's with the motorcycle.

Best of luck to you!  I hope you do well.

Should have been working on 4 lkrs I bought last week, but took the morning off and went to an auction instead!

No longer crowds of 60 Plus....this one had 35 (or so) would be bidders; 5 were regulars, leaving a whopping 30 newbies getting their first taste. I literally had not seen any of these people at other auctions, and I go to a lot of auctions.

There were 8 lkrs; first 5 had small amt of contents and prices never went above $25 or so. Then came the 10 x 15s;
One looked pretty good...line went slowly by; sold for $700. I would have gone $450 to $500 to leave some edge.
Another 10 x 15 went for $700 also, then the last one went for $300...it was mostly particle board furn.

So, crowds down (good); newbie factor still high; prices....still holding a little high.

Hope this is the right topic to add this info.

Auction today. The crowds were way down. About 15 regulars and 5 newbies. Newbies did not jump in the bidding. All units common household junk, I mean merchandise. Regulars ran the bid prices up too high in my opinion. Everybody basically either knows each other or recognizes each other, so I don't know why the average winning bid per unit was as high as they were. Increased competition? Everybody low on product? Everybody has accepted the higher prices in general? Although they sold for more than I felt comfortable paying, none of the bidding went outrageous like just a few months ago.

Hope this is the right topic to add this info.

Auction today. The crowds were way down. About 15 regulars and 5 newbies. Newbies did not jump in the bidding. All units common household junk, I mean merchandise. Regulars ran the bid prices up too high in my opinion. Everybody basically either knows each other or recognizes each other, so I don't know why the average winning bid per unit was as high as they were. Increased competition? Everybody low on product? Everybody has accepted the higher prices in general? Although they sold for more than I felt comfortable paying, none of the bidding went outrageous like just a few months ago.

Yes, it's a mystery when everyone knows everyone else and the prices are still high...could be, as you said, need stock, more people selling at fleas (etc). And yes, I still see a lot I pass on because of the price not the goods themselves.....it's still evolving I think.

Went to one today that had about 70 people......I think only around 40 were actually registered though.  Weird auction.  First unit came up and there was a wire feed welder, a big round kerosene heater, a couple of boxes and a couple of plastic ice chests, a jack and a few other items.  Anyway, nobody was bidding, and then some guy finally bid $20, and it stumbled around a bit and it was at $35, and the auctioneer was getting ready to close it out, so I bid, the other guy bid, and I jumped it to $65, and the auctioneer looked around, and that was it, I got it.  Not sure what happened there, because after that, prices went back up to stupid!

A 5x10 with a cheap off brand weed eater, an ammo can marked "grinder", a pair of cheap speakers and a bunch of boxes went for $825!  Lot's of junk filled lockers sold for $200-$300, and a couple of lockers that would have sold for $5-$20 in the "old days" ended up going for $100 PLUS.  Lot's of new people, only saw about six that I know as regulars.  Crowd's still good sized, and prices still up.  Maybe it's just the liberals in Seattle...........

Hope this is the right topic to add this info.

Yes, this is the right place. This thread is to explore crowds and prices ANYWHERE in the country so we can
see if both are trending DOWNWARD since the tv shows started in December, 2010.

As of May 19, 2011 Storage Wars has not started its new season (Dallas/Ft Worth ?) but Auction Hunters has been
running new episodes in a variety of states.

With these facts in place, it still looks like it will be a while before things get back to some level they existed before the tv shows.

Went to an independant location today, it was on auctionzip, had ab`0ut 20 bidders, only 3 units available.

1st unit was preschool toys, several trash bags of clothes went for $140

2nd unit was a 10x20  tools, 2-6ft tables stacked on top of each other and tools stacked on them like they were shelves.  Floor scrubber and looked like a pretty old chest, and a hell of a lot of dust.  I was pissed cause I tried to buy it but went for $445, only had 300 on me, cause I stopped at an atm to get money off my paypal card and the damn thing wouldn't work. So short on cash.

3rd unit was 10x15 somebody ransacked and took out everything of value, they was mcdonalds trash on the floor and a couple broken tables, i didn't see what it went for, everybody just walked away when they seen it.

Countinguy....

Thanks for the report !  I've made the mistake of not having enough cash too....of course that could frequently be the case no matter what amount you brought as some of the big bidders will bring up to $10K in my area.

In my case I had brought $3K thinking that would cover just about anything. I went up to my $3K on a collectible store that went out of biz; other guy got it for $3,100.

Had I known (from talking to mgrs a day or so before) that a comic-book/collectible store was up for auction I would have brought more, but I didn't, so I didn't!

To make matters worse I found out later that this auctioneer would allow time to go to "the bank" for anything that sold over $2k !  I would have gone maybe to $3,500, but the other guy would too, so who knows if I would have gotten it.

Can't win them all, and as a guy told me years ago..."there's always more auctions."

Went to one today, about 7 units and about 35 bidders.  Actually not as bad as it has been, but I have noticed that some of the new guys are sticking around and starting to bid more.  Units were mostly pretty crappy lockers, so hard to really tell if this is a trend or not, but prices were pretty high for the visible contents.  

I did not buy any, but somebody I know did get one for 250.  Had a bunch of small hand tools in it, and a cool old table.  Also had 8 old movie posters from the 50's and early 60's in it.  What was cool though, is there was a GUN in it.  It was a small .380 semi auto.  Pretty rough shape with no magazine.  I cleared it for her, and helped her load up, and then she walked over and gave it to me.  Pretty cool!  Not worth much, but pretty cool anyway!

Teacher...

Any name on that small .380 you got as a gift?

Magazine might be available, and if pistol is not TOO rough, would probably function.

Went to one auction today, Friday, May 20, 2011.

Good results. Only about 10 bidders and I knew I could outbid them all..until one big bidder showed up, but I have
a good business relationship with him and it paid off. Typically when one or the other of us gets in on the early bidding, the other stays out completely. If I get in first and I later bail out, he will pick up if he still think it has value. I do the same thing.

Anyway, 2 lkrs were being sold by the lkr owner who contracted with the auctioneer to do  that. The auctioneer announced this in the beginning. The lkr owner was there and watched.

1st one was a 10 x 10 and looked OK but I let one of the low-end bidders get it for $80. I SHOULD have bought it, took what I wanted and sold the rest to her for $40 !

2nd one also belonged to the owner in attendance. A 5 x 10 and looked pretty good, but nothing special. I got it for $200 and should make some money on it. This is the one my bidding friend "let me have".

Then a big 10 x20 which I recognized from about 3 months ago. Guy who bought it went through, got what he wanted and stuck the facility with the leftovers and an unrentable lkr. The auctioneer DOES NOT get a cleaning deposit at any of his facilities and has seldom had to BANISH a buyer from any further auctions. The guy who bought this 3 months ago was never seen again at any of the local auctions...he was a true TV NEWBIE ! This lkr went for $50.

Then a 10 x 30 packed went for $750....my friend got it and I didn't bid against him. More work than I wanted in the short term and I was returning the favor he gave me earlier too.

Finally, a 10 x 20 about 2/3 full and looked pretty good. Went for $450. I got in it later and with the newbie's consent looked at a few things. The two laptops were not good...the better one had Windows ME as op system, and if you know computers, you know what that means for age and quality. I liked the old harpsichord, but she had enough of an eye for it that she wouldn't sell it.

So, good crowd, good prices. On to the next one.

Went to 2 auctions today  (Thursday, May 26, 2011) and the report is good regarding crowd and (for the most part) prices.

Auction #1 had 5 lkrs and maybe 18 bidders. First couple were nothing special. One 10 x 15 had a double-door stainless refrigerator and was packed; couldn’t see to the back. I would have been happy to get it at about $800, but I took a regular up to $1,200 before I bailed, and then it went on up to $1,450 when the regular bidder got it. Pushing profit at that point considering what you could see. A nice frig like that goes for about $400 or so on Clist in my area.

Then a 10x10 about 1/3 full went for around $425…would have been nice at $200 or so.

Last one was a 5x10 showing an old 25” tv, coffee table and some loose clothing. Went for $100.

Auction #2 had 3 lkrs…all trash and only about 12 bidders. One very dusty, crap sofa, etc went for $425 to a regular bidder. I wouldn’t have paid $100 on a gamble; couldn’t see to the back. Sofa was on end at front of lkr.  Other two were junk; one went for $80, didn’t stay for last one but it was trash.

Sad part is I chose Auction #2 over a competing auction at a different location. The one I went to only had about 12 bidders, but 3 trash lkrs. The competing auction was over by the time I got to it about 1 mile away. I looked at the sign in sheet and only 5 bidders. Haven’t talked yet to one friend who went there, but wish I had chosen it instead of where I went. Oh, well !

Edit: talked to friend who went to auction I missed. There were also 3 lkrs there and she got one for $75. With only 5 bidders it would have seemed to be a bidder's dream, but the auctioneer there is the owner and he is wierd. He asks for a starting bid like any normal auctioneer, but if he asks for $75 and some one offers $25 he gets irate. This happened on one locker and after my friend offered the $25 he asked for $50 and no one spoke up. After a long time my friend said $40 and he wouldn't take it. Closed down the door. So he sold 2 of 3 he had available to the 5 bidders there.