Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => The Treasure Chest => Topic started by: ryante on November 19, 2011, 05:43:02 AM
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Hi guys. Loving the forum.
I just started doing this after reselling via garage sale picking. I decided to get into something to get more bulk items and to fill in the slow days of the week when I dont have any garage sales to pick or items to get sold.
This was my second time attending an auction. The first one was kinda crummy except for one unit and I didn't feel up to blowing $1000 on a tool unit for my first time.
Long story short, I got a 7.5x10 full of furniture for $150 that is pretty much going to triple itself. (leather couch, stone coffee table, two piece old style dresser, matching night stand, metal tv stand with mounting kit and glass surfaces, and the ever lovely mattress set). I've gotta say I got lucky with the mattresses though. The queen mattress set has a memory foam pillow top and my mom is going to take that one for herself.
The second unit looked kinda like this :D (10x40 hoarder unit)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/unit.jpg)
^^^ My mother going bonkers sifting through the treasures.
This facility had 7 auctions. Two were normal. The other five belonged to the same owner, a hoarder. After dealing with the other units, this was the last one and 80% of the people left when they saw it. I took it as a chance to get my feet wet and see what hard work is all about when it comes to this type of work.
I paid $120 for this unit. Luckily there are TONS of Christmas items. Ornaments, vintage wrapping paper, collectibles (cabbage patch kids, Lucy & Me Teddy Bears to name a few). A lot of glassware, good selling coffee mugs and pretty much anything 1950's to 1980's collectible type things with most of them in unopened condition or at least in the original box.
All in all, I think it worked out well. I'm estimating about $3000 out of the unit considering what we have found so far and what we've sold so quickly.
Now we have to get into getting it sold. Sorting through the boxes is fun, but high volume selling, especially ebay type things are not fun except for when they sell!
I got lucky. Now I'm dreading going out and doing it again and wondering when it is going to be "my time" to bomb out on a crappy unit :|
Take it easy!
Ryan
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Your mom looks lost in that "cavern". Looks like you'll both have fun and remember when you do score big like that ($3K) my estimate is that your next 49 lkrs will just be average !
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That is a cavern.. :D...
Good price that would have gone for double or triple in my area.. Everyone looking for those gold bars...LOL
Great Job first time out... I don't think we have even seen a unit that size... Have only seen one or two
10 X 30's.
Welcome to the forum and keep us updated on the final count on this unit.
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Yea looks like you guys were working in a mine shaft. Dont worry about 'bombing out', once you get enough experience its becomes less of a chance and more of a skill game.
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10x30's etc are the crazy ones.
I loved getting the one I got then reality set in when I realized that hey your not going to be moving all this product in one week and that your most likely going to be in the storage locker for at least a month. oddly enough my 10x30 has been a great teaching tool as to treat this as a business and get maximum value for my items well moving them quickly and that I really need to get a huge trailer or truck. I am realizing skimping on things in this business has it's drawbacks!
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$120 for that - oh man you lucked out. I'd of loved a unit like that. Of course I'm in to smalls and such. Figure around here that 10x30 would go for 200-300 easy. Good hunting to you.
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$120 for that locker, wow. Where you located at, I am moving.
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$120 for that - oh man you lucked out. I'd of loved a unit like that. Of course I'm in to smalls and such. Figure around here that 10x30 would go for 200-300 easy. Good hunting to you.
wow...$200-300 there, man a unit like that would fetch well over $1k here!
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Thanks for all of the great responses guys. I feel even luckier knowing that you guys are reacting that way. We got a good first buy!
To be honest, I have been so excited, I have been up for 35 hours straight going through boxes and listing stuff on ebay. (I'm fairly young and a medic by trade so I'm a bit used to it).
I've been through endless boxes and found a lot of stuff but I wanted to share this one today.
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/310133_10150363216865997_502880996_8616865_158703766_n.jpg)
I pulled this mantle clock out of the box unopened. Most of the stuff in this unit is from the late 70's to early 80's so I'm thinking this is the same, especially considering the type of font used in the manual. I cant identify it to save my life. Only thing it has is K & A on the face and everything I find on them are only wall pendulum clocks. Ah well.
I put it together and it works like a charm. I love the chime!
Not sure how much I can get out of it, but for now I am enjoying it with my mother.
I'll put up some other stuff later. We're rummaging through boxes right now :D
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Congrats and good luck!!!
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Well. I'm still up. TONS of coffee mug boxes to go through.
But I wanted to go back to something I found earlier today. Here is a video of it for reference: [/b]
So, its a little toy musical guitar. Sounds like a music box when you move the lever to "play" the guitar.
Made by "Funny Toy" company and made in Macau.
I've researched Macau and I know a little bit about that, but I am curious about the history and background of the company that made it, as well as the date of manufacture.
If anyone has any answers, feel free to let me know. Here's a few pics too. Sorry, its nearly impossible to get good pics of the marks.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/DSCN2526.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/DSCN2529.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/DSCN2530.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/DSCN2531.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/fierofierofiero/DSCN2536.jpg)
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Well. I'm still up. TONS of coffee mug boxes to go through.
Well, maybe it's just me, but if you spend this much time (taking the photos of the "guitar" and I think even making and posting the youtube of it (your measuring tape?), then I think you may be overthinking the sales process.
If I had found this item I would have sold it for a $1 and been happy. You must have tons of smalls in that locker and spending this kind of time on many of them seems counterproductive to me.
Of course if you just plain ENJOY IT that much, that's one thing, and maybe it's just beginner's enthusiasm at having all the goodies to work with in one way or another, but just seems overkill to me.
Coffee mugs? I can't give them away; maybe I'm not working hard enough at doing that...oh yeah, Goodwill will take them.
How many hours have you been up straight now...something like 36 or so. What's the hurry? Get some sleep.
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Well, maybe it's just me, but if you spend this much time (taking the photos of the "guitar" and I think even making and posting the youtube of it (your measuring tape?), then I think you may be overthinking the sales process.
If I had found this item I would have sold it for a $1 and been happy. You must have tons of smalls in that locker and spending this kind of time on many of them seems counterproductive to me.
This is not always true. Some things are worth a good researching over. This is including some toys. Some toys that alot of people look at and say, oh, its only worth 50 cents to maybe $5. Then turn out it be worth some real money.
For example I was talking with RN yesterday about a doll I have, and he said he learned about them at the same time he learned of "Little Miss No Name Dolls". These I never heard of, so I decided to google them. Alot of those dolls go for about $55 and up. Some are as high as $375. Well looking at the pictures of different No Name Dolls, I realized something. I saw three of these dolls at an estate sale a few months back. They were selling them for $5 each. I past on them cause I figured I would not make any money off of them, damn was I wrong. So sometimes the research on what you have can make or break you.
However Ryante, I did a little research on this item as well as the company. Sorry to have to tell you, but you did not strike gold with this toy. Toss it in the $1 pile at your next sale.
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This is not always true. Some things are worth a good researching over. This is including some toys. Some toys that alot of people look at and say, oh, its only worth 50 cents to maybe $5. Then turn out it be worth some real money.
There are only a few things that are "always" true.
Here are some of them:
The sun will rise and set each day.
Everything living dies.
You will not "always" buy a winning locker.
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Well, maybe it's just me, but if you spend this much time (taking the photos of the "guitar" and I think even making and posting the youtube of it (your measuring tape?), then I think you may be overthinking the sales process.
It is part enthusiasm. I enjoy stuff like this and I'm sure the process will be come more streamlined as I go along.
But if I were to have thrown away instead of looking through them, I would be missing out on some of the mugs in there that go for a nice penny. I recently found a pizza hut mug that sells for nearly $150.
I also am a history buff. I love to learn about new things, especially when I am holding something unique. That is the main reason for posting the guitar, not to find the value.
My staying up isn't something of me being in a hurry. I have insomnia fairly frequently. I'm not big on pills and when I have something to do like go through this storage unit, I kinda welcome it. I was up for 43 hours, I think, before I was able to sleep.
Don't get me wrong. I'm getting stuff done. I'm still new at this but my ebay auctions have jumped from 120 to over 500 this weekend. lol. I'm also exploring other avenues to getting rid of the stuff. I it gone and turned into green stuff asap.
Thanks for the criticism though. You are right. But for now I'm just enjoying it, I'm not hard up to move it fast to pay bills or anything, but as soon as I get bored of it, I'll see it more as a businesses like most I guess :D
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This is not always true. Some things are worth a good researching over. This is including some toys. Some toys that alot of people look at and say, oh, its only worth 50 cents to maybe $5. Then turn out it be worth some real money.
For example I was talking with RN yesterday about a doll I have, and he said he learned about them at the same time he learned of "Little Miss No Name Dolls". These I never heard of, so I decided to google them. Alot of those dolls go for about $55 and up. Some are as high as $375. Well looking at the pictures of different No Name Dolls, I realized something. I saw three of these dolls at an estate sale a few months back. They were selling them for $5 each. I past on them cause I figured I would not make any money off of them, damn was I wrong. So sometimes the research on what you have can make or break you.
However Ryante, I did a little research on this item as well as the company. Sorry to have to tell you, but you did not strike gold with this toy. Toss it in the $1 pile at your next sale.
Its a bummer that its a cheapy. I might just list it to see what happens. Just like you said, someone might have had one of these as a kid and go.. "Oh my god! I had one of these!" and buy it.
Its so true about things are as valuable as people are willing to pay for them. My mother picked up a set of Bolero (sp) vintage cups at a garage sale for free, seven of them. These types of things that people would just throw out. We listed them at .99 and they sold for $26.
You never know.
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You never know.
I'm not really trying to rain on any one's optimism parade, BUT, I hear "you never know" so many times I just have to comment on it. People (most often beginners) make this remark at just about every auction I go to.
The fact is (in my experience) that most of the time "you do know". "You do know" (or should) that most of the lockers will not be BIG money makers.
"You do know" that truly rare items will not be in any given locker; sure, they'll be in SOME LOCKER, somewhere, but the odds of any given person getting them are very low indeed. The $500K pirate treasure was in one locker out of hundreds of thousands sold over the years as an example.
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Regarding toys and the like: Yes, there are people who want to relive their childhood or get a replacement soup toureen like grandma used to have and eBay is certainly the place to find those folks.
Here's an example of an old Captain Marvel keepsake. The poor captain never did make it big like Superman, but he is still trying.
Take a look at these two pins from 1948:
The first one listed below is for sale for right at $90 (buy it now)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-Captain-Marvel-Club-Shazam-pin-bock-button-SCARCE-/380385101049?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item5890b804f9
The 2nd one is taking bids and with a few days left is at $10.50. Be interesting to see how it finishes.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-NEAR-MINT-CAPTAIN-MARVEL-CLUB-SHAZAM-PIN-PINBACK-FAWCETT-PUBLICATIONS-/190602734342?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c60ceeb06
Both pins are in the same apparent condition.
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Well I do say "you never know" a few times each month. With me it's not thinking I'm going to find the next gold bar in a unit but for what will this unit hold in addition to what I see. I'm getting better in figurining it out just based on expierence. Prices still amaze me sometimes. My latest unit from a silent auction I won on $26 and has paid for itself and made me 3x the profit so far. Thus I remarked the other day that sometimes you just never know. These type units I've already classified as the bread and butter units. Units with no really wow factor but that have solid items that sale well.
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No, "You never know" is the motto of storage units.
You never know if you're getting a bum unit or a good unit. Especially one with trashed out boxes.
I've uncovered hundreds of dollars in hard to find coffee mugs instead of giving them away.
We just uncovered a ziploc bag full of Saint Yves Opium perfumed dusting powder too. Good thing we didn't throw those out just because they're "smalls" either. They're $25 a pop.
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I've uncovered hundreds of dollars in hard to find coffee mugs instead of giving them away.
OK, I'll bite. How many hard to find coffee mugs have you sold in the last year (or more) and what made them so hard to find?
Name of mug (logo, age, etc) and what it sold for please.
A further question would be what percentage of the mugs you get in lockers would these hard to finds represent?
In other words, in a year's time if you found 1000 coffee mugs how many would be valuable?
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Well, I'm new to the lockers.
I get most of the mugs from garage sale picking. Thats how I know about them. It also isn't a matter of looking for $100 mugs as much as it is that I have found numerous, good selling $5 - $10 mugs in one place.
One of the easiest ones to find are these old brown Whataburger mugs. I frequently find them for .25 or .50 and sell them for $15 - $20.
Anchor Hocking mugs sell for $10 a pop. I've found about 20 of them in this lot.
This lot also has 14 Neiman Marcus mugs that sell for $7 a piece.
8 Japanese Otagiri mug/creamers $12 a piece
And the milk glass Pizza Hut mug that I got from a free garage sale leftover lot. $150
There's a few more I need to look at, so I'm not sure. Everyone's time is worth different amounts to them but I'm glad I looked through the mugs to find out what I had.
This also isnt just about coffee mugs. Another example of not throwing stuff out: My mother was going through a box of old makeup. The box and the stuff in it looked ****ty and I was like "I'll let you have fun with that". It wasn't long before she pulled out a ziploc bag with 14 bottles of perfumed dusting powder that is out of production. They sell quick for $50 each.
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OK, I think I'm getting a better idea about your mugs being valuable.
1) You know about their value and you spot them at garage sales.
2) The big locker you got had a lot of valuable ones apparently because the former lkr owner ALSO knew value.
and .... drum roll....
3) the chances of finding any of the ones you mentioned in a locker are.....next to none.
Clears it up perfectly for me. Thanks!
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The chance of finding them are the same chance you have at finding just about anything in a locker.
The mugs I listed, except the Pizza Hut and the Whataburger mugs are all from this unit.
It might be worth it to look at them for the extra money. It all depends on what your time is worth to you.
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The chance of finding them are the same chance you have at finding just about anything in a locker.
That may be true if looking for a specific item; say I was LOOKING for a particular watch I either wanted for myself or that I knew sold well. Chances are I wouldn't get it in 100 lockers I bought.
On the other hand if I feel that TOOLS in general do well, I am more likely to find some tools that will sell, though again the BEST tools or the BEST sellers aren't going to come up that often.
That's why as I think you said, the bread and butter items pay the way most of the time and the really good stuff is just bonus time.
As another example, generally the toys I get aren't that good, but, perhaps like you, I have learned that American Girl dolls and the wardrobes they can travel in do quite well for the most part.
Depeding on the socio-economic status of the former lkr owner, most of the lkrs have just average toys to below average, but once in a while I find a lkr with a lot of good quality toys and the orignal boxes they came in. In quantity those can pay off just as a dozen of your mugs do.
A toy train? Thomas the Tank Engine...OK. Lionel from 1938.....almost as good as a small grain of gold.
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Well, maybe it's just me, but if you spend this much time (taking the photos of the "guitar" and I think even making and posting the youtube of it (your measuring tape?), then I think you may be overthinking the sales process.
If I had found this item I would have sold it for a $1 and been happy. You must have tons of smalls in that locker and spending this kind of time on many of them seems counterproductive to me.
Of course if you just plain ENJOY IT that much, that's one thing, and maybe it's just beginner's enthusiasm at having all the goodies to work with in one way or another, but just seems overkill to me.
Coffee mugs? I can't give them away; maybe I'm not working hard enough at doing that...oh yeah, Goodwill will take them.
How many hours have you been up straight now...something like 36 or so. What's the hurry? Get some sleep.
This is probably the biggest conundrum in the business, especially when you start buying multiple units per month/week. Do you go through the entire unit with a fine tooth comb, research as best you can every small item to see if you have something worth $5, $25, $50 or more, and squeeze every possible penny out of those units? Of course the more expensive, the more unlikely you will find something like that. Or do you turn and burn! Sell what you know has a certain value, dump the other stuff at yard sale/flea market for $0.50 to $2.00, donate the rest, and go win some more units?
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Sell what you know has a certain value, dump the other stuff at yard sale/flea market for $0.50 to $2.00, donate the rest, and go win some more units?
This gets my vote, or somewhere in between that and the "fine tooth comb". Thanks for stating the puzzle so succinctly.
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I may be doing it backwards but I mostly turn and burn, then do research. If it's a slow day or I think something looks more promising then others I'll do a quick search. I'm learning that I need a ton more knowledge on general stuff then I currently have. I currently only average 2 units a month. So I try to take time to look-up some things to see if they are worth ebay or just selling at the flea. Example was a coke bank/clock that I found still in box. Found one on ebay for 19.99 and $15 shipping. So it at the flea for $15. May of gotten $20 out of it but I pretty much knew I'd get $15 and it would make room in my totes for new lockers.
I started to take pictures of many things as I uncover them. That way I can do research later that night or in spare time when not doing anything else. I try to squeeze every cent out of a unit that I can.
As for coffee mugs - so far I'm lucky. Only have about 3 or 4. I figure if can't sale them at the flea they will go to Goodwill or will be used for target practice.
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I may be doing it backwards but I mostly turn and burn, then do research. If it's a slow day or I think something looks more promising then others I'll do a quick search. I'm learning that I need a ton more knowledge on general stuff then I currently have. I currently only average 2 units a month. So I try to take time to look-up some things to see if they are worth ebay or just selling at the flea. Example was a coke bank/clock that I found still in box. Found one on ebay for 19.99 and $15 shipping. So it at the flea for $15. May of gotten $20 out of it but I pretty much knew I'd get $15 and it would make room in my totes for new lockers.
I started to take pictures of many things as I uncover them. That way I can do research later that night or in spare time when not doing anything else. I try to squeeze every cent out of a unit that I can.
As for coffee mugs - so far I'm lucky. Only have about 3 or 4. I figure if can't sale them at the flea they will go to Goodwill or will be used for target practice.
I am kinda gettin fed up with putting things on EBay. First there is all the time researching to see what it is selling for, then posting individual items, then figuring shipping, finding shipping boxes, watching the item you list sell for 1/2 of what you researched other listings selling for, then shipping the item, then watching for delivery, then getting feedback, then paying PayPal their cut of the sale, EBay their cut of the sale, I am not sure it is worth it unless I know for certain I can get $25 or more for it. I would rather just throw it out at the yard sale or flea market table and watch peoples reaction when they ask how much. If I say $20 and they put down so fast they almost sprain their wrist then I know I am asking too much, if they go into a spasm trying to get to their purse or wallet to pay, I know I am asking too little.
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Can you post a picture of what a $100 mug looks like. I would hate to have come across on and tossed it.
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Ebay is a tough cookie, the fees really do add up. Its gold for the hard-to-sell-locally collectibles, and clothes, but its only worth listing on there if you can make $15 or more in pure profit (counting the fees) vs selling it to dick and harry on the street.
Compared to the posters so far though I have a 'bleeding' style with lockers. I love the fact of making money still from **** I bought 6 months ago.
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Can you post a picture of what a $100 mug looks like. I would hate to have come across on and tossed it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-ANCHOR-HOCKING-FIRE-KING-PIZZA-HUT-MILK-GLASS-STACKABLE-COFFEE-MUG-HTF-L-K-/220871641189#ht_500wt_1413
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Wow. Cool cup.
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Man that is just nuts. $180+ bucks for a cup. Doubt I'll find anything like that in the lockers around here. Did find what I thought was cool - a Waffle House 2000 shirt - looks brand new in red.
As for ebay - I really don't like ebay and had stopped selling there for years. But, for some of these cloths that just don't sell in my area I'll give them a try. I'll use up my 50 free listings and once those are out I'm done for a month. So far I've not come even close to useing 1/2 the listings. As for mailing - I use USPS priority mail so all I supply is the tape on the boxes. I still had a ton of boxes and such from when I did NASCAR / Coke bottle collectibles 4-5 years ago and did shippments every day. It's like the two ties I put up last night. See them going for $15-20 so I put them up at $5. Was trying to sell them at the flea for $1 w/ zero interest. So even w/ fees if they sale I'll make more money. Pay the postage online - pack it up - and drop it in with all the mail from my work so no extra travel.
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-ANCHOR-HOCKING-FIRE-KING-PIZZA-HUT-MILK-GLASS-STACKABLE-COFFEE-MUG-HTF-L-K-/220871641189#ht_500wt_1413
So I think it is not so much that it is a "Pizza Hut" coffee mug, but that it is Anchor Hocking?
Something that looks like that would definetly get pulled out and researched, it does not look like your typical ceramic coffee mug we find by the dozens in lockers.
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So I think it is not so much that it is a "Pizza Hut" coffee mug, but that it is Anchor Hocking?
Something that looks like that would definetly get pulled out and researched, it does not look like your typical ceramic coffee mug we find by the dozens in lockers.
I have a McDonalds Anchor Hocking mug and by the looks of it I would be lucky to get $5 for it.
Thank you for posting the photo.
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Nice find on the mug! I always pickup any cheap FireKing Mugs I run across, you can make some pretty decent $ back on some of them for sure.
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Nice find on the mug! I always pickup any cheap FireKing Mugs I run across, you can make some pretty decent $ back on some of them for sure.
OK, now it is starting to make more sense. It's a specialty area just like many others. Thanks to the two coffee mug promoters here for letting us know.
Now I know to look for Anchor Hocking with logos as well as FireKing.
So, the next lkr I get with the usual dozen or so coffee mugs I will NOW do a quick look before throwing them over the edge at the dump ! (as that is where the thousands we find in a couple of years of lkr buys actually belong)
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Yep. Pretty much any Anchor Hocking is worth taking a look at but there are others.
For instance, I've got the Neiman Marcus mugs. About 20 of them. I've sold 3 of them at $15 a piece in the past two days.
While, not a coffee mug, it was in the same box. I have about 10 Otagiri creamers in the shape of a fat farmer. $12 a pop and they're selling.
The Simpsons mug. $20.
Just keep your eyes out for anything unique or nostalgic. That type of stuff sells.
While $15 isn't a lot. It adds up with 20 of them and I only have to have one listing to post them in multiple quantities on buy it now.
For those of you that don't do ebay, keep chunking them I guess.
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Thanks for all the info.. I would have either chunked them or sell them for .10 at a yard..
Will at least do a look through.. :D
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wow, that cup would of ended up in my dollar pile if I had it. Glad I know better now, just in case I run across any of them.