Archive - 2014

StorageUnitAuctionList.com Coupon Code – 15% Discount

October 28, 2014

A storage auction business can’t get very far if you don’t know where to look for auctions. Word of mouth is helpful, but it won’t lead you to the most valuable auctions – those little-known gems without much competition and with plenty of potential treasures to choose from. These honey pots are the holy grail of storage auctions, but without a lot of research it can be hard to find them.

That’s where storage auction listings come into play. A storage auction listing site is an aggregate of all the storage auction information for a given area. Some work on a national scale and others are more local, but all of them work to provide auction-hunters with a list of upcoming auctions so that you can build your game plan accordingly.

Traditionally, these listing sites have been a little hit-or-miss. The problem is that a lot of the big sites just don’t go in-depth enough to be of much value. They’ll skim the surface, post a few of the easiest-to-find listings, and call it a day. That’s what puts StorageUnitAuctionList.com ahead of the pack: It’s a comprehensive listing of auctions all across the country, not just the highlights from a few areas. Nationwide, it provides listing information for more than 50,000 storage facilities, with a whopping 200,000 listings per month for all locations. And, unlike some sites, it updates daily to provide the most up-to-date information possible for its subscribers.

That’s how Storage Unit Auction List became the #1 auction listing service in the country, and it’s why a subscription is one of the best things you can do for the long-term health of your storage auction business.

For OSA Members: Storage Unit Auction List Coupon Code

Subscription prices for StorageUnitAuctionList.com vary depending on your zip code. In areas with more facilities and more results, you’ll pay more. Subscriptions start as low as $5 a month or $50 a year and go up from there – not a bad price considering how much time you’ll save using this service as opposed to tracking down all of the storage auctions in your area by hand.

But we have a special offer that will sweeten the deal. Online Storage Auctions’ members who use our coupon code will receive a 15% discount on the cost of a subscription. This lets you check out all of the features without paying much upfront, and Storage Unit Auction List’s subscription guarantee ensures that you’ll be satisfied with the results or your money back.

This is a limited time offer, so be sure to use our coupon code right away to take advantage of this great deal.

Using the Promo Code

When you sign up for the service at StorageUnitAuctionList.com, type in coupon code “OSA1514” to receive your 15% discount or just click here and it’ll be applied directly to your purchase. You can use it for either a monthly or yearly subscription model – whichever you prefer!

Other Storage Auction Resources

Of course, even the best national storage auction listing can still have some gaps in its information. If you happen to live in Texas, the biggest and best listing service for the state can be found at AuctionsTX.com. This offers the most in-depth coverage of storage auctions in five major Texas cities and their outlying areas, gleaned from local listings as well as direct listings from storage facilities themselves. You won’t find a more comprehensive listing anywhere, so be sure to check it out for all of your Texas auction needs! For a free trial membership, click here.

Giving Delinquent Tenants an Option

October 21, 2014

Tiana Bodine

Self-Storage

4 Comments

Contrary to what some might think, storage facility owners don’t really want to hold auctions for delinquent units. As a facility owner, your bread and butter is the regular rent you receive from your tenants each month. Delinquent tenants disrupt that income, and putting their units up for sale is a time-consuming hassle.

It’s especially difficult when you know that the renter is behind on his payments and will have no way to bring the account current. It puts you in an uncomfortable position knowing that the tenant cannot pay his rent. Unlike an abandoned unit, these delinquent storage units put a lot of pressure on you to find a solution – but you can’t make exceptions for every person who falls on hard times.

Fortunately, there is a compromise that you can suggest that will relieve the financial stress from the tenant without putting you in a bind: Online Storage Auctions. Although many of the auctions at OnlineStorageAuctions.com are put there by auctioneers or storage facilities, the tenants themselves are always welcome to post their own units for auction at no charge. And, if they’re delinquent, this allows them the chance to liquidate their belongings and pay off the debt with minimal hassles. Here are a few perks to this method:

— The owner of the items will have a better idea of what’s in the unit and what it’s worth, so he’ll be able to post a better description, take great photos and really up-sell the unit to interested buyers who will pay good money for the contents. This can result in higher bids than if they were sold through a traditional auction.

— You don’t have to worry about passing profits beyond the debt on to the tenant the way you would if you were facilitating the sale. Normally, you’d have to relinquish those funds to the state if you couldn’t get in touch with the owner. Now, the owner gets the money first and pays you out of the profits.

— You, the tenant and the buyer can all meet and exchange money on-site, allowing you to get the unit paid off immediately after the sale and the tenant to walk away with any profits over the amount owed to you.

— The unit will be cleaned out by the buyer, saving you and your tenant the effort and hassle of cleaning it. This gets you an empty unit that can be rented out again more quickly, and it alleviates some stress on the part of your tenant as well.

For most facility owners, storage auctions are a last resort. Giving your tenant the option to liquidate and sell their items on their own to interested buyers can help to meet both of your needs with minimal conflict. It also relieves you of the work and responsibility, so you can get back to doing what you do best: Managing a storage facility!

Which National Truck Rental Company is the Most Affordable?

October 19, 2014

Tiana Bodine

Storage Auctions 101

1 Comment

Most people are familiar with truck rental companies only when they need to move. If you’ve ever packed up your family and moved across town or cross-country, you’ve probably dealt with U-Haul, Penske, Budget or any of the other big truck rental companies out there.

When you work in the storage auction business, you’ll find yourself much more familiar with the local truck rental company than ever before. This is because every auction you attend has the potential to send you home with large quantities of stuff that must be hauled away within 24-48 hours. Unless you have a pickup, you’re going to find yourself getting very cozy with the local truck rental; even if you have a truck of your own, you may still need to rent one to haul larger items.

Since you’ll be renting a truck semi-frequently, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with your options so that you can trim your expenses whenever possible.

First, do yourself a favor by getting the smallest truck that will get the job done. For in-town jobs, many companies allow you to rent a pickup or 10′ box truck, which be sufficient for most storage auction hauls and will be easier on gas mileage. That efficiency will keep your overhead low.

Next, you’ll want to compare prices among several companies. The exact rates will vary from one city to the next, so you should do your own research before settling on a particular truck rental company.

The top three truck rental companies in the U.S. are Budget, Penske and U-Haul. Other companies, like Avon and Enterprise, do have trucks they can loan you, especially if you’re just looking for a pickup, but for most people the term truck rental is synonymous with those three companies.

In terms of price, the cost of an in-town truck rental is quite low. All companies will average around $20 to $30 per day, with additional charges per mile. U-Haul is the cheapest, with an advertised daily rate of $19.95 per day. Penske and Budget usually rent around $29.

However, these rates are base prices, and the actual cost can be much higher if you’re using the truck on a popular day. Fortunately, these price fluctuations mean that rental costs are negotiable. You’ll often get the best rates if you call ahead for a price, then leave your number rather than commit. When a representative calls you afterward to follow up, you can play hardball and quote a competitor’s advertised price to see if you can get cheaper rates.

Also bear in mind that cost is not the only relevant factor in choosing a truck rental company for your storage auction needs. Customer service and vehicle availability make a big difference, too. Your local company may have the habit of advertising local rates without ever having a truck available for the job. This is why calling the exact company you plan to use and getting a quote is the only way to ensure you’re getting what you want.

Do you have a favorite truck rental company? If so, which one is it and how much does it cost you? Leave your interesting and creative responses in the comments section below.

Storage Auctions in the UK Take Off Thanks to Storage Hunters

October 15, 2014

Tiana Bodine

Entertainment, News

3 Comments

Reality TV in general and storage auction shows in particular have deep roots in America, but the trend is spreading far and wide. By now you’ve probably heard about Storage Wars: Canada, but did you know that the UK is getting in on the act with its own Storage Hunters spin-off?

If you’ve been keeping an eye on British television lately, it’s no surprise. For more than a year, the original Storage Hunters has been the top-earning show on Britain’s “Dave” network, a channel comprised of a few original British shows (like Red Dwarf) alongside American imports. The show pulls in a million viewers for each new episode, making it the most popular program on the network.

Now, a new series has been unveiled: Storage Hunters UK, a 10-part spin-off from Sean Kelly himself. The first episode is set to air on October 28, and it features a brand new cast of bidders. Details on the cast and locations haven’t been publicized yet, but we know from reports at Digital Spy that the show will have a British twist and a new voice-over to drive home the humorous aspect of the show.

Now, it’s anyone’s guess how well the show will do. Previous attempts to replicate American reality TV in the UK have flopped, like the lamentable Pawn Stars UK. Then again, since Kelly and a few of the other American stars are on-board for the remake, it might translate better to the new audience.

It’s also possible that the popularity of Storage Hunters in the UK has less to do with the subject matter and more with its portrayal of Americans: Many British viewers undoubtedly enjoy this particularly over-the-top version of the auction show format specifically because it feeds into stereotypes about life across the pond. This is evidenced by the way Dave Network itself describes the show on its website: “If the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” got drunk and started punching a chubby man from Arkansas the resulting horror might look like Storage Hunters.”

It’s an accurate description, but not a particularly flattering one.

All of this does raise the question: Have storage auctions in the UK become more popular thanks to the reality shows?

While that was certainly the trend in the U.S., real-world storage auctions in the UK are less common. Although storage facilities retain the right to resell items from delinquent units, these items are usually sent to warehouses for auctions rather than selling them off one unit at a time. Storage unit usage in general is also pretty rare, although it’s been growing over the last few years, especially for businesses. As the popularity of Storage Hunters UK and other storage auction shows spread across the British Isles, storage auctions might really begin to take hold in the UK.

How Did Big Sis from Auction Hunters Die?

October 14, 2014

Tiana Bodine

News

44 Comments

Robin Nomik Matte, better known by reality show lovers as “Big Sis,” passed away in May. The memorial was kept private and personal among her friends and family. Most fans didn’t know anything had even happened — until the season opener for Auction Hunters ran a brief memorial segment.

Update: Robin’s sister Lucinda asked us to clarify that Robin’s death was not drug related or suicide. Robin passed away from cancer. Click here to read the interview.

Naturally, this sudden news has left plenty of fans reeling, and the Internet is rife with speculation about the details of the 37-year-old’s death. Rumors are already circulating online, but is there any truth to any of them? Does anyone know what really happened to Big Sis?

Ton Jones and Allen Haff shared details of her memorial and obituary on their Facebook pages back in May, but no details were shared either in the post or the comments by either actor. Robin’s own social media accounts are pretty barren, so there’s little to dig up there.

There is one important clue, though: Big Sis bowed out of the show in the episode airing March 29 of Auction Hunters: Pawn Shop Edition. The official reason given with Robin’s two-week notice was that she had a family obligation forcing her to move to Milwaukee, training a replacement Elle in her stead.

While this explanation could have been totally accurate, it’s also possible that it was a cover for medical problems Robin could have been experiencing, allowing her to leave the show quietly before the illness spread.
On the other hand, many suspect that the lack of details online is indicative of suicide, drug use or a related “shameful” death. That’s often the case when an obituary is maddeningly vague, like Robin’s (http://schramka-milwaukee.tributes.com/dignitymemorial/obituary/Robin-Nomik-Matte-101374468).

Ultimately, the entire situation is a mystery. Outside of her time on Auction Hunters as the shop manager for Ton and Allen’s pawn shop, Robin seems to have lived a very private life. Somewhat inexplicably, she’s not even listed on the show’s IMDB page, although Laura Soares (aka, Elle) is.

Taking all of that into account, though, short of hearing directly from the horse’s mouth — a family member or at least a co-star — speculating about the cause of Robin Matte’s death won’t get you very far. It’s better to focus on what we do know: She was a beloved part of the Auction Hunters show, and she’ll be missed by friends, family and fans. Click the following link for more information on how Big Sis died.

So, what did you think of Robin and how will you remember her? Leave your interesting and creative response in the comments section below.

Storage Treasures Auctions Earn 25% Less

October 14, 2014

T.C. Lane

Online Storage Auctions

2 Comments

If you haven’t been paying attention to recent developments in the storage auction business, you might be losing money.

Online storage auctions are a big trend, and they’re an attractive option for both buyers and sellers. While the benefits of convenience are obvious for auction-hunters, virtual auctions are also more valuable for storage facilities. Auctions held online earn more on average than live auctions.

Even if you’re already taking advantage of the benefits of virtual auctions, you could still be losing money by using the wrong service. People who use Storage Treasures and similar paid listing sites could net about 25% less than those who sell their units through the free service at OnlineStorageAuctions.com.

When you use Online Storage Auctions, you don’t have to pay for a middle man. There are no fees for either the buyer or the seller, and payments are made directly to you by the buyer rather than being handled by the site. This means no credit card information is gathered and the winning bid is the same as what you’ll receive in your pocket.

Storage Treasures and others of its kind, however, charge a premium either for listing an item or for winning it — or both. Since buyers know they’ll have to pay a premium on top of their winning bid, they’ll scale down their bidding. This essentially passes the cost of buyer’s fees back to the seller, who’s already paying fees for the privilege of having the item listed. Added together, this results in as much as 25% in lost revenue — and that’s assuming no additional costs like cancellation fees!

If you’re looking to sell the contents of a storage unit, wouldn’t you rather go with the option that cost you nothing? OnlineStorageAuctions.com is free for everyone from bidders to auctioneers to private sellers. Since there’s nothing to lose, why not give our service a try with your next sale?

2-Ingreditent DIY Beauty Products

October 11, 2014

Chuck G.

Entertainment

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Some of us shy away from do-it-yourself projects because of cost of supplies. Sort of defeats the purpose of saving money if you’re having to spend a lot of money. What if you only had to use two items to make your own unique DIY beauty project? That perk your interest? You may already have the ingredients at home.

1. Body Scrub

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup sugar or sea salt – large or small grain
2. 1/2 cup of your favorite oil – almond, olive, jojoba, or coconut

Instructions:

Stir together the oil and sugar or sea salt until combined. You can gradually add additional sugar or sea salt until the scrub has a consistency you like.

2. Dry Shampoo

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup arrowroot powder
2. 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (adjust according to hair color)

Instructions:

Mix. Apply small amounts. Comb and tussle hair.

3. Self Tanner

Ingredients:

1. Bronzer powder
2. Oil

Instructions:

1. Break up the bronzer powder until it is free of clumps. I found the baby spoon to work perfectly.
2. Slowly add the oil, stirring constantly to incorporate the powder.
3. Continue adding oil until the color looks right. Try it out on your arm or leg to test. Too little oil and it will be streaky.
4. Carefully pour into a container and use.

4. Lavender Bath Salts

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup of epsom salt
2. 10 drops of Young Living lavender essential oil

Instructions:

Stir or mix to combine then and store in a sealed glass jar.

5. Lip Gloss

Ingredients:

1. Coconut Oil
2. Crayola Crayons (only works with this brand)

Instructions:

1. Remove the wrappers from the crayons.
2. Cut or break the crayons into 4 even-ish pieces.
3. Put your jar (for the lip gloss) in the center of a pot and add water to the pot, but do not add water inside the jar.
4. Add about a teaspoon of coconut oil to the jar and put the pot on the stove.
5. Warm it up slowly, low-medium heat.
6. Once the coconut oil has melted all the way, add your crayon.

Note: If you add too much crayon the lipstick will be a little dry. If you don’t have enough crayon, the lipstick will be too sheer and glossier.

6. Moisturizing Hair Treatment

Ingredients:

1. 2 tablespoons of honey. Honey is a natural humectant which is a natural substance that attracts and helps retain moisture.
2. 1 medium-sized avocado. Avocados are rich in unsaturated oils, nutrient-dense, and provides a ton of moisture.

Instructions:

1. Take a medium-sized avocado and mash until smooth.
2. Add in 2 tablespoons of honey and mix well.
3. Apply to dry or slightly damp hair and leave on for 15-20 minutes.
4. Rinse well and follow with shampoo and conditioner if desired.

Which beauty DIY will you try?

Please leave your creative thoughts in the comment box below.

Storage Unit Auctions: A Green Solution

October 9, 2014

Tiana Bodine

Entertainment

2 Comments

By and large, we are a culture that’s becoming increasingly aware of our impact on the natural world. Green initiatives across the country seek to reduce carbon emissions, boost recycling and eliminate toxins that might leech out into the oceans. This is good news for the environment as it helps create a more sustainable world for us all to live in. It’s also good news for storage auction buyers and resale companies, because it generates a real demand for the service we offer.

At its heart, the resale business is very “green.” When you buy a storage unit’s contents, you’re walking away with items that might otherwise have ended up in a landfill. Many of these abandoned items are in perfectly usable condition, either as-is or with some mild renovations, and they can be given a good life.

Whether you’re reselling the items you buy at a storage auction or using them in your own home, here are a few ways storage auctions fit into a green lifestyle:

— Abandoned storage units go into default when their rent isn’t paid. The facility manager has no need for the contents. Running an auction matches the items inside with interested buyers instead of sending usable, potentially valuable items to the landfill.

— You can find numerous valuable and usable items inside for furnishing your home, dorm room, apartment, vacation home or anywhere else. Local storage auctions are a good place to find things like furniture, electronics and even wall art, and you can get it cheaper even than a thrift store or yard sale if you’re careful with your bids.

— Used items can be refurbished and resold. With environmentally conscious people looking for alternatives to mass-produced products, used and refurbished goods are more popular than ever. With a little paint or varnish, you can give new life to outdated furniture and fetch a great price while giving buyers a product they can feel good about.

— Things that can’t be resold or used are recycled, sometimes for a profit. Most storage auction hunters are also scrappers and pickers, and they know exactly how to squeeze value from metal, broken electronics and other recyclable materials. Recycling centers will pay for these trash components if you know where to look, and recycling them puts a little extra money in your pocket while keeping useful materials out of landfills (and reducing the need to mine more new metals from the earth).

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint even more, cut down your fuel costs by bidding on auctions virtually. Online storage auctions are becoming increasingly popular, and they’re an easy way to view available units and make a bid without having to drive around town to participate in live auctions.

So, what green practices do you or your business use? Leave your interesting and creative responses in the comments section below.

Storage Auctions Present Great Opportunities for Students

September 29, 2014

Tiana Bodine

Online Storage Auctions

6 Comments

When you think of storage auctions, the image that pops into mind is probably of a middle-aged guy or maybe a woman who owns a thrift store or other resale business. While this image is sometimes accurate, the truth is that storage auctions can benefit people from all walks of life, not just those who routinely make an appearance on the reality shows. One group that can seriously benefit from storage auctions are college students. With a bit of know-how, a student can easily turn storage auctions into a part-time job or source of quick income.

Liquidate Your Belongings

Storage space is at a premium on college campuses, and many students have turned toward using storage facilities to keep their belongings safe between semesters or even throughout the school year. After graduation, though, you might find that you have a lot of belongings that you don’t really need. Instead of trying to sell off your extra mini-fridge, textbooks and Ikea furniture piece-by-piece, consider liquidating it all through online storage auctions.

If your items are already in the storage unit, selling them is as easy as putting the unit up for sale online through OnlineStorageAuctions.com. This free service lets you post photos and a description of your unit’s contents and accept bids from interested buyers. When someone wins the auction, you get the cash and they get the job of emptying the unit and hauling away your stuff. You can then put that money toward upgrading your furniture or paying the deposit on a new apartment.

Furnish Your Dorm or Apartment

College students are always looking for cheap, functional furniture for their dorms or apartments. Things like bookshelves, lamps, electronics and storage furniture are always in high demand. Instead of cobbling together a shelf from milk crates, consider attending a few storage auctions. Abandoned storage units are full of home furnishings, and you can easily walk away with enough stuff to furnish a whole apartment for far less than the cost of buying one or two pieces new.

To make this tactic work, you’ll need to set a budget and stick to it. You might not find what you’re looking for at the first auction you visit, but keeping an open mind and a budget of a couple hundred dollars can net you some great finds. Best of all, you have a chance at getting much better furniture than you could otherwise afford, even including designer pieces or antiques. You can resell anything you don’t want to help recoup the costs.

If trudging out into the heat to look at storage units in person doesn’t sound like your idea of a great Saturday afternoon, you can try online auctions instead. These allow you to browse the available units and bid when it’s convenient to you. You only have to go to the facility if your bid wins.

Start a Part-Time Business

If the image of “broke college student” applies to you, you’re probably always looking for more opportunities to make money. Having a side job can disrupt your studying. Making your own income through a resale business is much more flexible and can actually earn you a far better profit than you could make flipping burgers.

The basic premise of a resale business is easy: You visit storage auctions, buy units at a low price, then resell the items piece-by-piece through Craigslist, eBay, local flea markets etc. This is something you can do largely from home, both scoping out online auctions and by listing items for sale online. If you go in with a friend or two, you’ll be able to very efficiently clean out a unit and divide the profits.

Lots of the items found in storage units are very easy to resell. This includes furniture, home appliances, electronic devices and more. If you can’t use them, someone else probably can – including a fellow student, making selling your wares as easy as walking down the hall of your dorm. You can also keep your merchandise in a storage unit of your own to save space, and if you need to liquidate suddenly or just can’t be bothered to keep up with the business, you can auction off the whole storage unit.

Storage auctions offer many valuable opportunities to students who are willing to put in a bit of effort to learn about them. You can get advice from the pros at the OnlineStorageAuctions.com forum, the largest dedicated storage auction community on the web. Feel free to drop by to ask questions and get more tips for how auctions can benefit you!

Fort Worth Storage Auction Schedules

September 28, 2014

T.C. Lane

Submitted Articles

2 Comments

The foundation of a good storage auction business is your schedule. By knowing where you’re headed and when, you can plan an optimized route, budget for your auctions and arrange your buying schedule to fit in with the rest of your business activities. Building that schedule, however, can be a difficulty.

With more than 1500 storage facilities in Fort Worth, Dallas and surrounding suburbs, there’s a lot of ground to cover. If you’re putting your auction schedule together by hand, keeping up with all of these facilities can be a time-consuming chore. Sitting down with a stack of local newspapers and a listing of facility websites isn’t a good use of your time, but you don’t want to miss out on a great auction by not being thorough in your search.

There’s a better solution: Hire a pro to build your list for you.

AuctionsTX.com is the most accurate storage auction schedule service for Texas. It encompasses five major cities, including Dallas/Fort Worth, and provides information for auctions and facilities of all sizes. Since many of the ads are placed directly by storage facilities, you know you’re getting the highest-quality information that your competitors may be unaware of. To use this info, you just need to download the list, choose your route and hit the road. Here is a small peek at the DFW storage auction schedule.

Since the listings are located by a team of professionals rather than just aggregated from throughout the web, you’ll get much more thorough listings than any other service will provide. Membership costs just $12.99 per month or $89.99 for a full year. If you’re not sure whether to commit, you can start a seven-day free trial and decide from there whether the subscription is worth it for the time and effort you can save and put toward more lucrative parts of your business. You have nothing to lose! Click here for more information.