Author - Chuck G.

Storage Wars

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Storage Wars: Season 3, Episode 28: “The Kook, The Chief, His Son, and The Brothers.”

Move over Barry, the Kings of Swag just stole the show with the way they dressed, bantered and well, both cute as a button. Identical twins Mark and Matt Harris once appraised a movie memorabilia jacket for Barry a time ago. They made their first appearance as bidders on Storage Wars.

Auction was held in Lake Elsinore, California, once considered the Palm Springs of Cali back in the day. Usual players present, minus Dave Hester who currently has a legal dispute with A&E & the producers of the show.

Darrell dressed better. He stated to Brandon that when he dressed well they scored good lockers. “Reverse psychology on myself,” he said. Uh, yeah, go with that.

Jarrod complained they needed inventory for a new thrift store they yet to own. Brandi, well, was beside herself with Jarrod’s mentality.

Barry brought his quirky buddy Boston Joe to the auction. He would regret that decision later on.

1st Storage Unit
Stacked with boxed crates, wooden materials, and a tangled mess. Barry told Boston Joe to work on these “Bidiots.” Bids at a fast pace, too fast for the Harris brothers. Darrell won at $725.

He found tools, a compressor, and a unique scientific piece he called “Uranus.” Sigh. I have no comment. Darrell and Brandon went to the Planetary of Society to get the contraption appraised. Expert stated it was a Tellurian. Type of Orrery.

Darrell: It’s an… Ovary?

I thwacked my head. O-M-G! He didn’t just say that.

Orrery was used in the 1700s to teach people about planets. Valued at $4,000. Maybe wearing nice clothes did bring Lady Luck for Darrell, but it certainly didn’t bless him with brains.

2nd Storage Unit
Junk haven sprinkled with spider webs. Items thrown about as if someone was in a big hurry.

Jarrod: I don’t think I’ll bid on this.
Brandi: I’ll believe it when I don’t see it.

Actually, no one really wanted this mess. Mark and Matt won the unit for only $45! That’s crazy low. Without Dave Hester the Pester, no one upped the bid.

Swag Kings found a contraption which by first impression appeared to be a type of moonshine still. Banter between the two in the interview room was hilarious. Harris brothers took the item to a bar to have it appraised. Not a moonshine still, but an olive press. Off to an olive ranch they go.

Gal at the olive ranch was not an expert, but stated that the olive press appeared to be late 1800s. Appraised at $700. Remember, the twins bought the unit for only $45.

3rd Storage Unit
Items stacked and boxes arranged with care. Bid war among all players. Barry made a huge mistake. He tried to up the bid then stopped. But Boston Joe didn’t get the memo and won at $500! You’re stuck with the locker now, Barry.

Nothing to write home about in this locker.

Profit Scorecard:

Darrell Sheets: $4,025
Harris Brothers: $855
Jarrod Schulz & Brandi Passante: $0
Barry Weiss: LOSS -$480

Barry, Barry, Barry, you became the “Bidiot.”

Please leave your insightful opinion in the comment box below.

Network to Create Connections for Resale

March 19, 2013

You bid on storage units and you have won a few. Good for you. What is your percentage rate in selling what’s inside those units for a profit? Not as good as you would like.

Swap meets, flea markets, garage sales and eBay auctions will recoup your money to a point.

What you need are connections.

Not only to appraise the value of your items but people who are in the business of collecting/buying/selling/trading the items you have won at a storage auctions.

Network. Network. Network.

First, you will need to print out some business cards. Either download some free software online and do it yourself or have it professionally done. You may not have a company name or logo but that’s fine. Just need your contact information.

Secondly, dress neatly when you go out to introduce yourself to vendors. Darrell from Storage Wars dons tank tops, which is fine when you are out bidding for lockers. Barry from the same show however dresses sharp on each episode. I would do business with Barry before I would with Darrell. Why?

Perception is everything.

Casual neat would be a good choice.

Now the leg work. While no one likes cold calls, if you want a higher ratio of flipping your items for a profit, you will need connections.

Visit antique shops. Used bicycle shops. Vintage clothing shops. Consignment stores for clothing and furniture. Half-priced or used book stores, etc.

Once you have found a vendor that is a good fit visit them frequently just to see how the store is doing and if they are looking for anything in particular. This will keep you on their radar and more apt to actually buy something from you.

In time you will develop a Rolodex of Vendors in which you can unload your items for a quick and good sell. It starts with one vendor. One connection. So what are you waiting for?

Go on out there and network, network, network!

Please leave your insightful and creative opinions in the comment box below.

Learn a Do-It-Yourself Skill

March 17, 2013

“I have many skills.” – Xena Warrior Princess.

I admit. I loved that show and I can actually wield a sword. I was a fencer for two years. But if you ask me if I can wield a paint brush to give an old junky piece of furniture a total makeover. Uh, hmm, no. Not even.

Face it.

Most storage units are fraught with old furniture and crappy clothing that even the poor would toss out. (We all have standards.)

Donate. Recycle. What do you do with all that junk you unintentionally bought?

Learn a Do-It-Yourself skill.

Ever tie-dyed a t-shirt? They’re still popular today. You could turn a box full of old yet decent t-shirts into trendy ready-to-wear apparel. Just need the right tools and tutorials.

The internet contains hundreds of “How To” articles and videos from just about anything imaginable. You can learn how-to take a pair of cruddy jeans from your storage unit and dye, distress or cut the perfect holes into the jeans. Easy sell to college students.

Mary Padian from Storage Wars: Texas likes JUNK! She took bicycle rims, reworked the spokes and made an art deco table. It was amazing.

Jenny Grumbles from Storage Wars: Texas learned how to up-cycle furniture from her mother. She turned a scratchy dresser into a very nice bathroom sink piece of furniture. You read that right. She sanded, painted and cut a hole on top of the dresser and dropped the sink inside.

Clever. No, brilliant!

Let’s list a few junky type items you’ll find inside a storage unit:

Furniture
Art
Clothing
Bicycles
Machinery

Can’t stand the smell of paint, then maybe you can learn how to fix a bike. Can’t stand grease, work with dyes. Can’t stand dyes, learn to frame and enhance artwork.

Focus on what you are “willing” to do. Don’t get stuck on fixing items that you believe will make you the most money because in the long run it won’t.

Huh? What? Say again…

Here’s the thing, time is your most valuable asset. If you learn a DIY skill for the money and really dislike the work, it will show up in the final product. Learn a skill in what is of the most interest to you and that will in translate into a profit.

Passion.

Always stick to your passion – your NICHE.

A little imagination and a DIY skill will take you to another level as an auction hunter as you will “see” greater potential for profit inside a storage unit.

Please leave your creative comments in the box below.

Find Your Niche

March 14, 2013

What is your passion?

No, no, not buying storage units at auctions. That’s either your full-time job or hobby. Passion is more “specific” in nature, it’s a niche.

Jarrod Schulz from Storage Wars digs blue jeans. He knows what style, brand, even the color of stitching on collectible jeans.

Jenny Grumbles from Storage Wars: Texas is well versed in antique furniture. Whether it’s French provincial or Colonial, she knows her stuff.

For Candy Olsen and Courtney Wagner from Storage Wars: New York, it’s all about vintage clothing. They go ga-ga over a pair of old shoes!

Ton Jones from Auction Hunters is crazy about guns, knives and weaponry. He enjoys collecting guns as well as shooting them on the show.

What do they each have in common? They found their niche and have an expert range of knowledge in that niche. Once a storage unit door opens and if the items they are passionate about are in clear view, they can quickly assess the value of the unit. This in turn helps to calculate how much to bid as to not overbid.

Buy Low – Sell High.

My niche is filmmaking. I bought a Panasonic HD professional video camera and received free supplemental editing software. I received the software with the camera but then received an additional one in the mail. I didn’t need two so I sold one on eBay not really understanding the value. It sold for near $200.

Guess what I did? That’s right. I sought out other filmmakers who received the double bonus software and bought it from them for around $30-$50, then sold their unwanted software overseas for over a 200% profit.

What are you passionate about?

What’s your niche?

Do you like bicycles? Paintings? Figurines? Fishing gear? Antique furniture? Cameras? Consider for a moment what type of magazines or books your read. How you spend your free time outside of storage auctions.

Once you find your niche, become an expert. Know the trends. Know what sells and what doesn’t. When you focus on your passion, there lies the greatest success.

Please leave your insightful opinion in the comment box below.

Become an Auction Scavenger

March 14, 2013

You frequent auctions but your ratio of actually winning a storage unit under 50%. Maybe you should consider a new tactic.

Convert from auction hunter to auction scavenger.

Definition of scavenger: “A person who searches for and collects discarded items.”

Every episode of Storage Wars and its spinoffs you see Dave, Jarrod, and most especially Barry toss out approximately 50-75% or more of the items inside their storage units.

Now, recall the last few storage auctions you attended and did you overhear, “This is going to the dumpster.”

Moe from Storage Wars: Texas bought a piece of furniture from Lesa while she was still at the facility. He tossed her a low-ball offer and she accepted. Quick cash in hand and she didn’t have to lug the furniture back to her thrift store.

Of course Moe saw the value of the furniture and placed it in his shop for $$ which pissed Lesa off to no end (not as though it takes a lot to piss her off).

The lesson here is to hang around after an auction is over. Become a vulture in a sense. Maybe even offer assistance to load someone’s storage items for trade on something you want inside that unit.

If you don’t want to trade for labor, then go with the low-ball offer tactic. The whole point to win a storage unit is to turn items you find inside into a profit. If the winner can quickly sell a piece of furniture, clothes, kitchen items, or whatever that’s a good thing for them.

However, you may come across an auction winner who might find your scavenger tactics intrusive. How do you get around that as to not offend anyone? First spot the item or items you want inside the locker then quickly flash the cash.

Greed is a strong motivator, so motivate!

How many people do you know who will look away from cash in hand? Ex-act-ly. Ease your storage auction loss frustrations by scavenging from those who do win. In the end, it’s a win-win for everyone.

Please leave your creative comments in the box below.

Which Type of Auction is Best for You?

March 13, 2013

Online Storage Auctions

You’ve been bit by the treasure hunter’s bug and you’ve made the rounds at storage auction circuits, but you can’t seem to win a locker.

It’s too much competition due to the popularity of A&E’s series Storage Wars.

Or because of the crowds, the prices of the lockers are too rich for your pockets.

It’s frustrating.

You think that maybe treasure hunting wasn’t such a good idea after all.

But do you know about the other types of “auctions” that might be a better fit for you?

Local Auctions

Usually small held at an auction house, warehouse, thrift store, or wherever there’s space. I’ve attended small local auctions in Texas and have seen items such as jewelry, neon signs, furniture; you name it, up on the auction block. Don’t knock it because it’s small.

Police Auctions

Sell of seized vehicles might be of interest to you. You need valid driver’s license or valid state identification card with date of birth to bid at the auction. If you hit a day when the crowd is small, you may be able to buy a car at 10% of the market price. Seriously!

Estate Auctions

Usually occurs when someone dies and surviving family members must sell their entire belongings because of taxes, debts, or for whatever reason. Everything in the house including furniture, art, household goods, will go up for auction. Maybe even the house itself.

I went to an estate auction in Texas and saw two small vases made of pure jade sold for practically nothing. Why? Not many people attended that particular estate auction.

Treasury Auctions

About 300 auctions are held each year throughout the US and Puerto Rico by the US Department of Treasury. Up for auction is property seized by lawbreakers or forfeited by citizens who didn’t pay their taxes.

At treasury auctions you’ll find small items such as jewelry, electronics, and apparel. And large items such as as vehicles, boats, aircrafts, industrial equipment and real estate.

Anne Hathaway’s jewelry bought by her ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri went up for treasury auction. Why? He paid for the jewelry with money from illegal activities, therefore it was seized by the government. Sad for her but someone bought fine diamonds on the cheap. Treasury auctions take place in empty room. No phone banks or online bidding permitted.

Other types of auctions include: Cattle, Real Estate, Private, Trustee, Online Storage Auctions (such as this site) and so on…

If someone forfeited the property or it was seized, it will go up for auction. Same principle when someone defaults payment on a storage unit. That locker goes up for auction.

If you have been bit by the treasure hunting bug, then you just have to figure out which “type of auction” is right for you.

Please leave your creative comments in the box below.

Auction Hunters: Pawn Edition: Gangster Pushes Allen

March 9, 2013

Auction Hunters

Auction Hunters: Pawn Edition: Season 4, Episode 8: “Flying Ton, Creeping Allen.”

It’s a lovely day in the neighborhood… but not in Chinatown. A fist-nudge. A fierce two-handed shove. Near fight between Allen and a gangster. Let’s back up to the beginning of the episode.

Allen and Ton got lost on their way to the auction. Big Sis’s directions were horrid at best. Somehow Allen drove the bread truck into a back alley blocked by a delivery truck. Of course the owner of the truck did not speak any English.

Welcome to Chinatown!

The Haff-Ton team arrived about 30 minutes late to the auction and eight crates had already been sold. Thomas the auctioneer stated only two crates were left. Unit #9 held promise. Items packed with care and stacked to the top.

But this was not a normal bid war. This was gang bid war. A small army of Asian gangsters attempted to block the view from the container.

They also intimidated anyone from bidding on any of the crates.

Gangster: What are you doing here?
You guys should stop bidding.
Allen: You’re not serious, are you?
Gangster: Very serious.

Whoa, Nelly!

Ton dismissed the intimidation tactics and won the crate for $1,700. Allen asked the gang-banger to step away from him. Hold on to your seat because what happened next was a bumpy ride.

Gangster fist-nudged Allen square in the chest.
Allen retaliated with a fierce two-handed shove to the gangster’s chest.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Allen charged forward about to serve the gang-banger what we in Texas call “a can of whoop-ass.” But everyone stepped in to separate the two. Not like anyone would actually hurt Allen with the human-refrigerator Ton by his side.

Thomas the auctioneer cautioned the Haff-Ton team by stating that these guys gangsters were serious, to be careful, and to remember where they were – Chinatown.

That did not stop Allen and Ton from winning the last crate. They did however wait until everyone left the building before they dug into their units.

The first crate was full of camping equipment, a soapbox racer covered in duct tape, and wire harness equipment which they would have appraised. The second crate contained surveillance cameras and some collectibles but the one thing of value was a primitive blow dart gun that they would have appraised.

Weapons expert Chris stated the blowgun was Southeast Asian tropical most likely from Borneo. Approximately 200 years old or more. Used for small game hunting. Seamless and perfectly straight. It also came with several wooden darts.

Ton tested the ancient weapon by blowing a dart at two hanging balloons filled with water. Busted both balloons straight to a $1,500 sell.

The team took the wire harness equipment to Hollywood stunt coordinator John who stated that the jerk-vest made of leather originated around the 40s. The fly harness originated somewhere around the 60s. Both were museum type pieces.

The other two short harness pieces were in great condition and still usable for present day stunt work. Of course, let’s test them out first to make sure they work.

A crazy fun short film depicted Allen and Ton in a wire-fu fight. (You’ll have to see the episode to see who won.) John liked the product and bought all the pieces for $2,500.

Back at the pawn shop Big Sis hired a DJ named Flula (German, I think?) who stated he could fix anything. We’ll see about that. Big Sis also hired a Brazilian bombshell named Elle who boasted she could sell anything to anyone. I sort of believe that…

Auction Total:

Bought: $3,000
Sold: $5,800
Profit: $2,800

This auction brought out the inner gangsta in Allen, so don’t mess with him – word!

Please leave your insightful thoughts in the comment box below.

Storage Hunters Educate Yourself on the Value of Items

March 7, 2013

You want to bid on storage lockers but you lack range of knowledge on antiques and collectibles. Not able to spot the difference between name brands or knockoffs? How do you cultivate expertise without spending a small fortune through real life trial and error?

Books are a solid venue to gain insight to the value of collectibles, but do you really want to wade through hundreds of pages on eighteen century furniture and paintings?

Educate yourself by watching TV.

I know, I know. You don’t want to clutter your mind with more mindless television shows. What if I told you I know the approximate appraisal value of an 1860 Colt Army Pistol and that I am not a gun collector.

Did you know that aluminum gas station signs are highly sought after, or that a butt-ugly painting by William Victor Higgins from the 1900s could sell for $100,000?!

Here’s a list of shows to watch to educate yourself:

American Pickers: While the show leans more to a Hoarders spin-off, you may learn the difference between what’s old and worthless and what’s old and collectible.

Antique Road Show: People bring their family heirlooms to have them appraised by professional evaluators. Get free lessons on the value of antiques, art, furniture, autographs, memorabilia, and just about everything under the sun.

Auction Hunters: A light play reality series on storage unit auctions yet the show spills valuable information on collectibles from military memorabilia, a variety of vehicles both land and water and weaponry.

Pawn Stars: It’s on the History Channel and crammed with interesting historical facts about autographs, paintings, toys, memorabilia, coins, jewelry and cars.

Storage Wars is more entertainment than informative. Of course, don’t believe half of what you see on that show or on Auction Hunters. However facts are facts. When something is appraised on either show, take notes.

Start a notebook and divide it into categories. Art, weaponry, furniture, toys, signs, bicycles, etc. You will quickly see which categories are of most interest to you. Now, this is the most important part.

Whatever type of merchandise or collectibles you gravitate towards, that is where you will find your greatest success.

Watch. Learn. Grow.

Knowledge is power and when you’re up against storage auction crazed noobs who will bid up a unit because they can, you will hold back. Spot the rubies from the rubbish. The better informed, the better the experience you will have at storage auctions.

What television shows do you like to watch to gain information on the value of collectibles?

Please leave you insightful thoughts in the comment box below.

Container Wars: Beauty Queen Down the Toilet

February 18, 2013

Container Wars