Let's Play: "What Would You Pay?"

Let's play a round of "What Would You Pay?"  Attached is a pic of my most recent purchase, a dust-coated 10'X15'.  I'll reveal the purchase price and what I found later.

$250

Same here. $250   I'd keep the toolbox, hopefully find some things to sell to get my money back, then have an online auction to get rid of the common everyday items.

In my area I couldn't get that locker for what I would pay for it, but I can tell you that someone here would pay about $750 or so just based on the toolbox let alone the mystery boxes and whatever could be seen if it were a "live" auction.

People here pay that much because the typical locker sells for about $250 and doesn't have even 1/3 of that much showing. That's why I got out of buying lockers; too much money for too little product.

Just from that picture alone, in my area I would go to $200, but I probably would have lost it. There are a few people where I am at that like to pay big money for lockers like that. They don't resell anything really. They just buy what they like, and they seem to like lockers that look like that.

I would bid $600 to $700 myself but expect to only have a 50% chance o making money on it. 

My cap would be $450-$475.  CAVEAT: A bit difficult to tell what the items are towards the back of the unit, though... so I am sort of guessing.

Only a small chance it would go for that up in my neck of the woods though.  People see tools and go nuts.

A little more info on the unit: It had been in storage for decades until the owner died.  And there was another visible tool chest towards the back.

A little more info on the unit: It had been in storage for decades until the owner died.  And there was another visible tool chest towards the back.

Ten years ago I bought a similar looking locker though it had more mechanic's type stuff showing.
Another guy and I duked it out until I got it for $800. That was a lot of money then but the two Snap-On cabinets were part of the attraction.

When I got into them they were both EMPTY.....but, the guy had put all his SO and MAC tools into an old wiper blade cabinet and put the opening parts toward the wall at the back of the unit. Made out good on that despite the high price. Today a locker like that would easily go for $1500 to $2,000 in my area depending on the crowd.

I think it would go $1000-$1200 pretty easily in my area. Maybe more. Those that said $200 really surprised me. People in my area pay $200 for a tiny locker filled with a few garbage bags.

I think it would go $1000-$1200 pretty easily in my area. Maybe more. Those that said $200 really surprised me. People in my area pay $200 for a tiny locker filled with a few garbage bags.

That's the better part of California for sure.  It will be interesting to see what this actually went for.
It might have been a fluke that went in the $300 range, but if so that's just what it was..a fluke.

So my winning bid was... $975.00.  I normally wouldn't have gone that high but the thick layer of dust is what drew me in.  You could tell that this unit had not been touched in a very long time.  Fortunately, my gamble paid off.  The large toolbox had mostly Craftsman, Snap On and Blue Point tools.  Further back was vintage CB and shortwave radio equipment, records, fishing gear & tackle, and even more tools and automotive parts.  I opened a box of glassware covered in newspaper, which was dated July 1989!  Pretty pleased with how this one turned out, minus the dust.

Congrats on the great find!

I typically don't bid hard on those type of units cause they go high in my area, but to make a serious effort to win it I would probably have to bid at least $1,000 and most likely just north of $1,250.

Thanks dbr. Cobia: I thought it would go higher as well, but there was a small turnout at this auction. The 8 a.m. start time might have had something to do with it. Here is one of the Hallicrafters shortwave radios that I pulled from the unit: