Question for the vets...

I was wondering for all the vet buyers out there how long did it take yall to start being successful in buying/ making money in the world of storage auctions?

I was wondering for all the vet buyers out there how long did it take yall to start being successful in buying/ making money in the world of storage auctions?

I am not sure if I have been doing this long enough to be considered a vet, but I did start in this business during the most competitive time in this industries recent history. I have been successful since day one with my first unit, but I have had a couple of losers.

A unit I bought for $310 and I am selling the last of the stuff out of it and will make about $150 on it.
Another unit I bought for $1 just for the experience and gamble, spent 2-3 hours cleaning it out, found a handful of clothes good enough to sell at the flea market, I did'nt really track what I made on those few clothes but don't think the time and effort was worth it.
Another unit I bought for around $400 and looks like I am just gonna break even.
Sometimes it's just dumb luck, bought a unit for $600, 10 x 10 packed out, behind the first row of boxes and totes was nothing but old worthless matresses and box springs, cost me $50 to dump them, knew for sure this was going to be another loser. It had a Maytag washing machine (which everybody saw, part of the reason it went so high) I sold for $250 and in the few totes I found $400 worth of Avon cosmetics and two swiss made sewing machines that sell for between $150 - $400 on Ebay depending on type and condition. Oh, also sold a dining table set for $150. So it looks like this unit is going to turn around for me, just REAL LUCKY though.

The other 25-28 units have been profitable.

I was wondering for all the vet buyers out there how long did it take yall to start being successful in buying/ making money in the world of storage auctions?

Well, come January 1, 2012 it will be 8 years since I started, so it's a little hard to remember those first 3 to 12 months, but I certainly made money even in that first year...in fact it was easier then since it was still a business that few people knew about.

I think anyone buying and selling now has to let at least a year go by to make any kind of assessment. When you consider that any given locker is going to be AVERAGE and that others will be LOSERS or SPECTACULAR winners, you just can't put a time-frame on success. This is a business that requires a relatively long-term committment to provide any measure of success.

I have always contended that the buyer who scores big-time on the 1st to 10th locker is just looking for trouble unless he/she can weather the remaining 40 or so lockers that take him/her up to the 50 locker mark. The 100 locker mark is an even better indicator, but #101 also could be a BUST or a BONANZA.

In other words, there are probably as many answers to your question as there are newbies joining us or as there are lockers coming up for auction !

.....The other 25-28 units have been profitable.

Just an added note here to say that when I apply the statement quoted above to lkr buys I have made I would add that it is possible for a lkr to be "profitable" when you make $5 on it or when you make $1,500 on it. Of course the average of all profitable lockers would probably be in the "hundreds" not the "thousands" on the profitabilty scale.

ALSO:

I have read in different threads over the last week or so some math that might be a bit "understated" or not explained enough. I'll give you a theoretical (but representative) sample of some posts I've seen.

Buyer says he paid $160 for a locker but has "made" $260. The only way you "make" $260 profit is by selling everthing for $360. In that example I am not even accounting for gas and time involved.

It would be more accurate to say:  "I bought a lkr for $160 and SOLD $260 worth of stuff, so I am $100 AHEAD"  OR

"I bought a lkr for $160 and SOLD $260 worth of stuff, so I am $100 AHEAD...minus my gas and other costs and accounting for my time/labor....I probably MADE $75."

I think most of you get my drift here.

You can actually make money doing this?

You can actually make money doing this?

Ha !  Yes, if skill and luck are with you at the crucial moment ! 

Ha !  Yes, if skill and luck are with you at the crucial moment ! 

Just didn't want to get hopes too high! 

Right now, it is still a hard business to make money in with the prices where they are.  I work seven days a week, and I'll be going a lot of nights until 8 or 9, sometimes later.  Way later if you count the time on CL ads, but since I'm sitting on my ass watching tv at the same time, I don't really count that.

To me, it's not really work though.  I love winning a locker and then getting to dig through all that stuff, it's like I'm digging for buried treasure every single day!  I love what I do (most of the time) so even though it's a lot of hard work, to me it's better than getting up and "working for the man" on a 9-5 job. 

I guess to try and answer the original question, you can be "profitable" on that first locker with a little luck.  But you might get ten stinkers in a row and blow your wad too, there's not really a good way to answer that.  I believe that probably most people could be profitable eventually when they learn to make an educated guess and stick to their limits, but there is going to be a learning curve, and what that curve is depends on you. 

This business isn't exactly rocket science.  I would say that most "average" units purchased for a reasonable price have money making potential......it depends on what kind of network you have set up to actually sell the stuff.  Any monkey can actually grab a fistful of dollars and run out and buy a bunch of lockers, but then what?  Do you have a way to get rid of all that stuff?  That's what separates the men from the boys (no offense ladies!) and if you are sitting on a warehouse full of stuff that isn't selling, you need to rethink you're business model. 

I could go on and on.  Just like any other business, this one is has inventory issues (you either have too much stuff, or too little, it's hard to strike a balance), cash flow problems, labor costs, warehousing expenses, fuel costs (I personally spend over a grand a month just on diesel now, and that sucks!) and more. 

How far do you want to go with it?  How much do you want to make?  How hard do you want to work at it?  Do you get along with people?  Do you like to sell?  Do you have any experience dealing with the public and selling?  Do you want a full time business or just something you can make a few extra bucks at while you work your day job?  There's just too many variables and elements of chance to really answer the original question.

Here's a couple of pics of the back of my shop.  I do have a store now although up until today I haven't mentioned it on the forum.  We have a total of four diesel trucks and six trailers.  The building is about six thousand square feet (used to be a lumber yard) and has a large amount of retail space and storage.  I live this lifestyle and I do make money at it.  I'm not rich by any means, but I can pretty much do what I want.  There is money to be made in this business, but as has been mentioned over and over on this board, it is a LOT OF HARD WORK! 

The Teacher...

Cool....

To readers: If you click on the .jpg name of the pic (just below the pic) it should enlarge and give you a better view than the smaller pics (this is in The Teacher's post #6 just above). 

Mine was a fluke but my first auction ever was a low crowd auction, silent auction, got a once in a lifetime unit for $400, I didnt keep close track of profits but easily over $4500.

Havn't found a unit like that since. Normaly I try to double whatever I laid out on a unit, 3x or 4x and I'm very happy.

Thanks for the responses yall gave. I didnt really ask this question for my own benefit as im in it for the long haul wether it be good great or dang why am I doing this lol. Ive just seen a long seen a lot of new people join the forums and tuns of guests on here a lot and I guess wanted to give them and others a little hope from yalls success in this business. Ive gotten three lkrs and have doubled my money if not more on each one.

 Hey movieman you know after that lkr you got a bit ago that gave me and im sure others motivation to look for that lkr in our neck of the woods.

The Teacher...

Cool....

To readers: If you click on the .jpg name of the pic (just below the pic) it should enlarge and give you a better view than the smaller pics.

I'm not seeing the picture or the .jpg name?

I'm not seeing the picture or the .jpg name?

They are in post #6 above...The Teacher's post. Two pics of his biz location.

If you did not see them you were either not signed in at the moment (you have to be to see pics), or you were looking at MY post and thinking I was including pics. 

 Hey movieman you know after that lkr you got a bit ago that gave me and im sure others motivation to look for that lkr in our neck of the woods.

Yep, that was a good one (though the bulk of the big items have STILL not sold !) and I would put it in my list of a dozen or so SPECTACULARS out of the over 350 I have bought to date.

Certainly,  as you know by now, the HOPE of finding that kind is what keeps many of us going....the finding itself is the hard and rare part of the equation.