What is the smallest auction crowd you have ever seen?

Personally (back in the day...before tv shows) I was one of three buyers. It worked out great. I got two of three and they got the other. 

First storage auction I ever attended.

2 - Myself and a lady. She didn't bid on the first unit. Unit contained a nice microfiber sofa and loveseat which was wrapped in plastic. Minimum bid was $25. Bought it. Sold the set for $150.

Unit #2. Door goes up and lady walks off. Unit contained fishing gear, a nice 6 person tent and a 100 piece socket set. Minimum bid was $30. I told the manager "I wish I knew whether the sockets were inside the case." She said "you're the only one here, go ahead and look." Opened the case and it was a complete set. Bought it for $30. Sold the fishing gear for $30, the tent for $60 and kept the socket set.

 

3 was the fewest, but there were 9 lockers, 2 vans and a boat at the auction.. A LOT to buy. I bought 4 lockers, left the others for the other 2..

Before tv shows I would say 4-12 buyers on average. I actually had shown up at auctions and was the only person and they wouldn't sell anything and cancelled the auction.

Before tv shows I would say 4-12 buyers on average. I actually had shown up at auctions and was the only person and they wouldn't sell anything and cancelled the auction.

That's when you go out on the street (or in the neighborhood) and pay two people $10 each to come to an auction with you. Three works.

That's when you go out on the street (or in the neighborhood) and pay two people $10 each to come to an auction with you. Three works.

Funny, a few weeks ago I almost had my wife register and pretend to be a separate bidder. It was 9:55 and the auction was scheduled to begin at 10:00. I was the only person there. Two minutes before the auction was to begin, three people pulled in including the local whale.    

At one sale only two of us showed. The manager was mad at the owner because he changed their regular day from Saturday to Friday so she did the auction just to spite him. Scored 5 out of 7 units and the other person was just there to look because she didn't bid. Total of $335.00. This was a silent bid auction so I bid a little more than I would have otherwise.
One of these units was the best one I have ever seen. I've made over $10,000 on these units and still have over $8000.00 worth of high end art in the store. Art is slow right now and some of it I will hate to see go because it brings a lot of people into the store just to see it.

Not to long ago it was just me and another guy.
Auctioneer requires at least three bidders so was going to cancel.
Other guy asked if we got someone else down would he continue.  Said yes.
Turned out he was a landscaper working in the area so he called one of his crew.
So it was me, him and a really confuse looking Mexican gentleman that didnt speak English. lol

Three units.  He got the first, I didnt bid.  He got second but I tried up to $100.  Third I got for the open of $20 and he didnt bid.  It was just some boxes and some garbage bags.   I got some new clothes, a crock pot that was way better than mine and split he rest into several donations so I could get multiple $10 off coupons at thrift store.   Didnt make any money but worth the $20.   

It used to be a lot but lately were down to about 5 to 10 bidders at the auctions.  Which is completely fine with all of us.

I've only been to one so far, but there was only maybe 7 people there.  Only about half bid and one guy I think was just there to buy stuff off the winners,  because He didn't bid on anything and after the auction went around talking to people and looking in their units with them and by the time he got to us he had some stuff with him.  He was interested in a bike that was in a unit we won but decided not to buy it. He seemed like a nice guy even though he kept calling my husband by the wrong name.  The bike had two flat tires and my husband ended up giving it to the guy that works at the storage place who came to fix the broken door on one of the units we bought.   We bought 3 units for under $100 total and have already doubled our money with more stuff left to sell. There were 8 units and only 1 of them went over $150 and that one was a neatly packed unit with labeled boxes, I liked a wicker chest that was in there but we stopped bidding at $100.  The final bid was around $250. We are going to another auction next week at a different facility at a later time(the first one we went to started at 10 am on a friday) and the next one is 4pm on a Thursday, so there might be more people there due to the later start time.  I figure most people who do it part time(like my husband and I)  Can't make it to ones in the morning and early afternoon because they have to work.  My husband just happened to have off that day because his boss was on vacation so we decided to go. I am interested in seeing what the crowd is like this time.