Curious about the world of storage auctions . . .

So, I first came into the idea of storage auctions through Storage Wars (no surprise there) and have been interested in it since then. I was also interested in knowing if it exists around Pittsburgh, where I live, and it appears that it does. So, as I'm a college student in journalism, I needed to come up with some idea for an article, and I thought it would be interesting to look at storage auctions and to see if the reality shows have changed the way this works. So if any of you experienced auction hunters would want to talk about that stuff, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome sb8 to the boards.  To answer you questions "YES it has changed things".  To further answer your question I suggest you go get some food, a few cokes and/or red bull, hit the restroom and start reading all the different threads for the next several hours.  You can especially find how things have changed by reading the monthly "Looky Loo's" threads from 2011 down in the general section.

Attend some of the storage auctions in your area.  Unless the facilitiy cancels an auction the snow, cold, whatever the weather is up your way will not keep the hunters away.  If you yell "YUUUUPPP" don't be surprised if someone slaps you upside the head however

Gotta agree with craiglst~There are as many stories here as there are pieces of unwashed laundry in a typical unit!

Some ideas for your article(s):
The real side of storage auction buying~show how the business really is.  You know, dirty, grimy and not glamorous in any way, shape or form.
After the bidding ends~the cleaning out of units isn't Brandi picking up a treasure or Barry busting furniture.  It's hard work. 
The real people~Speaking of Brandi, if anybody showed up at one of our auctions in 4" heels she (or he?!?! ) would be laughed outta the facility!
How to price and subsequently move items~few of us pick up a painting and say 'that's a $300 bill right there'.  We look at it and try to figure out if we can get $50 for it and to whom?  (or is it who?......I always get that wrong~)

I'd love for this business to be 'exposed' for what it truly is......hard work, with a decent payout.....if you're lucky and persistent.  And you can quote me on that!

best of luck on your article and as with most things in life......research is one of the most interesting (and often enjoyable) aspects.

Read theforums and you will se how the shows have changed things.They call it reality TV but it far from shows a true picture.

Attend some auctions after reading here. You will have some good questions to ask the regulars. But you have to attend the auctions to now who the regs are.

Good luck

StorageWar cherry picks the units they show on TV. You are not seeing the other dozen units other people bid on and win at the auctions. Also if they really showed the units they won, more often then not there would be nothing exciting to show on TV. The show would get boring pretty quick. They are filming probably a dozen units a week for each buyer and only showing the most interesting ones. Like the ones with the one treasure they find.

My interest in storage units started a good 5 years before the TV show storage wars. I was a work one day and we were clearing out a cabinet of old software. Used to be you had to have a one copy of the software on site for every computer your business had it installed on, this was before the idea of site licenses became popular. We filled a dumpster full of Office 97 software, new in the box, and I say to myself I wonder if anyone would buy this on Ebay. Office XP was out then, and I didn't think so. I was floored when I did a quick check, people were paying $40 or $50 a copy. I moved that dumpster into my office, took the contents home over the course of a week and earned $800 from Ebay. After that I sold about 25 grand worth of stuff on ebay, and they didn't send me a 1099 form either, but I did make some kind of silver member status, got a folder and a special number to call for Ebay help.

When I started to run low on stuff to sell, the idea of buying storage units came to me. I attended three auctions so far, learned a lot by watching other people, but I've yet to place a bid on anything. I'm getting interested again, planning on attending another auction soon.


 

   

TechGromit  welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of good info here..

Glad you have a handle on the ebay side that will help. One thing to remember is most of what you get in a locker is yard sale/ Flea Market stuff or donation stuff.  So if you haven't already figure that side out as well get a plan in mind before you buy a locker.

I have all the other stuff figured out working on the ebay side still learning.

Good Luck and keep us posted on your experience.

Welcome and good luck. We are doing it too. Currently trying to learn how to move **** faster rather than sit on it. IMO that's more important than a lot of the other stuff. You are going to get a LOT of stuff and most of it will sell. Question is, to whom and how long before. Still trying to learn that aspect. I may start a new topic.