Where did you get your seed money, how much did you start with?

Just a simple question.  What did you do to get your pocketful for the first auction.  Also, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you start with?

I don't need to sell things to get startup money, but in the spirit of the industry, and for practice, I am looking through my things and selling what I can get rid of.  A few computer parts on ebay, a few auto parts on craigslist, etc.  I would love to hear your story.

Orlando

Been buying and selling in various forms for over three years as a sideline to my fulltime job. Whatever you do, DO NOT USE NEEDED 'OTHER' MONEY to take a chance on storage units. Use only what you can afford to lose without hurting yourself. Thats my first piece of advice. I started by selling items I didn't need or that were just hanging around the house as nice to have or look ats. I'm lucky as my wife has supported me whole heartedly in making this happen. That said, I laid down a rule for myself that until I sold enough stuff from my extra tools etc etc to put together 2000 in seed money that I wasn't going to get into it. Remember that besides just buying a locker (and the prices have gone up) you have gas to and from auctions (win or lose) you have hauling and dumping fees to get rid of junk, you have gas to take stuff to auctions and some consignment shops to sell and possibly some storage fees of your own if you don't have a large enough space at home to sort the locker once you get one. Remember there are these back end costs. So figure it this way............IMHO

1400 to bid with, 300 expenses and 300 dump / disposal fees. To some that may be high but that way you are safe. Again, just my opinion.

Ironman,

   I totally agree on the money thing.  I guess what I was trying to say is I have money I "could" use as seed money that wouldn't affect any bills/needs/etc, but I think it is even better if I sell some stuff, to get in the swing of things.

Thanks for your opinion, as for dump fees, I go to a dump for my normal trash here in rural NC, and they let me dump as much as 2+ truckloads without ever questioning me.  I think they would have no issue with it, and if they do, well, we don't need burn permits out here either!   

Orlando

I'd say go ahead and sell some stuff not only for hat seed money but also for more experience at selling stuff which I'm certain you've already done. If you haven't set up an account with a consignmen shop or two I'd get that ball rolling soon and use some of the stuff your trying to sell now in a consignment shop so you can build rapport with the shop owners for when you really bring in the goods. Building that down line as I call it is all important, moreso than winning that first locker.

As Ironman said the most important thing is to NOT spend money you can't afford. If things go south you won't be a happy camper.

If prices moderate a bit you could get a pretty good locker for $200 to $300 and hopefully make some money off it.
Of course if you made a bad judgement about the contents and they aren't that good, now you're talking break even or worst case, losing money.

I don't think anyone can give you a $ amount that would work for seed money, but consider all the costs before you get into this game. As Ironman said, locker buy, dump run(s), storage (if needed), rental space at flea (if needed) and of course GASOLINE.  They all add up and have to be subtracted from whatever your total sales figure is before you know how much PROFIT you made.

Not necessarily a smart thing to do but my first auction I took the last $470 in my bank account and went not planning on buying just checking it out. I was impressed...actually...spoiled by my first unit. Bid $400 leaving $70 to last me til next paycheck.

It was a silent/sealed bid auction, won it at $400, luckly gf at the time lived wtih her brother who had a truck I borrowed.

Had to sell a few electronics asap to get some living money back and then took my time selling off the rest. I was hooked and been doing it even since, now have a larger pot of bidding money.

I don't use a credit card, prefer to pay cash as to not get myself into a whole but lots of people are now taking credit cards in my area, personally I'mj not crazy about that but I bring my cc just incase some easy to get rid of high dollar item comes along and I"m short cash. Pretty much soemthing like an out of business store restaurant unit or a car.