Largest unit ever sold online! - San Francisco Storage Auction

This has to be the largest unit ever sold online. It could be a great opportunity for those of you near San Francisco. Link Removed

In my opinion, for what he's wanting and what is showing, it seems like alot of work for little profit. He even hurts his chances by saying it is the leftovers from estate sales, so the first thing that comes to mind is that everything has been scoured through. Someone who has the storage space and time to wait for it to sell and get top dollar for it could possibly make some money if they sold from a store. But I have a time is money mentality myself, if I double my money on a $200 dollar unit but put 40 hours work into it, that is a loss in my book. I could be totally wrong I have only been  buying and selling a little under 2 years. Someone with more experience want to chime in?

I think that the furniture alone could bring in 7K or more. I can see several nice antique pieces. The bedroom set and dining table and chairs will be easy sells. But you're right, this is going to be a massive amount of work.

Looks to me like it's all setup to be a flea market, just the way it's sitting now.

$3k reserve tough for that unit.  The buyer took a lot of care setting it up but it would be a massive amount of work and no mystery.  Nothing amazing will be found in the unit.  Still Travis is right you can defiantly make a profit but imo its to high an amount to tie up your money.  If you have a huge bankroll and a store then it would be doable. 

This unit is a gold mine for someone with a "quick flip" mentality. Trying to move/store this much merchandise isn't an option in my opinion. If I was in San Fran, I'd buy it. First thing I would do is remove all of the higher quality merchandise so that I could sell it on Craigslist. Then I'd plan a gigantic garage sale and spend days marketing it. I'd price things to move fast. After 1-2 weekend sales, I put an ad in the free section of Craigslist and blow out the leftover merchandise. Get in & out, double my money and move on to the next opportunity.

everything looks like trash except for the furniture and theres no way i would come close to $3000 on a unit like this. My max would be around $1k. It would take...20 hours maybe to haul this stuff? My other big problem with any online auction is you really dont get a good idea on the quality of the furniture. Very hard to see scratches and discolorations in pictures. Oh and smells. Don't get me wrong, i'd love to bid on the unit if it were absolute, no way with a $3k reserve. I'd save my $3k for a great looking unit and still have $2k left over.

Well, I don't want it! Too much big stuff to store for me but someone with a store might do well. As far as the price, storage units with 1/10th that much stuff can get 3k so I don't think he will have any problem selling it. I wonder if he is letting people come view it before bidding. I'm not far away......ugh....no, still don't want it. Bought a huge estate last September and still have quite a bit of stuff to unload. It was very profitable but very overwhelming.

Interesting this guy is selling the same unit on two auction sites...

Interesting this guy is selling the same unit on two auction sites...

Yeah, Jim from Storage Battles sent me an email about that earlier. Looks like the unit was listed on his site about a week earlier and without a reserve. The seller listed his sale on our site with a $3000 opening bid and a "make an offer." I wonder why he scheduled his sale on our site to end 4 days later.   

I wonder why he scheduled his sale on our site to end 4 days later.

More exposure I guess.

last bid i saw it at before it closed was $2500.

I've seen rooms alot smaller with alot more junk for alot more.  If I was in the area I would have probably taken a shot on it, bundled the items up by type and sell them wholesale to buyers with thrift stores.  I would also donate retail $3,500 to have the write off for purchase plus labor/moving costs.

I think there was $10k of value in there.  New/retail was probably $40-$50k.

Also just because its laid out like a flea market doesn't mean there is no mystery.  Not everyone knows what you know.  There could be a statue, pottery, painting ..etc. that he has at $10 but could bring $300 on ebay ... or there might not.  mystery.

They might never do online sales or craigslist and just hope for the walk thru traffic, as it appeared to be set up like a store.

No matter where you buy there will always be a certain level of gamble.

The final sales price was $3,000. Of course, the buyer lost 20% since he sold it on Storage Battles. He would have done better on OSA if he wouldn't have set a 3K opening bid.

The final sales price was $3,000. Of course, the buyer lost 20% since he sold it on Storage Battles. He would have done better on OSA if he wouldn't have set a 3K opening bid.

He didn't lose 20% and he didn't sell the unit. If it sold the deal fell through.  This item is listed on Craigslist in the San Francisco section. It was posted on June 26.

I emailed the guy and asked if it was still available. It is.

"Yes, It is available... and could all be yours for a fair price.   if you are a serious buyer, and ready to invest in a good opportunity to make some serious loot... then give me a call @ yyy-yyy-yyyy.  thanks,  abcd"

Very interesting. Either the seller didn't get the price he was looking for or the buyer had second thoughts. Most likely the buyer didn't get what he was looking for because if the highest bidder would have backed out, they would have just sold it to the runner-up bidder.