I take it the girlfriend doesn't know.

Well I figured I had some beginner's luck with my first unit.  It had a jewelry box and some cool antiques and I only paid $280 and tripled my money on it.

So, I went to another great auction this week and won another for $250.  There were over 26 units up for auction!  There were only about 40 bidders.  Some people bought several units and I stayed clear of the larger ones since I am not ready for those yet.  Anyways, what caught my eye was what appeared to be an antique clock.  I figured with one antique there would be more.  Unfortunately what I thought was an antique was not.  It had a battery that was corroded.  Hmmmm.  Also, it was packed with old stuffed animals with rat feces all over them.  What is up with the stuffed animals?  Why in the heck do people pay money to store that crap?  I like fuzzy cute things but after digging through bag after bag of stuffed dirty toys I have never hated them as much as I do now! The only good things in the locker were several Marine Corp uniforms, which I am trying to sell online, one WW2 Navy Crackerjack uniform (Might sell for some good money) and some china.  Any advice as to where to sell china?  I heard replacements LTD did not pay well?  I might go with them anyways since I am not sure what else to do with the china.  It is not a complete set just cups and saucers.  Sigh.  I guess some units are just better than others.  I kind of figured.

I went to 3 more auctions this week so I now realize that I was just very lucky my first time out!!!  The first auction had over 40 people there and everything went for ridiculous prices for what was in them.  It made my $280 locker look like the best buy ever if I compared it to what other people got for even more!  There was only one unit that looked really nice.  There were wrapped furniture that looked like it was of great quality.  I did not want to hassle with such large pieces, especially since this auction was about 30 minutes from home.  It went for $800 and I think that the person will definitely get his money back on that one.  The next auction was a POD auction and it was canceled.  I was not given a reason why.  The guy just said, "Corporate canceled it."  I did get a direct phone number to call the next time so I don't drive all the way over to the location to find that out.  It is close to home though, thankfully.  And the last auction had only one unit left after all the people were coming in the storage facility and paying while we were there waiting for the auction to begin.  Is this common?  I guess people really do wait until the last minute! The unit was filled to the brim with clothing.  It was not a very big unit either and it went for an asonishing $425.  I did not see any major name brands so I am not sure how the person expects to recoup the $425 on that.  I would think that clothing is not a great investment, personally.  I am a female too!    I really like clothing.   Maybe if I could see if it was all my size it might be worth it then.   All that said, I guess I had a little beginners luck with my first unit.  But that might be what keeps me on the look for another score.  Who knows. . .

BigBizz,  you must have some good friends you can work with then!  

My friend wanted to go in on a unit with me and was planning on going to an auction tomorrow.  I told her tonight that it would be better just to go and bid on our own (I even told her I would not bid on any unit she wanted) and then she suddenly decided not to go after all.  She said she needed to learn how to do all the online selling first.  So, in reality, she wanted to go in on the auction with me so I could do all the work and she could take half the profit. 

I guess there are always going to be people that want in on the action.   I forgot to mention that this same friend of mine that wants to partner with me is severely claustrophobic.  I mentioned that sometimes the storage units are indoors and that when it is crowded it can feel a bit "stuffy."  Her response was that I could go in and bid for the unit without her.  So,  I even have to win the unit without her help!?  Really?

I did not seriously calculate gas, but this storage unit was within walking distance of my house.  I did make about 4 trips over there and back but my SUV has pretty good gas mileage so it was probably about $5 to $10 lost there.  I sold the large items on Craigslist so the customer came to me.   As for taking the items to the jeweler and the auction house, I only made the trips when I was already in the area.  It helps to save gas by doing that.

I have only purchased one locker and I have already had two people offer to do it "with" me.  I did manage to find some pretty great things in the locker, (gold jewelry, some instruments, nice furniture and a few antiques) so I think my friends want in on the action.  One of my friend is begging to go to the next auction with me and wants to split the price of a unit.  Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have help loading and unloading things but the more I think about it I have a funny feeling that I will end up doing ALL of the work.  The stuff will be put in my garage, where I will have to spend hours going through it and my trash cans will get full.  Then I will have to take pictures and post everything, since she said she doesn't know how to use the computer that well.  Then I will be driving all the good antiques to the dealer.  To top it off, she already mentioned that there were things in the locker I purchased that she would have liked so I have a feeling she would pick through everything first and guilt me into keeping it and then have me do the rest of the work to sell everything and then keep half of the profit!  Since I have a tendency to be WAY to nice, my husband has intervened and said, "NO WAY!"  I have not even told her yet but I am going to have to tell her tomorrow that the auction she wants to go to with me on Wednesday, she is on her own.  Why can't she just buy her own?  It is probably because she want's me to do the work and she gets paid for it.