Had to share this story:

Other day I had already spent my wad, but had a few hundred still on me so decided to hit one more facility on way home.  They had 2 units owned by same person.  When the opened the first of the two it was filled to the brim with spare parts for arcade and slot machines made by 8-liner.  Went for $300ish.

Second one opened up and was stacked tightly with all the perfect looking arcade and slot machines by 8-liner.  This was the lick I've been looking for!  But I only had $325 on me!!!

There were at least 30-40 units inside of this 10x25.  The auctioneer started at $50 and I jumped it to $250 hoping I could scare away everyone that would want it.  It almost worked.  Finally went to the $325 I had with me and with my fingers crossed the auctioneer was calling out "going once, going twice, going...", then the guy who bought all the broken ones went up $100.  D*mn!

The unit went for $475.  A serious steal.  Those machines are completing around $450 on Ebay and retail for $1400 new.  With 30-40 in the unit, if they worked, he stood to gain at least $10,000... at least.

Lesson learned: bring a lot of cash!

Kinda a hard nut to crack at first, but once you do you'll know why... info on these auctions are hard to get and therefore hardly attended.  That leaves a few containers for just a handful of buyers to bid on (i.e. low competition).

What I did was went to Google Maps and searched near my location with terms like "container storage", "container rental", "mobile container", etc... that will turn up business names in your area.  Then it is up to you to call them and acquire info about their delinquent rentals.

Conversation usually goes like this:

Mgmt: "Hi."
Me:"Hi, I was told that you auction off the contents of your delinquent accounts... I would like to inquire if that is true, and if so, find out if I can be placed on a list to be notified when those units come up for auction."

At that point, management will say that they don't do rentals (something you should've verified) and therefore don't auction off delinquent accounts or that they do conduct auctions and will then help you obtain the info you need.

My experience has been mixed: 30% put me on an email notification list, 10% say to just check the website, and the other 60% I haven't lasted long enough through the large automated phone service to get the answer I need.

Hope that helped.

Cheers,
The Collector

...this app would go off like a lead balloon at my flea market

LOL!

Yeah, I would definitely agree that this app wouldn't be good for the flea market/garage sale.  I was thinking it would be good for more of the high end sale... i.e. $800 piece of antique furniture that is being sold out of storage unit.  I had this situation happen to me once.  Was selling ~12,000 baseball cards that I got in a single unit and my asking price was higher than the buyer wanted to pay so he came prepared to only pay half.  Once he examined the collection he agreed that it was worth more than what he brought.  He then jokingly offered his credit card (knowing I couldn't process it).  So I decided to sell it for cash he had on hand because I wanted it sold.

Hopefully next time I can use this app to capitalize on the extra $$$

I hope this has been informative. If you are looking for storage auction information & you live in the greater Houston and surrounding areas I encourage you to visit our website http://www.houstonstorageauctions.com/ .

TC, that's awesome your on here.  I've been subscribing to your www.dallasstorageauctions.com website for a while now.  Great stuff.  I definitely respect your knowledge... you've helped me make money for sure!

Efficiency.  The better you are at being efficient, the more money you stand to make.

With that in mind, I wanted to start a topic where we can all share what smartphone apps have helped make our buying/selling more efficient.

I will start with my 5 favorite uses of a smartphone! 

1.  Internet look-up.   As long as I have a decent connection, I can look-up a hard to price item while bidding is going on... that way I have an edge when it comes to the bidding.

2.  Turn-by-turn GPS.  I have Google Maps Navigation installed (it's free) and it gives great turn-by-turn directions from where ever I am to the destination that I choose.  Now I'm never late.

3. My Mileage.  A free mileage tracker that starts automatically when you start driving and tracks how far you go.  Great for tax purposes.

4. Scansfer.  Free app that allows you to accept credit card payment through Paypal for any item you want to sell.  Great if someone doesn't have enough money on them but still wants to buy. Simply create a "payment request" with price and name of item being sold.  The person buying it then uses their smart phone to scan the QR code that is generated which takes them to paypal with all the payment info already filled out... all they have to do is fill out the credit card info and address and it will transfer money to your paypal account.  I'd say you need to have moderate knowledge of smartphones to use it.

5. Balance Book - Profit Tracker.  This one cost, but only $4.99.  It allows you to track all your expenses and profits and puts them all into an excel file that you can email to yourself or your CPA.  Best part is you can snap a photo of receipts and attach it directly to the entry for later viewing and record keeping.



What apps do you use?  Let me know because I'm always looking to improve my efficiency. 

I've used a lot of lights in the past... mostly Surefire, though some were Energizer's Hard Case.  While I like these lights for personal protection, etc... they are not suited for storage auctions.  Batteries are usually CR123 which can cost $5/ea.  That adds up fast. when expected run time is 1-5 hours at $120 lumens on average. Ouch!

I just bought the Stanley 1M for $17.88 from Walmart.  By far the best value!  1 Million Candles and 580 lumens. I'd need binoculars to see as far as this light goes.  But the real plus is that it comes with car charger, wall charger, 3 hr. run time, and 1 year guarantee.

If you need a good light for cheap... this is the best one.  Even if it only lasts as long as the 1 year guarantee, then it only costs  $1.49/month!  Best value.