Today I went to a moving company auction.  They had 14 crates up for auction (For a total of 6 households).  Crowd was small (around 15 people) and prices were not horrible (Between $200 and $500 a crate).  I didn't buy anything but a friend bought three.  Got a text a hour or so ago letting me know they had yet to find anything good.

I would like to say I won't attend another one of these but the truth is if no other auctions are going on I will come again.

We have a local facebook page for selling crap similar to Craigslist.  This lady responds to my picture asking about a 1930's make up table and chair we are selling.  Tell her the price is $100.  She says can you come down at all?  I say sure $75 and its yours.   She reply's with I have to ask my husband.   Reply was sorry he said we can't afford it.

Yesterday someone posted a construction trailer (like an office) for $2000 and this same lady responds asking if it is still available.  Really?  Yesterday you couldn't afford $75 and today you got $2000 laying around for a trailer that will cost you another couple hundred to get moved (not hooking it up to your car).

I really think TV has these people thinking they can haggle items to nothing and sellers thinking their stuff is gold.

Friday ended up being a pretty slow day as well.  The saving grace of the day was that we finally moved a few large items.

Woke up to rain so no sale today.

Best sellers without question was candles and toys.  Sold a few records and nobody even touched the dvd's.

Sold a good amount of halloween decorations and books went better than I thought.

We have a local facebook group for selling items and have a few people who want to come today to take a look at some more furniture so I am hopeful I get more of it sold. 

It was a gorgeous 50 degrees and pretty windy so I decided to blow off the auctions and set up a yard sale. 

Was set up and running by 10am and shut it down at 3pm. 

Total take for the day $23.

Only thing sold today was candles and toys.   Since I have it all set up I am going to run it again a few more days.

I have way to many big items I need to clear out to make room for new stuff.

I have been lucky that I don't have to many auctions overlap each other.  If they do they are usually far enough apart in distance it makes the choice easy.

Well this saturday I have a auction in a city with 20 units.  It starts at 9am and then there is another auction in a better neighborhood with four units at 12.

I am going to start at the 20 unit auction and see how things go and then decide if I want to stay or move on to the other auction in the better area.

I was just curious how others decide what auctions to attend when more than one are going on at same time?

Went to a auction today in Northern Illinois. 

Red Flag #1: They had 17 units advertised and upon arrival they said it was up to 20.  I have been to many auctions and the number of units always goes down, never seen one go up. 

Red Flag #2:  They cut the lock on the first unit.  First time I have actually seen them cut a lock at any auction but actually liked that.  Gave a sense that everything was on the up and up. 

Red Flag #3:  EVERY unit had antiques.  Every door they opened had old items. 

Red Flag #4:  If it had a shelf it had something sitting on it.  Labels always faced front letting you know exactly what it was.

Red Flag #5:  No Dust.  Not one piece of furniture had a speck of dust on it.

Red Flag #6:  Not a single tote or trash bag.  Not a single article of clothing. 

Needless to say one person bought two units and when it came time to pay he demanded his money back.  They actually gave it to him and just resold the units.  I talked to a few people and each one said they found nothing great.

Icing on the cake.  A few people who live in the neighborhood were there and they said the storage facility was built 3 months ago.

I bought a unit for $175.  Just furniture and I bought what I saw.  One large table top that would of been worth $500 had damage that wasn't visible but I will use it as a table at the flea markets so not a total loss.  One dining table had a auction house sticker on it.  I asked the owner of the facility why my items had auction house stickers and she said all the units were owned by the same person.  He owned a auction house that shut down and he called and told her to just sell the units. 

I still wouldn't of minded so much if they at least put things together.  I have 13 ocean or great lake fishing rod bottoms but missing the tops to all the poles.  So somebody else has 13 tops and no bottoms.   

Everyone at this auction left feeling cheated and really angry.  I had mixed feelings.  You bought what you saw.  If you bought the unit because you "thought" it was going to hold great treasures then that was your mistake.  I will make a few dollars on my unit and that is fine with me.