Once paid $150 for a 14ft box truck full of trash.

There is only one dump in my area and had no other option.

Came back about a month later with a 20ft stake bed truck full, $70.

No scale, so it mainly depends on how they are feeling that day.

Never worried about it either.

Someone told me that a couple that buys most of the lockers up here, carry 25k cash in her purse!

Now I think thats a little overkill.

Hey all!

Well yesterday I won my first two online auctions! And as the title says, there were some good aspects, and some bad.

I will start with my first unit, it looked liked a pretty good unit for what I payed for it. 10x10 for $210. From what I saw, I estimated 300-400.

But that quickly went down drain when I opened the locker, the lovely smell of mold hit me right in the face. On the couch, recliner, furniture, etc etc. So strait to the dump with 90% of it. But I found a few decent items, that I can make some of my money back on.

Then I bought, what was advertised as a 5x5 garbage bag / clothes unit, just for the heck of it, looked pretty packed from the pictures. So when I opened up the locker, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually 5x10 packed with garbage bags and boxes, a little error on the managers part. But one that I didnt mind

So after sifting through all the clothes, for about 10min, I find a real coach purse, in really good shape. Which will probably be my money back there. And probably 50 more bags and boxes to go through.

So next time, I think that Im going to take a trip to the facility and take a look at the lockers for myself, as long as they are close enough. Or wait until they create smell-a-vision

Hey guys,

I just thought that I would share one of my more interesting "picks". A few months back there was an estate sale about 90min away from me that advertised, teddy bears. Steiff, Hermann, Clemens, all different German made teddy bears. Over 1000 bears / stuffed animals.

Now I had never bought, sold, or even researched a German teddy bear before. So I stayed up a little and started to get a general idea as to what they sell for. Of course, the Steiff were the most valuable brand, but they all were going for a pretty decent amount.

  I decided to take the trip and see if the prices were right in order make a few bucks. There was an entire room full of
them. Not to mention all the other ones scattered around the house. There were only a  few people looking at them. The prices were not all that bad, some were priced well enough to double up on. Most people who were looking at them, I think couldnt get past the thought of spending 50$ on a teddy bear. So not many were being sold.

I ended up buying 500$ worth of bears, animals, from her, went home and researched them all, and found I could get around 1200$ for them. 

So long story short. I went up there and saw that after I bought mine for 500$, very few other bears had been sold. there were probably 800-1000 bears / animals left. She asked if I wanted to make an offer on all of them. I was a little taken aback, but saw that there was money to be made.

At the time I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Pittsburgh with my dad, and had no access to a garage or storage facility. I talked it over with my dad, and he said it was ok for me to make an offer.

Of course I started out low, offering 1500$, figuring there were 6k+ in bears. She really didn't want to take that offer, but her partner told her that they have no where to put it, and I was the only one interested in them. So she accepted the offer. And I was the new owner of 1000 teddy bears.

Needless to say it filled the apartment. But I priced them well, and they sold well. In all I brought in around 10k in teddy bear sales.

So not only did I make some money, I learned a lot about something that I never knew anything about.

One thing that I have learned in the past couple years, is that knowledge is everything. So I soak up as much as I can.

Just thought I would share my most interesting and unusual pick!

You might have hit a 1 in 100 to a 1 in 500 unit depending on your market straight out of the gate! Nice score on the Krug, I probably couldn't have parted with it. Now the test is can you continue to buy, sort, & sell units with only common, modern, used stuff in it; day after day, average to junky unit after unit.

The good news is you could retire now a winner!

You might have hit a 1 in 100 to a 1 in 500 unit depending on your market straight out of the gate! Nice score on the Krug, I probably couldn't have parted with it. Now the test is can you continue to buy, sort, & sell units with only common, modern, used stuff in it; day after day, average to junky unit after unit.

The good news is you could retire now a winner!

Yeah I know how lucky I got with this unit. Believe me, I know that they arent all like this. I have been getting pretty good moving merchandise on c-list, ebay and flea markets. So Ill stick with it for a while.

Once you get a taste like that, it's very difficult to stop. My fourth unit I ever bought contained a safe with a coin collection, several boxes of gold rings, 18K gold cross, a antique pocket watch collection, a antique revolver, a stamp collection, antique watches and WWI &WWII memorabilia. The unit also contained vintage Silvertone guitar with a amp built in the case.

Hundreds of units later, I'm still waiting for a score like that again. What a rush!

Wow, sounds like that blew my unit out of the water! It sure is a rush when you find that valuable item hidden away. Makes all the moving and cleaning worth it!

Hi Travis,

I am currently studying business. Probably going to major in Marketing. I hope to own my own business one day, but not really sure what kind of business.

I have bought 5 units so far, all making a decent profit on. Trying to turn the stuff fast to keep room. Mostly on craigslist and the flea market. Some on ebay.

My last one I did really well on, I posted it over in the Treasure section, fells really good to score a good unit!

I really look forward to learning from you all!

Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Little background, Im in college and have always gone to flea markets, estate sales, garage sales etc. Making a decent profit re-selling on ebay. Decided that I wanted to try something a little different, so I started going to storage auctions, getting a feel for what its like. I liked it and saw the potential for some profit to be made, that is, as long as the price doesnt go to high.

Everyone has been really nice at the auctions, answering my questions, telling me about the business etc. And this forum seems like a great place to get answers for a lot of questions as well!

I look forward to talking and discussing the storage auction business with you all!