REcently bought a unit that had boxes of files and office supplies.   In a file cabinet there was a file marked "personal records".   In this file were pictures of the renters girlfriend.  I say girlfriend because this woman was certainly not the same woman in the wedding pictures in the box marked "Desktop items".
 

As a "newbie" I have been going to auctions for a few months now.   My Wife and I talked about doing it for years and the shows did inspire us to get off the couch and go do it.    We have bought 5 units now.   Turned a quick profit on 4 of them and are still preprocessing the 5th unit and expect to at least triple our investment on it.   

With that back ground out of the way, I get frustrated by the crowds too.  I understand wanting to try something for the first time.   But standing there and not bidding is not trying.   Further adding to the frustrations are the people that bring the whole family.   I have seen 1 & 2 year old kids getting carried from auction to auction in the middle of January in Michigan.   It's dang cold here.  Leave the kids at home and send only 1 person to bid.

Many of the more experienced bidders are welcoming  to the newbies.   I have had several good conversations with them.  They are helpful and will give pointers to newbies.   As a newbie I am not going to go after the units that the experienced bidders go after.   There are many things to consider other than price.  Size of the unit, how much stuff is in it, if there is a way to get rid of it etc.

Some lessons are learned best the hard way.   Units with stained mattresses are best left to someone else.  Units filled with garbage bags are filled with garbage.   Units larger than your garage are going to take longer than 48 hours to empty.

That is typical of many of the auctions I have attended.   while there are a few really good units and some ok units, there are a lot of units that have little to nothing of value.   One auctioneer calls these "Easy to Clean out".   I like to call them the $1 unit.   

These can be profitable too but you must consider the time you will spend cleaning it out.   

hopefully your next auction will yield something more interesting.