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!

I have bought 5 lockers so far this year. Most contained furniture, clothes, misc house hold goods, etc. Selling the goods on craigslist and at the flea market with little trouble. Not making a fortune but doing pretty well.

Well last Friday I went to an auction, about 15 miles north of Pittsburgh. They had 16 units up for auction, and suprisingly, there were not as many people as previous auctions have held. Nothing really interested me until the second to last locker.

When they opened it up, there was a schwinn lil chik bike. Kingsbury toys electric advertisement car (Hillshire Farms) old milk jug chairs, trunk visible, a long with some other things. Then boxes and boxes.

I decided to go for it. Bidding quickly escalade to 800, but then most dropped out and, it was only between another guy and myself. I ended up getting it for 950$. A little more than what I wanted to pay. But I thought it was worth the risk .

Well after cleaning out the unit. I a few boxes full of old board games. Tons of old fisher price and other toys from 1970s-80s. Matchbox cars from 1970s. Then lots and lots of older books. As I was going through one of the last boxes, full of clothes, I dug down a little and picked up a heavier box that said master bedroom. Quickly opened it up to find a old Thoren Music box with lots of discs. 10k gold mens class ring. 21 silver certificates. Old morgan dollars. Tiffany and Co silver pen. Then the icing on the cake was a real krugerrand!

I couldnt believe it. I then went to a reputable coin and gold shop and sold the krugerrand for more than 1500. Decided not to sell it on ebay, due to fees, risk etc.  I decided to keep the rest and try to squeeze out as much as I can, since I already have made my money back + some.

Going to be a lot of work listing all of the toys and games. But it will be worth it in the end. Now Im trying to decide whether I should list the books individually or wholesale them. I think I will spend the extra time and list them individually.

So all in all it ended up being a good buy. I know not all will end up like this, but it sure is nice to score!