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Messages - Cobia

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1006
Garage Sales / Re: do you tag items at your garage sale?
« on: August 23, 2011, 01:08:42 PM »
In my experience it's not worth the time and effort to tag my garage sale items. I guess it depends on your inventory and your sales strategy. I sell everything dirt cheap. 90% of what I sell goes for $5 or less, so it does'nt make sense to spends hours stamping "$2", "$1" "$0.50", etc.

1007
Craigslist / Re: Phone Verification?
« on: August 23, 2011, 08:15:09 AM »
I had a issue like this once with Craigslist. All I had to do was clear my cookies and browser history, reset my pop-up blocker setting and re-boot the computer and I stopped getting those error verification notices.

1008
What's it Worth?? / Re: Been holding onto them for awhile now
« on: August 23, 2011, 08:04:00 AM »
Quote from: jrossjr79 on August 23, 2011, 01:39:27 AM
Well I got it looked at. Sad Sad Sad news. Its a decorative piece, no more than 20 years old. Worth about 10 bucks a piece. However I have Asian Festival coming up here in a few months. If I havent sold them by then, I will be trying to unload them at the festival for 20 dollars a piece.

Oh BTW, according to the guy who looked at it, its Chinese not Japanese.

Any chance they were wrong and you get a second opinion?

1009
Craigslist / Re: Anyone have any luck selling "lots" of merchandise on craigslist to sellers?
« on: August 21, 2011, 06:51:14 PM »
Quote from: rulesforrebels on August 20, 2011, 09:06:09 PM
I'm always collecting more stuff than I can possibly sell myself and am trying to clear out some space as well as just get rid of a lot of stuff I've been hanging onto to sell myself at flea markets and such. Just don't have time now and weathers going to be going downhill not that long from now.

Was thinking about putting an ad on craigslist trying to sell "lots" of merchandise at highly discounted prices to other flea market sellers and or ebay sellers. Anyone had any luck doing something like this?

Depends what you mean by "luck". If you just have to get rid of it, put it on the free section of CL and they will kill each other trying to get to your door first. I sold a trailer load of stuff to a guy at flea market for $25. Getting any more is like pulling teeth, mainly because most people in this business assume you have already sold the quality stuff and you probably are not going to accidently leave any "gems" in the left over inventory. But you might get a little more from somebody.

1010
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Noobie opening bid question
« on: August 21, 2011, 06:44:18 PM »
Thats a big faux pas, you should have said $5! But seriously, bidding behavior is so funny, people will stand around a wait for someone else to bid when the auctioneer says starting bid is $50, then someone says $10 the next thing you know the unit is at $450! I guess so many think they will get stuck paying $50 on a $10 unit, but that NEVER happens in todays market. it will almost always rise above the opening bid. Sometimes on a "dirty" unit I like to throw out a high bid of $50 or $100 just to stop the enthusiasm of the crowd in thier tracks, unfortunately that dose'nt work with the nicer units. I yell out $500, and everyone else thinks I see something good so the bidding takes off from there.

1011
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: where do you store your products??
« on: August 20, 2011, 07:11:57 PM »
Quote from: ChefJ on August 20, 2011, 11:39:30 AM
Picked up a couple of units the last couple of weeks and I am having a hard time storing the goods.  I have a 7.5x10 food locker of my own, but that was nearly filled up with the first unit I purchased down here. 
My wife isn't going to let me use the house, outside of snapping pictures.  The garage has my car in it. 

Anyone have issues like this??  If so what did you do to render them, additional storage lockers?  a warehouse space maybe?

I might not be as good a seller as others on this forum, so in my case I collect merchandise pretty quickly. Even if I have a really good weekend selling at the flea market it seems like I am taking back home as much as I brought. This really puzzles me sometimes because I have couple hundred dollars in my pocket, selling stuff for less than $5, most stuff $1 and I still have a full load to take back home? huh? Anyway, I digress. In my case the more inventory I have the more I am going to sell. So if you want a bigger operation, then yes you will need more storage space. As long as you have the time and manpower to handle it.

1012
South East / Re: Nice looking auction in Acworth / Marietta - Sept
« on: August 19, 2011, 06:43:18 PM »
I thought about going to that one but Atlanta is competative enough without them listing all the good stuff in the units.

1013
Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Re: Hello from Cleveland Ohio
« on: August 17, 2011, 08:46:12 AM »
As an IT executive, have you ever done hard manual labor outdoors for a living, or did you go straight from college into an office job? The reason I ask is because if you have never done hard back-braking work in the heat and cold, this is going to be the part of the job that will be most challenging for you. No, mowing your yard or washing your boat on the weekend does'nt count. I mean 40, 50, 60 hours a week manual labor. You could of course hire out all the heavy lifting and loading, but this cuts into your earnings quite a bit, and you still have to sort, clean, repair, package, store, re-sort, move, move again, all the stuff you find in the units.

As an executive; creating a business plan, developing a sales network, book keeping, and the capital investment to start this business should not be very difficult.

You will find the answers to how much money? Where to sell? All over this forum.

The TV shows only show the fun & easy parts of the business, bidding and winning, and finding the treasures. Unfortunately this accounts for only about 10%-20% of your time spent operating this business.

Good Luck

1014
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: when you bidd how do U get the auctioneers attention
« on: August 17, 2011, 08:19:44 AM »
Great idea, draw attention to yourself so the veterans know who to run up.  ::)

1015
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Too lucky on my first Unit?
« on: August 16, 2011, 09:06:32 AM »
Quote from: Southern California Girl on August 15, 2011, 10:31:06 PM
Anyways, at this point I spent $280 but I have made over $700 on the unit (only $420 in profit).  Some of my finds were $300 in gold and silver jewelry (which I sold to a jeweler but might sell to an auctioneer next time) some actual cash, $20 in foreign bills and $4 in change) the cymbal and some stands sold for almost $200, the furniture sold for $100 and some DVD's that sold as well.  (There were also a ton of empty DVD cases in a box too. Do people keep empty DVD cases?  That is weird to me) Anyways, I kept the steamer trunk because I really like it, as well as some collectible rocks and geodes.  Also, one antique Asian jewelry box is up for auction and might bring an additional $100 to $150 on top of all of this.

$420 in profit? You did'nt use any gas going to the auction? You did'nt use any gas hauling the contents of the unit you won back to your house? You did'nt stop to get something to drink or eat lunch? The jeweler came to your house to buy the jewelry? Is the auction online or auction house? You don't pay for boxes, packaging, postage, EBay fees, PayPal fees? The auction house came and picked up your stuff? The auction house did'nt charge you a percentage of the sale price?

Not trying to burst your bubble, but if you are treating this as a business you must include these cost in your profit/loss analysis, along with other costs not mentioned. If this is just a hobby then fine. Just don't tell the IRS your "profit" is total gross sales minus initial investment, you will be doing yourself a great disservice.

I realize many people like to talk about the money they made in simple terms of what thier gross sales were minus the winning bid amount, but just in case you were'nt thinking about the other costs associated with this business, I thought I would mention it for you and other readers. I know people who actually do storage auctions and believe their "profit" is simply total sales minus cost of winning unit.

By the way, that was a great first buy!

1016
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Lookey Loos Part 8.....August, 2011
« on: August 15, 2011, 08:47:44 AM »
This past week I had two large corporate facility auctions and one small independent facility auction. As I suspected the corporate facilities were slammed with people, and hardly anybody at the independent facility.

The first corporate auction early in the week had about 70 people average per location. Many newbies bidding and running the prices up. The newbs won most of the lockers.

The second independent auction had 12 people and 8 bidders. I won two lockers there.

The third corporate auction later in the week had about 40-60 people average per location. Bidding was about half & half between newbies & regulars. Prices were down some, about 10% on average from the previous months auction. I think a lot of the last hoard of newbies got thier butts kicked on the lockers they won. I won one locker.

There were two other auctions scheduled, but they were both canceled due to all units being paid up.

I have noticed a significant change in the group. I would say about half of the people I considered regulars about 6 months ago, no longer are attending auctions.

All in all, I won 3 lockers, a 10 x 20 1/8 full, a 10 x 15 1/2 full, a 5 x 10 stack out. Spent $535 for all three, and these look like some of the best lockers I have won based on initial investment and the quality of the merchandise found inside.

1017
Craigslist / Re: What I put on Craigslist.
« on: August 15, 2011, 08:13:40 AM »
Quote from: terrorbow on August 14, 2011, 10:05:04 AM
yall seem to have decent luck selling on CL. whats the key to it all? i have to sell things for dirt cheap so i am not even making a profit on anything in fact i almost have to pay people to take the items. i been trying to sell a queen pillowtop mattress and box springs both simmons for 125 new over 1000 a couple years ago in near perfect condition been for sale for 2 months. also a complete set of stainless steel fitted brake lines for an 84ish camaro new still in box for 120 new over 200. plus i have them listed in 3-4 different areas.

whats the key as i really need to know so i can get more money for auctions. i am down to 160 which i am going to try and get a locker with on tuesday. let us know how to move things oh masters of auctions.

Craigslist is great for moving common merchandise that many people want or need. If the mattress & boxspring are not new & still in the plastic wrap, you will have a hard time selling it, no matter what the original retail price was. The camaro parts, you need a bigger audience for such a specific item. Try EBay or find a camaro forum on the internet and see if they have place to list items for sale.

1018
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: another noob question... go figure.
« on: August 11, 2011, 08:40:12 AM »
Quote from: tclane on August 11, 2011, 08:30:52 AM
I second what Acman said.

If you want respect, try to win the Nobel Prize. If you want to make money at an auction, you can't be afraid to step on peoples toes. Some of the veterans are just bitter old fools and they won't respect you no matter what you do.

I disagree, I worked hard to gain the respect of the veterans in my area and it has payed off. I have not been "run up" by a veteran in a couple of months now. Newbies, thats another story, they are running me up, getting run up, running themselves up, running other newbies up, etc.

1019
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: another noob question... go figure.
« on: August 11, 2011, 08:33:16 AM »
Quote from: acman on August 10, 2011, 09:32:00 PM
I'll tell you what, I can give a rat's arse what established bidders think of me.  So I didnt have the cash or space to get into this pre-storage wars, so what!  Everyone was new at one time or another, don't like it, tough luck!

I think jrossjr & I in this same thread are trying advise new comers not to piss off the veterans. Unless you live in a market where there are so many bidders you can't stand out in the crowd, you are asking for trouble. Come in "guns blazing" and you are bound to get "run up" & "run out" very quickly. Remember, these are people protecting thier livelyhood from "TV show treasure hunters". Even a person with a lot of money who can survive being "run up" for several months gets tired of bleeding money. This business is too labor intensive to continually lose money week after week just so you can "win" units. Besides, even if you can handle paying the the higher prices for units you may accidentally set a new bar for yourself. Now not only will the veterans "run you up", all the other newbies who have been watching for several months will think you must know what you are doing and they will bid on everything YOU bid on too!

Yesterday I ran a guy up to $150 on a 5 x 5 with 5 boxes in it! All the veterans chime in here. Whats the chances of there being $300 worth of merchandise in 5 boxes? How about $150 in five boxes?

1020
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: another noob question... go figure.
« on: August 10, 2011, 08:59:17 AM »
Take your time. Get to know the regulars. Analyze & document buyer behavior (very important hint). Know how much YOU can make on a unit, don't bid based on others judgement (just because someone else can make or thinks they can make money on a $1000 unit does'nt mean you can!) Accept winning the low-end units in the beginning.

In my region, if you are new and start bidding on quality units right away, YOU WILL GET RUN UP!!

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