Since you are just starting out in this business, and since you don't have alot of inventory from other units yet and therefore not generating good cash flow, I suggest trying to get something out of every piece you find in a unit. $10 is $10. I don't know how bad a shape that furniture is, but from the pictures it doesnt look all that bad. Interestingly, I won a unit with the same style furniture in it except it was washed oak in color and included a chest of drawers and the dresser for the vanity mirror. The furniture set was the only thing in the unit and I won it for $110.00. It took three months, but I eventually sold the set for $375.00.

Once you are stock full of inventory, then you can start ditching all the marginal stuff you don't want to deal with. Just my thoughts.

My story is one of those long winding roads into the business. My first encounter with storage auctions was in the late 1990's a friend of mine who dropped out of high school was always trying to find a way to be self employed because he didn’t want to work at McDonald's or other various minimum wage jobs. He was always starting new ventures, lawn care service, car detailing, fishing guide, taxidermist, etc. eventually he got into storage  auctions and occasionally he needed my help to clean out the units. At the time, I had a good job in construction working 40-60 hours a week, so I was not at all interested in storage auctions other than my buddy paying me a few bucks to help him move stuff.

Fast forward to 2004, my wife (girlfriend at the time) let her storage unit go into default and it was auctioned. She had a lot of nice furniture from her grandparents in there and she was very distraught over losing it. During this time I researched all there was to know about defaulting on a storage unit and how the impending lien auction works.

In 2008 my wife and I started discussing various investment opportunities that might be advantageous. I brought up real estate tax auctions and storage unit auctions.  We agreed on real estate tax auctions but storage unit auctions got shot down as a possible venture.

October 2010. My wife has just lost her job and we are watching TV and guess what comes on? That’s right, storage wars! I told my wife we can do this! I told her it would be difficult because of the TV shows a lot of other people are going to make a go at it, but if we survive this next year, during the most competitive time to be in this industry, than there is no telling how successful we will be.

She saw how excited and committed I was at giving storage unit auctions a try, so she agreed to give it a go.
So thats my story and I am sticking to it. 

I just finished going through my latest unit and I have approx. 200 EMPTY video game boxes. They are mostly PS2 and XBOX with the original titles and manuals still inside. Just wondering if there is a market to sell them before I chuck them in the dumpster.

Went to the auctions yesterday, and after a couple of months of crowds and prices slowly dropping I thought the enthusiasm from the TV shows was over. Nope! A HUGE crowd, a "third wave" of newbies struck the auction circuit yesterday and they made it a bloodbath! (O.K. maybe not that dramatic) but the situation was most of the units were average to below average, and the newbies jumped in and ran everything up in the first half of the day. By the time of the last auction location, bidding came down to almost reasonable, and I ended up getting a 10 x 10 FULL for $325.

This is more of a technical question for those in the business that put that much time and energy into thinking about these things.

My question is, do any off you use some kind of formula to determine when the inventory you have is just not worth the time and effort to take it back to the flea market and decide it's time to dispose of it or take it to Goodwill (or other non-profits) for a tax credit?

I was thinking something like:
1. If I take X number of totes full of merchandise, and return with Y number of totes still full, it's time to remove it from my inventory.
2. If I make X dollars below the avarage flea market day, it's time to remove it from my inventory.

or do you just wait till the you get better merchandise from the next locker(s) and "mix it in" with the old stuff that is not selling well, and just "let it ride".

I realize everyone must run their business as they see fit. Just wondering all of your opinions concerning the "opportunity cost" associated with holding inventory that has already been "run" through the flea market several times and has not sold.

I purchased his book, my review is:

Good information for anyone who has not done any prior research on the storage auction industry. My main concern with the book is he gives a lot of "teaser" information about running the business. He tells you he is going to go into "detail" but never does. I think it is just a marketing ploy to hook people into purchasing more of his products. It seems his method is to get people to by his book, offer a little information, buy more books, get a little more information, join his podcasts, get a little more information, sign up for his Storage Auction Universtiy get a little more information, etc, etc. I think it's a great marketing strategy for him, but as far as buying a comprehensive guidebook about the storage auction business, this book does not deliver.

Hope this is the right topic to add this info.

Auction today. The crowds were way down. About 15 regulars and 5 newbies. Newbies did not jump in the bidding. All units common household junk, I mean merchandise. Regulars ran the bid prices up too high in my opinion. Everybody basically either knows each other or recognizes each other, so I don't know why the average winning bid per unit was as high as they were. Increased competition? Everybody low on product? Everybody has accepted the higher prices in general? Although they sold for more than I felt comfortable paying, none of the bidding went outrageous like just a few months ago.