My basic rule for myself is I won't go over 1k a unit for the average household unit such as tv's, even if they are flat screens, couches, furniture, etc. Just too much stuff to turn around, not sure what I'll get for everything trying to turn it arond quickly.

However for units with one big ticket item like a car, a bike, etc I'll go higher than that. Also units that are clearly an entire businesses inventory. Things like that I'll go over 1k for however not for your avergage household unit no matter how good it is.

My point with the credit cards being normally I think I got as much cash if not more than others however I dont have the highest card limit. Say a units got a 67 Camaro or something in there, if were talking cash I got a chance of walking away with the unit, cards definately not.

Over the weekend was trying to clear out some storage stuff. Don't wanna wait til summer for garage sales and dont have enough time right now to do flea markets.

Put 3 Coleman Coolers with stickers still on them on CL for $25. Guy came within 20 minutes, picked them up, paid cash, nice freindly guy talked about camping for a little bit.

Normally I wont do anything under $50 on craigslist as there's too many flakes, not worth finding a common time, waiting for people who are late, etc.

This day I was at my house the whole day so didn't really matter how prompt he was, had him come by got them, made some money, cleared some space, not that bad. May start doing more of this.

I understand some people may not like strangers comming to their house which I totally understand. I dont really mind just b/c its me my roomates a big dude, we both got guns and I got a 100lbs bulldog...lol. But honestly it makes it so much easier if your not sitting in the parking lot of  an amoco waiting 45 min for some guy to come pick up a blender for $10.

Only way I'll pay over a thousand for a locker is if it's something I know I can easily turn around like a car, motorcycle, trailer, arcade games, etc. Basically a few larger ticket items, not a whole unit full of stuff no matter how great.

I havn't been to many auctions where the auctioneer was like that but do sometimes see them try to start bidding high, we all just sit there in silence til he starts reasonably low or eventually like someone else in this thread said someoen just shouts out something like $5 or $10 and they normally start the bidding there if not let it go at that price. We as the bidders set prices not the auctioneer.

If your not religious may not matter to you but your not supposed to throw away religious type stuff. Supposed to either burn it or you could drop it off at a church or something.

I have a hard time with clothes. Furniture isn't too bad for me. If it's cheap or dumpy furniture I'll sell say a kitchen table for like 5 bucks. Not really making much but dont gotta pay to throw it away and any money is good money.

For nicer furniture I just found a resale shop in my area and the lady was saying she cant keep enugh furniture in the store, flying out the door. It is an upscale resale shop though so has to be nice stuff.

I really struggle with clothes. Even good brands like Dolce Gabbana I have to practically give away on ebay. Just sold a D&G blazer that was probably 300-400 new and I think I sold it for $4 plus shipping.

This particular shop is pretty fair and gives decent prices. Basically the gy will generally look at recently sold things on auction sites, craigslist, etc and give you 55% of the value. This may not be great for easy to get rid of items like a xbox 360 or something sell that yourself but for home decor pottery pieces, pictures, etc I think its pertty fair.

Not sure if anyone else has an "isoldit" in their area. I just recently looked up the terms of one near me. It's insane. For some items they require a $30 deposit just to list your item which pretty much defeats the point of those types of services which is generally no upfront cost to you b/c they take such a large cut at the end. The deposit is also non refundable.

The one buy me takes 33% on top of paypal and ebay which normally winds up being another 12.9% of so.

I actually sold one of those coolers with the handles that you bring your lunch to work in, the larger one of course but still got $5 for it. Thats something I was gonna toss or give to goodwill.

I agree though pawn shops overall generally are picky and kind of a ripoff on what you get.

I suppose rules may vary from state to state but in IL I'm under the impression the unit still belongs to the tenant until the actual auction takes place, that's why no-one is allowed inside.

People have showed up and paid minutes before an auction. Imagine what would happen if someoen showed up to pay last minute or even to bid on their own unit and stuff was stolen out of the unit.

I don't doubt this happens but probably not as much as you may think as it's illegal and if they do it regularly they will get caught soon enough.

I have seen those ads your refering to though and wondered the same thing. I was talking with a guy in Canada. There auctions are pretty crazy from the sounds of it. I guess there's really no laws in Canada that really specifically address this so there's kind of a patchwork of ways things are done and no one really knows whats the right way so auctions and how they are done very a lot. Sounds like a lot of theirs are just single items from units or even stuff is put into bins and auctioned as a bin but not a full unit.