my biggest tip is look for all the auctions you can and go to the LEAST PUBLICISED ones. Also look for multiple auctions going on at the same time on the same day and GO TO THE ONE THAT LOOKS LEAST APPEALING. Just a few tricks i've learned. Would you rather get a unit For $1000 and make $2000 on it. Or pay $800 for 3 lockers and make $7000? Of course it all depends on your demographics and area you live in but this is how i make the best bang for my buck. As far as bidding goes its not that scary, if youve ever bid in any auction its the same. set your price but be flexible. If i set a price of $300 i'm not losing that unit for another $50.
PS whereabouts are you? im near nashville

found a few more gold chains today. I'll start looking through the 2nd and 3rd unit tomorrow while the kids are in school

     Had a nice nice day yesterday. Went to an auction at 9am that had 9 units up. Ended up with one for $130. After that the caravan was heading to another location....but I knew of another auction the opposite direction so i went there, avoided the crowds and picked up 2 or the 3 units that were there for another $700. Long story short, the first locker had antique rings in a jewelry box and a few other odds and ends including old gold frame glasses(the type you would think of ben franklin wearing). All in all came out to about $3000 in jewelry. the 2nd unit was about average. A lot of gas lawn equipment. Probably about $2k worth. The 3rd unit was beautiful. when they opened the door there were 5 full military duffels near the front of the door and 2 very large tuff boxes. I got the unit for about $350 and everything was there. the military alone will be about $5k and the room is a 10x20 packed so there will be more stuff to sell. Also sold about $200 in furniture to another dealer while i was there out of the unit(i dont deal much with furniture). So it was a great day overall, only thing ive really gone through was the small unit with the jewelry and i pulled all the military stuff and sorted it. Still a little work to do but can't do much til the kids are back in school tomorrow. I'm excited to see everything else

     So I've always used the acid test to figure out if gold is real/what carat it is etc. I'd really like to go to an electronic tester and have read some reviews but was hoping people here would chime in on what they use. Also if you have a good diamond tester(i currently have a guy i trust but he's about 150 years old so won't be around forever) and silver tester i'd be interested in what you have to say. Thx.

i caRRY  a dozen with me. I also find a lot of them in units so i end up selling the crappier ones and keeping the good ones. I have about a dozen at any one time and try to keep it at thhat number.

i believe if i were ebay and people would pay 50% thats what i would charge. It's a business and if it gets to be higher than what you want to pay you have to be creative in finding other sources to get rid of your stuff. I use ebay only to sell the most specialized, small, higher end items because thats where they fetch the best price. I could also use the local auction house but wont fetch as good a price. so until i can get more locally than globally i'll continue to use ebay(which is only about 10% of my current sales).

i voted that it should be higher because there is NO SUCH THING AS FAIR. There is only what people will pay and what people are charging. If people aren't paying, they will lower the rate

nothing that gets under my skin but I was at one and the lady auctioneer ran it like she was a drill Sgt. I'm always very friendly especially toward the auctioneers but she was having none of it. Also at another auction they sold a unit but you couldn't take the contents until the following week as the tenant had asked for an extra week to pay. So if they pay you don't get the unit.(they also didnt take money for that unit until pickup so not too bad).