Auction Hunters?  What's that?

Thought I should post SOMETHING before (or if) the site went DOWN again.

I think it was down for around 48 hours or so. 

It might just be me in a bad mood and/or after driving 50 miles to go to two auctions. 
Next, they wanted $50 deposit just to bid. 
Somewhere in my little mind, I said the heck with it and just went home. 
If i have to give a $50 deposit just to bid, forget it.

Yep, all those things added up for you to being out-of-sorts about the day, but looking back on it you might have given that $50 deposit.

One place in my area gets $100 deposits and at the end of the auction, those folks who did not buy get to go in the office first (one at a time) to get their deposits back.

Typically the bidders here who complain about the deposit are those who have only brought a few hundred in the first place and find it cutting into their bidding ability.  Since one knows the deposit will be returned (either immediately or upon lkr cleanout) there wouldn't be a problem otherwise. And of course some would just be ticked off by the thought of having to pay just to bid.

Anyway, it's part of business and some places do it.

I had a couple of Chiropractic tables that took forever to sell.

That's why I was happy to take what I did. When you have a hot lead it's best to just sell it rather than wait 3 months to a year !

Got this one a month or so ago at a thrift store. It's a chiropractic table.



Bought it for $50. Sold it for $800.

Most of these tables are higher off the ground (more like massage tables) but the best ones
have several adjustable areas.

This one was all heavy-duty aluminum construction for the frame. Weight 110 pounds.

Sometimes when I post and push the save button it will go to an error message. Since that has been happening lately I now copy the contents of my post before I push the save button so the work won't be lost. Eventually I get through and am able to truly save it.

IN ADDITION...I sometimes get the following message.

Internal Server Error
 
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
 
Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
  More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
 
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


How the user at home could have caused the message (see red above) is beyond me !

Went to an auction today that 3 months ago never drew more than 15 or so people, but today there were 40 and 30 of them were new....and I mean NEW people. The newbies bought perhaps 7 of the 10 lockers and they paid their dues. The regulars weren't even bidding on these due to the high prices for the quality/quantity shown.

It was common for a 10 x 10 (half full) to go for $400 or so.  The last three were ok and 3 regulars got them. A 10 x 10 went for $350. First 10 x 20 (packed with big furn) went for $900 and the 2nd (and last lkr) was a 10 x 20 only full to about 4 feet high and pretty scattered with not much showing except a super clean large mobile spray system (for crops ?) with a good looking Honda engine and pump. Lkr went for $650. I think that spray system would bring that, but not much else in there.

Thanks to crowds and prices I have been able to keep my new year's "resolution" NOT to buy lockers that aren't world class !  Like a recovering alcoholic I am taking locker buying "one month at a time" and have not bought one in 2013.

THE FINAL REVEAL !

Good guesses by all on the contents of the boxes and their value once the contents were revealed. There was potential for several thousand dollars of income at $2 to $3 a can.

This would have been a good return on the $330 investment EXCEPT FOR ONE THING!

When the lkr buyer and I opened the first box to reveal the 4 smaller boxes inside, and then opened the first blue box we discovered.....the cylinders were empty ! 

Yep, no weight, no butane gas.  And there were no blue caps on top of each cylinder. What was in the plastic garbage bags in front of the 32 cases?  THE BLUE CAPS !

The "round but flat" things we felt inside the bags were all the missing caps; 6 industrial plastic garbage bags and one large cardboard box of pristine blue plastic caps!

*******

After giving my condolences to the lkr buyer I took my leave after we both agreed "The rest of the boxes MIGHT have some full bottles in them", but as I walked away I couldn't help but think he had just spent $330 on some aluminum that might bring in a $100 or so for scrap.

I decided I wouldn't reveal the find to my cronies at the next auction down the line but I ran an errand and then I got to the next auction after the lkr buyer did. When I got there the poor soul was telling them all the story and asked me to fill in the details.  We looked the butane up on my iPad and found out the facts for people selling them there.

******

Now WHY were the boxes wrapped in plastic?  Like Clist, when I first saw them I thought drugs (marijuana) with the plastic maybe being a partial barrier to odor getting out.  Now I'm thinking the old lkr owner didn't want anyone seeing him moving these boxes (probably marked on the outside of the brown cardboard) with the Power 5x logo.  Of course there are ligitmate uses for it, but one of the guys said he thought it was an ingredient used in making meth or other drugs of similar nature.

Will try to talk to the manager of the facility for her take on the former lkr owner. She wasn't there the day of the sale.

So, CAVEAT EMPTOR, let the buyer beware. A gamble is a gamble, but when the lkr is a TOTAL MYSTERY, maybe best to pass or bid low.