I've not had much luck with estate sales that are ran by a company.  Most sales are fri - sun.  I will find one after work on a friday and stop in.  Even by then most 'cheap' items have been picked clean.  Most of the furntiure is either priced high or already gone.  The smalls are a hit or miss.  I did pick up some old style oil lamps for $2 each at one sale.

Now - if I can find the family estate sales -- those do much better.  Is just one giant yard sale for the most part.

My first few months of doing auctions I would hit everyone one that I could.  Then I quickly learned which ones are worth going to and which are not.  I try to hit every auction that I can.  There is one place I will never go back to.  Have a few others I will attend if can but am very reserved in bidding.  Then have a few places I would love to hit but never have the day off.

But But if we had a FAQ....half of our thread count may (would) go out the window?

Back on topic - today's auction has 83 units listed since we didn't do a auction in Nov.  Now - how many of those will actually come up for auction? Maybe 20.

I've had that issue with PS before.  U-haul is even worse.  They only give you 24 hours to clean the unit out.  Lucky the auction is on a friday.  One of the U-hauls the manager is a ahat and will not give you any extra time no matter how big a unit or how many you buy.  The other place he will work with you if you are a regular.  Many times he will give you all weekend to get things cleaned out if you buy a large unit or multiples.

I like my 3 caravan auction that is on a monday (we attend today).  He gives you a whole week to clean the units out.  So you get from that monday evening to the following monday morning.

Dec 1 found me at one of my faveorite 3 location trains.  However, this month they only had 7 units in 2 locations.  Mostly all regulars this time with a few returning old-newbies / new-newbies in the mix.  First facility was ok but nothing I bid high on (silent bid).  First unit at the 2nd location was interesting and I honestly just didn't know how to bid.  Two other units were nice and I know went for over $200.  Rest were so/so.  I didn't win anything - got outbid by $21 on one.

Now for the "how do I bid this" unit.  It was a 10 x 20 arts / crafts unit.  In the front you saw clear totes with craft magazines, paint brushes, paints, decorations, just a mix of stuff.  Stacked a good 3' - 4' high.  Look over that and you see a old wood box coca-cola carrier, some newer plastic 2 litter coke carriers, 2 or 3 wood plant stands with the heart design.  From 1/2 way in the rest of the 10x10 was taken up with totes.  Small to mid-size totes stacked 6' to 7'.  They were above my head.  Marked as "easter", "misc", "xmas", etc.  Wish I had a picture of the unit.  I know arts and crafts can be very lucrative or a huge to the dump pile.  I honestly couldn't tell which was the case here.  So I jotted down a $153 bid and went to the next unit.  I was outbid by a good margin.  I figured the unit would go higher but since I have no exp in arts/crafts I just couldn't bid to much for the unit.

Tuesday finds me at my other 3 train location and then u-haul on friday.  Tuesday is not the normal time/day for this facility but they split Nov and Dec due to holidays.  Will see how it goes.

Take them to your local coin store and they should be able to identify them for you.  If they are legit coins that is.  Many of the "roman coin" auctions on ebay are fakes.

My auctions are done for the month due to work.  However, I have noticed the same as Cobia.  Many of the auctions I did attend had a larger number of regulars coming back.  One of the auctions was like a high school re-union.  We still have a number of newbies, 3 month newbies, and the like.  But more and more units are going to regulars, and the general price has come down.

It is really going to depend on where you live, where you sell, etc.  I do this as a hobby and thus don't have a license, tax permit, etc.  I do keep up with how much I spend and sell just in case.  Since it is a hobby while I can't deduct my losses, I can offset any gains with my expenses.  I really don't make much money.  There is a cap on how much you can make before you have to report it.  I am not sure what the cap is.

Many of the auctions I attend will charge you sales tax unless you have a license.  So then I don't have to worry about the tax.  I still have an issue with the tax since it was already taxed in the manufacture and then again in the original sale of the item.  That is a different story.