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Messages - Cobia

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166
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: What was this buyer thinking?
« on: August 15, 2013, 06:49:56 PM »
That's one of the things people STILL fail to realize, it takes selling a LOT of used stuff to get back to $2000. It ain't like opening a Sears store and things sell for $500 here $250 there; more like $50 here, $10 there; etc. And a 10x10? You run out of real estate quick in only a 10 x 10. I've seen typical household 10 x 10s go over $1200 and I think, "OK, they sell the furniture & electronic and maybe break even, now they have clothes, books, bathroom items, and kitchenware to make their profit." Not much there, and that's if all goes well with the contents of the boxes.

167
Stores / Re: Idea to sell the unsellable crt and vhs
« on: August 15, 2013, 06:35:11 PM »
Yep, those big dinosaur TVs sometimes can still bring upwards of $100 here. They need to be working AND near mint condition. Most everyone on the auction trail groans and mentions dump runs when they see them but I figure if they work I can get $50 so I don't immediately shy away from a unit that has them. Smaller CRT TVs still sell but cheap. Something larger then 32" maybe $20, smaller $5-$10, smaller then 19" $1-$3.

Disney VHS tapes were still selling about a year ago but now even that's dried up. No VHS tapes are worth keeping around to sell anymore. Stand alone VHS players still bring $1-$5.

168
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Books
« on: August 05, 2013, 06:30:51 PM »
Quote from: Fayettenam Man on August 03, 2013, 08:52:34 PM
I wanted to start a topic and get others experience and advice on books found in storage lockers. Particularly old books. Have you ever found a high value book? Ever sold a large quantity?

My situation is this - My latest storage locker purchase contained a lot (8 boxes or so) of very old books. A lot of pre 1900's all the way to the 1940s. There are several first editions and even some with an authors signature. There is even a 'set' of Mark Twain books, of course they are not first editions. So far I have been looking every one up on ebay, pulling the ones that show a successful sales history and putting the rest in boxes. The books going in boxes far exceed the ebay ones, but a lot are still first edition pre 1900 books. The books are in pretty good shape considering their age.

Im going to start by listing them as a lot on craigslist in several local cities, but are there any other success stories or suggestions out there?

Just because they are not selling on Ebay doesn't mean they are not valuable. Are you using TerraPeak and/or Worthpoint to find older sales histories on those books? Don't count on Ebay's 30 day sales history to give you a complete picture of those books worth, especially at that age, first edition, author signed, etc. Also try AbeBooks to research old book values.

I've sold books in the hundreds (not thousands yet) on both Ebay & Amazon. Most of the time you have to be patient and wait for the right customer. Often you can sell valuable books quickly on Ebay for 10-25% of the "fair market value".

169
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Where did all the new people go that
« on: August 05, 2013, 06:17:56 PM »
Quote from: craiglstauction on August 05, 2013, 06:04:06 PM
Many of them have moved south and come to auctions down here now.  We still have 3-4 new people show up each month.  They don't last too long.  Prices are better than they have been but still not super.

I agree with that, not as many newbirds, but still a few each auction. Prices have come down some but still too high in my opinion. The dream of being re-sellers and thrift store owners has not gone away yet though. I see many a face that came out to storage auctions in last couple of years drifting around the local flea markets and auction houses. I think many who got burned in the storage auction craze are trying their hand at picking.

I don't know if it's the ole' "When your a hammer everything looks like a nail" bias; but it sure seems like there are a MUCHO GRANDE people trying to get in the re-sale game. Just in the grocery store today and the lady in front of me was bragging to the cashier about her Amazon business and what all she sells (oh, brother!  ::)

Her knowledge of the re-sale environment and Amazon in general seemed a bit limited, so I assumed she was a "newbie". Based on the story it kind of sounded like she "lucked up" on something at a yard sale, so now she goes around yard sales looking for this type of item and that's her business.

I know there are a lot of people who do just that but the pros don't tell everybody what their "ace in the hole" item is!  :-[

170
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Gold in Electronics
« on: August 05, 2013, 06:04:28 PM »
Quote from: craiglstauction on August 05, 2013, 05:58:51 PM
The most common electronics with gold will be your computers and cell phones.  Some printers that have memory boards have a little gold. 

If you are interested I can point you to some good buyers and a site.

I've made a little over $1k from scrap electronics.  When gold was at it's highest I could buy a complete desktop for $5 and make $20-$30 from it.

Things that I scrap:
computer parts
cell phones
xbox/playstation/etc consules - mid or high-grade boards
DVRs - for the hard drives

Most of the VCR, DVD, etc. players are all low grade.  Not worth pulling unless has some eproms.

I'm interested!

171
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Selling at Auction Barn
« on: August 05, 2013, 06:02:44 PM »
Quote from: cstore7 on August 03, 2013, 11:33:52 PM
I have read about 173 different threads and have not seen this addressed.

Does anyone pick the good stuff and then just deliver the rest to an area Auction house / Barn to move quickly?

Yes! In fact I think most of my competition do this. Personally, I think this is the lazy way to do it, but sometimes even I need to move stuff through the auction house. I guess for people on disability, social security, pension, etc.; they don't need to maximize profit on the units so they can just pick the good stuff (if any) and send the rest to an auction house. I don't think this model will work for those trying to do storage auctions as a full-time business to live off of, unless they buy/win a whole bunch of units and have an auction house that can and will handle the load.

172
Storage Facilities / Re: "In House Buyer"
« on: August 05, 2013, 05:46:32 PM »
My state does not require storage auctions. The large corporate chains all have auctions, but I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of only 10-20% of the small family owned facilities have auctions. When I first started doing auctions I compiled a list of all the facilities I could find in my county and quickly realized VERY few have auctions. Many told me they never have auctions, Never have tenants who don't pay (yeah right  ::)) or have a "guy" who gets the stuff.

At one time I worked myself into a relationship with one facility to be "that guy" but it wasn't long before he wanted more money per unit and most of the units at this facility were junk. I think I got like 8 units and 1 was decent, but even that one the owner knew was better so I had to pay more for it.

I've really not tried to contact these facilities lately to become "that guy", mostly because the small facilities around here tend to be poor shape, cheap rent, and very crappy contents. The nicer stuff tends to be stored in the corporate facilities that hold auctions.

173
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Auction Scene #7...July, 2013
« on: July 28, 2013, 09:41:29 PM »
The newbies and bidding prices have increased since the beginning of the month. I agree, quality of units has been noticeably worse in July compared to May-June. I still won some units last week but after doing a quick inventory I'm at the edge of what would I would consider being worth the time and effort to bid on.

I'm going to have to watch what's happening a little closer this next month (August) as far as prices and quality. May have to back off a bit.

Folks, It's just NOT going to ever get back to the days of making 4-10 times or more your money on most units. I believe the new reality is double or triple your money at best, and every once in a while we hit a light attended auction with a great unit or two gotten on the cheap; but those are going to be few, depending on your area, maybe a couple of times a year.

174
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: What happened to this member ?
« on: July 28, 2013, 09:22:48 PM »
I think Craig's didn't much like messing with big units, and I remember him more then once saying he would let the regulars with stores win the units they wanted, so maybe he just lost interest.

I think I remember Money saying they live to far in the boonies to have effective yard sales. Likely lost interest, along with family issues, in auctions as well.

Have they been lurking, or totally off the radar?

175
The Lounge / Re: How do you feel about Obama Care
« on: July 28, 2013, 09:16:45 PM »
Quote from: alloro on July 28, 2013, 11:29:08 AM
Start by giving up everybody needing to carry a smartphone, then quit buying $75 video games, then quit ordering takeout 5 nights a week, then give up the 250 channel cable or satellite subscription, then stop buying 2 new cars on credit, then stop buying the kids $200 sneakers, then stop voting in those that want to tax and give it away, etc. The toys have become the priority over the needs of the family these days because the new attitude is that the government will give and give.

Although I agree with your assessment, if everyone started doing like you say, i'd be out of business!  :'(

I've been informed that the "small house payment" insurance plan I have now is not "good" enough under the new health care legislation and i will be forced to purchase a new plan next year. Can't wait to see what that's gonna cost. I might turn into one of those "moochers" who has to get a government exchange health care plan.

176
General Storage Auction Talk / Summer 2013, The Lookie Loo's Are Starting To Come Baacckk!!
« on: July 17, 2013, 08:28:24 PM »
I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this but a new crop of Looky Loos is starting to show up at auctions and yes, even starting to place bids. So far they are much more conservative then the hoards of 1-3 years ago, but definitely some more interest.

We had a couple of months there with VERY FEW newbies and many of the old timers, 1-2 year vets, & newbies dropping out. Now we are getting a lot of fresh faces. I am pretty good at recognizing faces so I am fairly certain that most of these people are brand new to the scene and not people who tried it last year or two years ago and coming back out to see if the prices came down. That's what we had last Fall & this Spring.

177
Mike Braiotta's Blog / Re: Mike Braiotta From Storage Wars New York
« on: July 17, 2013, 08:22:14 PM »
Hey Mike, Don't let that bog Gorilla Steve push you around like that! Take his knee caps out or somptin'!!  :-*

178
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Manager looked through my locker before I bought it??
« on: July 17, 2013, 08:04:22 PM »
Quote from: MTP on July 16, 2013, 11:45:04 PM
You have no idea what was in there, who took out what.
Highly likely the original owner did that.

Besides contrary (TV infused) believe, there are NOT bags of cash in every unit.

I have not found any cash in the 32 units I bought before quitting the game.
I did find a few silver coins. Prob a total of $50 in change.
2 gold coins (1800s Half Eagles, sweeeeettt).....
Some kind of gold in 8 out of the 32 units the best one was the one with the coins (total $2,000+ in gold incl the coins alone at $500 each).

However, if you got 6 bags of stripper clothes for $25 you actually scored fairly well for such a small investment.

WOW!!! I'm surprised your quitting the game so soon after finding that much gold!  :-\

179
Reality Shows about Storage Auctions / Re: Candy & Courtney in a Burlesque Show?
« on: July 17, 2013, 07:58:11 PM »
Thats the only way those two will make money doing anything with storage auctions!  :D :D :D

180
Vehicles at Storage Auctions / Re: Automobiles at Storage Auctions
« on: July 17, 2013, 07:56:31 PM »
Gonna be tricky unless they sold you the car with the proper paperwork to transfer the title. Depending on the state laws you might only be able to sell it "parts only". That ATV I got turned out it had a lien on the title. I ended up selling it to an ATV dealer & let him deal with it.

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