Tuesday, August 21, 2012....


Episode one:

The couple get a 20th century reproduction of a Chinese seismograph. Experts says $3.5K.  eBay says:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=chinese+seismograph



Episode two:

Rerun !

Season Finale next week.....Tuesday, August 28, 2012.

I have two experiences with that kind of deal.

The first one was full-sized three bedroom house with a pool and two car garage. There were only about 10 of us there but one woman was on the phone and I think it was to the person who used to live in the house.

I posted this story elsewhere, so when done here I'll come back later and post the link to that thread for more details.

Basically though I got it for $3K even. I thought I could double and I did.  I took everything from inside the house (with no electricity on) and I took a week to do it as I was doing it myself with only a little help on bigger stuff.

There were two cars that were not included..one in garage, one is side yard.  These people even left the dog....the neighbors rescued it after a few days.

I cleaned the place only to the point where everything was gone...even stuff in rafters of garage (except over the car left in there). Later the property manager said ... "You could have stood on the car !"   JERK !

Here's the link:

http://storageauctionforums.com//index.php/topic,561.0.html

*****
2ND place was basically empty and smelled of cat urine. Walk through the house took about 1 minute. Went to garage where the whole floor surface was covered two feet deep in trash. Old house had a "bend over" walk space underneath...a few things there.  

There were only 5 of us there and the others were 2 couples. I took them up to $325. I would have been happy at $200 but I knew they wanted it and they got it.  Heard from them later it was a break even.  The fellow then went to work for one of the 4 major auctioneers in the area !


Here's the link on the 2nd one:

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php/topic=1032.0

Hope this helps...as far as the cleaning etc.  Base your offer on what's in there but make it low.  They've got a ready buyer who will basically clean it out!

Anyway trying to catch up does not look like I have missed much. 

Well, there's always those sealedbidsonline auctions in the six states that only one of us lives in !

Welcome back !

Dint man to record just forgot to turn off recording. Thanks for the reminder. And taping is 1980 ish this is digital age now where its all recorded to a hard drive.

What, I'd better catch up ! 

I actually have two Tivos...one for satellite and one for OTA (over the air). I bought the first one years ago and paid the $300 for lifetime subscription.  Then about 7 years ago I bought one at the flea market and LO and BEHOLD it HAD a lifetime subscription.  I've bought about 10 since then at flea and thrift stores and in storage lkrs. Not a one has been lifetime, but several had large hard drives which I scavenged and put in my two good Tivos.

I will have to really think about going again for this kind of auction.

Thinking this might have been the SLO auction, but no matter where it was these auctions are hit and miss but so are the regular auctions we go to. The main difference is the time involved of course...an all day affair with lots of waiting around.

I have had good luck (overall) with these. My best results: Snap-On (one set) for $50, sold for $150. Portable air conditioner for $50, sold for $185. Vintage balsa boat model (in box unassembled) $15, sold for $65. A piece for an industrial grade paper binder, $5 sold for $185. Water testing kit, $5 sold for $400.

I have also broken even on a couple of pieces because I bid TOO much, but them's the breaks.

Originally I did not like this kind of auction when I attended several years ago, but with locker prices in the last year or so and a new look at piece auctions I now like them. Going prepared with a cart of some kind, a chair and some water/food helps a lot, but attitude adjustment is the main obstacle to overcome.

Your experience with the "tampering" certainly doesn't sit well though and would be hard to accept. Give it some thought and maybe try again.  Meanwhile, ENJOY THE COAST !

I agree with you on the online thing but what do you do when all the best places you buy from are going online? Some of the best facilitys I used to buy from have gone to online. I hate it but what do you do?

Seems to me the choices you have are pretty obvious:

1) continue to buy from the places you used to like (now online) and overpay the way you say people are doing (no profit).

2) don't continue to buy from the places you used to like....at least you are not overpaying.

3) buy from places you don't like as much but maybe you'll make some money.

4) don't buy from places you don't like as much and guarantee you won't lose money or make money.

5) other choices I have forgotten ?

@Movieman, from what I understand, even if you live right down the street from the location holding the online auction you just can't pop over and take a look. You would have a competitive advantage over others. But you know how these things go, if you have a good relationship with the owner/manager they might let you take a look anyway.

That tells you a lot about the value of the "picture" auction..IMO.  Probably the facility and the auctioneer are the ones who really make out on these sales, even more so than a regular storage auction.