Today's 22 caravan was a complete bust. Not going back to this facility any longer. I went 2 months in a row, and I keep getting that sinking feeling that they're pillaging the units. There were 3 units that were worth bidding on, but the price was real high.. Because the crowd was itching to spend their money.. It was real suspicious when every single locker had 1 couch with a cushion missing and either a washer, dryer, or fridge in it.. and nothing else. Next month, I'll consider my gas savings a win..

In this day and age you gotta be real suspicious of the various facilities. The TV shows have caused managers and facility owners to see gold in auctioning off units. There are MANY facilities in my area that I'm convinced are auctioning off household junk; tenant left behinds; what the owners, managers, & employees didn't want after pillfering the units; and all around unwanted items for family & friends. Not to mention since the crowds have dropped around here, the facilities who have been using proxy bidders to run up the bidding are really starting to show now. Thankfully due to crowds dropping, the light is being shined on the missdeeds of my local facilities and I'm really finding out that MANY storage facilities in my area are crookeder than a dog's leg! Some really eye opening things happening around here for me.

Here's a post Cobia made in another area, but I think he might agree it fits here too.

Boy, I guess the storage auction industry has just shriveled up a died away!

My response is that finding quality lockers is IMPOSSIBLE in my area (or at least as far as I travel) and that
prices are out of line for the lockers that are for sale.

I was mainly talking about how the conversations on this forum have drifted into everything except storage auctions and re-sale, but your point is accurate too.

The price of what a good deal should be on a unit has probably been forever altered by the TV shows. A unit that went for $500 last year, now maybe goes for $300 and they(newbies)  think it's a killer deal. Some know but most don't know that we shouldn't be paying more than $50 on those type units to make a livable income.

Not only that I here multiple times on the circuit how people can't sell this or can't sell that or how do you sell this, blah,blah,blah but they keep bidding on more units!! 

The other thing I've have noticed in my area anyway is how my posts are getting absolutely BURIED in short time on Craigslist! I've wondered why sales have gone down so much, and I think it's because of the competition. Soo many more people are selling stuff on Craigslist now compared to a couple of years ago. Before my postings would get buried after a few days, and generally just waiting to do the normal refresh was enough to keep them at the top. Now they get buried within a few hours of posting and for some reason Craigslist only shows the latest 100 or so posts for that day before moving down to the previous day. So if too many people post on the same day and my posts are early in the day they won't even show up on list view!

Think i'll make a STORAGE AUCTION post before this forum becomes completely irrelevant!

First week slow. One auction, a couple of regulars & a hand full of 6 month to 1 year newbies. NO brand new newbies. Looks like if this trend continues the misery is over! Yeah!  maybe?

Only one problem. Stupid fyck 6-12 month newbies don't know what prices were like BEFORE  the TV shows! Only a handful of people at the auction and they STILL ran each other up!  And the best part is they were trying NOT too!!    

They've never seen units go for $5 -$50 so in their shallow minds only taking a ho-hum, flea market type unit to $250 is being nice! 

Bad news is their might not be enough pressure from any new newbies to force this group out, so who knows how long before they figure it out!

Oh Well, that's life in the fast lane I guess! 

I ran him up to $800 for a tiny little unit (although packed). I didn't think it was worth the money, but I got caught up not only in the excitement of bidding (not much willpower to stop) but in the war with this douche bag.  He was so pissed when I finally pulled out.  I had to run out of there cuz I thought he was going to kill me. I would have been so screwed if I got stuck with it.  Not only did it cost more than I had on me, but I had nowhere to put the stuff.  I gotta tell you though, I earned a lot of respect that day.

Then again, you may have just put a HUGE target on your back! If you think a regular buyer or buyers are going to "back off" cause you ran them up on one unit, you got another thing coming. If you area is anything like mine then prepare to overpay on every unit you win for the next 3-6 months. It might seem cool to get "street cred" from the other newbies, but if this guy is an established regular with friends, ohh brother, look out, you might have opened a sh$t storm on yourself!

Good Luck!

Rule #9:

Always carry a knife. (LJG) 

In the still somewhat free parts of the US, we replace Rule #9 with: Always carry a gun.

This one is so funny it had me in tears.

It's a little hard to read so I'll translate:  "Gently used mattress for Sale. The blood stains are not from a murder or nothin weird like that. Email if interested. Thanks!!"

What cold be wierd about 20% of the mattress covered in blood stains?

In North Fort Myers, Fl, there is a storage facility along Bus US41 that has a sale one a month. It looks to be selling abandoned lockers piece by piece instead of auction, as well as tenants wishing to sell from their lockers.

Stopped in a couple times while spending the winter there.

I've seen those and ALWAYS stay away from thier auctions, I know the units have been picked through.

My report for April 2013.

Crowds are down. 2013 newbies disappeared quickly! 2011 & 2012 newbies coming back in to see if prices have dropped & see if they can get in the game & make some money. Old-timers coming back too I'm sure for the same reason.

Prices have come down some, but the quality of units has dropped a lot more!

Many out-of-town store owner types showing up to our auctions. Inventory must be sparse & they are branching out further looking for inventory.