The last auction I was at I started talking to a regular that I had been to a previous auction with. She had purchased a really nice unit and I asked her how she had done on it. She started telling me about her story.

This facility does all of its auctions by the manager. She is a really nice lady but she doesn't ever give any extra time to clean out units as she has them rented out before the auction. I have bought two units from them and they didn't looked picked through in any way.

So this regular, Kathy, wins the bid on the unit and get everything cleaned out. When Kathy takes the personals to the office in a box the young girl at the counter starts asking her which side of the unit the things came out of. This sets off alarm bells in Kathys head. She asks to speak to the manager who isn't there. She gets a phone call the next day. The manager explains that she needed a unit to rent so they (the facility) combined two units together. Kathy explained all of the legal ramifications to her and to make a long story short the facility returned all of Kathys money and she got to keep the inventory.

Neither one of us feel that the manager was trying to pull a fast one but she really needs to get a lawyer when she wants to do something she knows nothing about.

You just never know what weird stuff might happen when the auctions are done by the facility and not a professional auctioneer. Not that I always like how the pros work.

Wow what a day. First facility had 9 of the ten units left. The last bid number handed out was 57. That takes a lot of time when so many of the units are upstairs. Temps were in the mid 90's today. Do I have to say hot with all of those bodies in such a confined space.
There was a lot of junk but three of the units looked good. Prices ranged between $5.00 (only thing I saw in that one worth anything was a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket) to $700.00 (Unit was pretty nice but not for that much. I put a $300.00 price on it). Most units that I was only willing to bid $150-$200 went for $300-$400. One new couple that I had never seen before bought 3 units.
Second facility has just been bought by the owner of the first facility. I was talking to him when we got there and he said he had 80 lockers that had been behind on rent. 30 had paid up. Today he sold 20 of them (only 15 were listed with the auctioneer). He still has 30 that he has liened. He will be having another sale in November to clear the rest out (something to look forward to).
Several bidders dropped off but picked up a few new ones so I would guess there were about 45. I started talking to some of the bidder while waiting for the auction to start. Many had come as far as 50+ miles away. One lady had a storage there before the new owner took over. She told me that the first owner hadn't been doing the auto pay for her unit so on the day before escrow closed he called her and told her she owed $3000.00. If she could come up with any money that day he would let her have her stuff. She paid him $400.00. She was hoping there would be some good units because others maybe couldn't come up with any money.
Of the 20 units 7 looked really good. Again most went to high for me. One unit went for $5.00 (showing several dozen mason jars with mystery stuff in them and a seat out of a car. Still amazes me how many of those are in storage lockers). One unit went for $1100.00 (Set of quad tires and rims, bicycle, couch, neat tiger wood trunk, etc.).
I purchased a unit with the following showing. Nice neutral couch, oak dinning table and ladder back chairs, headboard and one matching nightstand, HUGE tv, X-box, 2 guitar hero guitars, one box, round metal tray, rock-band box for x-box 360. I paid $200.00. Couch is a hide-a bed, tv works, box is full of nice blankets, metal tray is a nice hammered brass, rock-band is the drum set and is brand new (everyone told me it was empty which is normally my luck) 2 house speakers that were hiding behind the tv, large framed world map behind sofa, microwave, and a few other small items. All in all I did ok with this one.
The man that purchased the $5.00 unit did the best out of all of us. His unit was next to mine and he kept coming over to show me what he found. There were 5 or 6 boxes under the seat. One had a full 12 piece set of green coke glasses with handles one had some cool porcelain statues. One had a full set of china. Not sure what was in the rest but he was thrilled.
Sorry for the book but it was one of the funnest days I have at an auction in a long time.

Ugh!! Slow beginning to September. Looks like everyone else is in the same boat. Selling is down to a slow trickle and buying is non-existent.

I finally have an auction tomorrow. Two locations and one has never had a public auction to my knowledge. Should be interesting. Will keep you posted.

Yes Money this is not an auction. I just see it a maybe a good way to get inventory for the store cheap or free excluding my labor. I should hear from the realtor tomorrow if the family is interested in the deal or not. I'm just not sure if I should offer them a few hundred dollars if the stuff is good or just try to negotiate strictly cleaning up the home.

My dad has already seen the home when he went to see what the repairs were so I am sure the stuff is not bad or he wouldn't have even suggested this deal. I will keep you all informed how this turns out.

Piece auction today left me with a good sun burn.
I picked up a couple of boxes that will make some money. Vintage scarves in one and antique handmade buttons in another $5.00 each. Some cast iron pans and older knives $35.00, a box full of new creative memories photo albums $5.00. I am not going to make enough to cover being at the facility all day long. Auction started at 8:30 and got done at 2:30.
I was really mad when I realized that the owner/manager (not sure who he was) was filling boxes and having his wife bid on them. Two boxes had Coach handbags, I counted at least 5, and no one but me realized what they were until he started digging through them. He put them all in one box then went straight to his wife and told her to bid. She won at $75.00. I wasn't sure they weren't knock offs until I got home and found a price tag in one of the boxes I bought in the unit.
I will have to really think about going again for this kind of auction.

Good luck with the $600.00 bid. At that price I think it is yours.

Congrats on the find. I love the local auction house. We actually have three. Two of them are pricey and are good to sell at but not so good to get bargains from. The other one has a lousy auctioneer and the prices usually are low. I picked up a Howard Miller mantel clock on Sunday for $35.00. It wasn't on the pre-posted list so had to take a chance on it as I had no research. Ends up that the retail price is over $1000.00.  Love finding deals like this.
 

Slow start to the month. I'm heading out to the yard sales tomorrow morning. Next week could be promising. Three scheduled days with one being a caravan to three facilities. The following week I am hitting another one of the by the piece storage sales. Gonna try again and see if it can keep my attention for more than an hour. This time I know what to expect so I will be prepared.

Happy bidding all!