I've tried partnerships with a couple of other buyers but they never really panned out. One guy wasn't making enough money with our arrangement and the other guy left the resale scene and went back to his former career field.

For the most part the old timers don't want anything to do with partnerships (maybe cause to them I'm still a newbie) and the newbies who have come in to the scene after me come and go so quickly there is really no time to create a relationship.

Pretty much left to buying and selling or trading pieces from other buyers and if I see one of the old regulars who depends on auctions for thier livelyhood bidding on a unit, I won't jump in. That's the extent of partnerships for me.

The last line certainly sums it up !  The up and down "wave' of all the elements you list continues to haunt us.
The scam by the auctioneer was laughable and good that 'he' 'bought' the lkr !

Interesting that some are seeing a lot of junk units & high prices. I am seeing a lot of high prices as well, possibly higher than the first tax season of Storage Wars. The strange thing is at the last auction I saw something I don't think I have ever really seen. The newbies were almost ecstatic talking about thier recent units & finds. Not just 1 or 2, but there were about 6 to 8 different newbies all bragging about how great the units they have won since the beginning of the year.

I've never seen so much backslapping, cheering, glad-handing, and all around outward joy among a group of bidders before. This can only lead to one thing, disaster! So maybe a couple of newbs did get some good units, but this is only going to cause unrealistic expectations and higher bidding. Can't wait to see how happy they are when they start paying $500-$1000 a pop on units with low quality furniture, used household goods, & clothes & then realize thier garage, out-building, house is full of $20 or less items that they will have to nickel & dime through to just break even or even make a modest profit.

One nice unit is fun! 10, 20, 50, & so on, average units is business! 

So they think they are real storage auction buyers now yucking it up like school kids on the playground after lucking up on 1 or 2 good units? Like King Leonidas in the movie 300 said, "We will put thier name to the test!" 

Moonlighting over at S.T. eh?

Nope! S.T. is where I HAVEN'T been in a year and a half! There's a couple of members here that know about the "secret society" Ha, Ha, Ha, 

What about taxes?  Federal and state?  I already pay enought taxes from my real job and don't want to get taxed anymore.  Is the income form the sales in one of the vender stores taxed as income???

Since you already have a "regular job" you pay income taxes on, I think you will find your effective tax rate quite appealing once you start expensing business costs against business income.

In my model, I pay income taxes on income generated from sales at the vendor's store. I also expense the lease, the commission, the credit card fees, & the original cost of goods for re-sale.

Ive never itemized the per unit sales cause there is NO WAY I am going to count all the items in the bins I take to the flea market!

With that being said, if I could guess I would say $2

70% of sales are probably $1
15% of sales are probably $2 - $10
10% of sales over $10
5% of sales .50 cents

I let the auctioneer hold it for me. He's going to end up with most of it anyway! 

I'll have to admit that NOT BUYING LOCKERS has become my norm. And so far I'm liking it. I've increased the amount of picking I do and so far it's been profitable.

Not going to the dump, not breaking up particle board furniture, etc has been great. I have more free time to do other things like picking, hiking, etc.

****

I am still going to local auctions and keeping up with my auction friends of the last 9 years but I haven't bought a lkr since mid-December, 2012 and since that time have only bid on a couple at all, and didn't win them. The othe buyers are asking why I even bother to come (since I'm not buying) but I'm thinking one day a lkr worthy of buying will pop up and I'll be there for it.

Meanwhile it's fun to talk with the others about the new wave of high prices and declining value.  See the Auction Scene thread for the lkrs I saw on Feb 13, 2012....didn't get one there either !

I know what you mean. After a couple of good months, prices have skyrocketed again at auction so i'm back to picking again myself this weekend.

This industry is like the flu that won't go away! Everytime things start to turn the corner and it looks like the serious buyers can get back to making money, a new crowd of dolts show up. 

I'm beginning to think this IS the new norm. Maybe a couple of months or an auction here or there where you can get units for a decent price, continually mixed in with random months of big spending newbies that F everything up!

I have sold hundreds of appliances from storage units and I never tested any of them. Only one appliance was ever returned. Most people don't store appliances that don't work. Every now and then you might run across several non working appliances in one unit that belonged to a appliance repair person, but that's the exception.

I don't have that luck here! I have definitely had issues with refrigerators and flat screen TVs not working. Dryers & microwaves tend to be the only "trustworthy" appliances found in units. Even washing machines are hit or miss for me.