Storage Auctions

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - MovieMan

Pages: 1 ... 255 256 [257] 258 259 ... 274
3841
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Advice for a looky-lou needing furniture?
« on: February 25, 2011, 10:19:36 AM »
The simplest solution is usually the best.
If you saw a locker with furn you liked, but you didn't win it, just approach the new owner right after the sale of that locker (maybe while walking to the next lkr) and ask if he would be interested in selling you the furn you want. Reactions will vary from "I never sell right away until I look at something" to "NO!"

I personally like it when that happens because I don't like to deal in big stuff. I either sell it on the spot or rent the locker for move-in special if available.

Be sure you offer a fair price. I bought a lkr with two brand new tires on wheels showing. They had the white tags right on the tread, etc. They sold new at the store for $150 plus (each). A guy offered me $10 each. His wife even said "Don't insult him!"  I told her it wasn't insulting to me (but it certainly said something about how smart he was considering I had just paid $750 for the lkr). I later sold each tire for $95.

3842
What's it Worth?? / Re: Here is a good one for yall!!!
« on: February 24, 2011, 08:32:46 PM »
As late as the mid-60s night watchmen and even beat cops used to have a device (much larger..maybe 6" in diameter by 3" thick) that they would take on their rounds. When they got to certain spots in the route they walked, they opened a little mailbox device attached to a building, took out the key (chained to the mailbox) and inserted it into their "time clock" which was a spring wound kind of clock.

The key had a dedicated shape I think particular to its mailbox spot. When the key was inserted it made an inmpression in a paper "tape". This process was repeated through many checkpoints and at the end of a shift I guess a supervisor could look at it and see that in fact the route was "walked", doorknobs "rattled" and the public (and businesses protected).

Could this be an earlier version of such a device ?


3843
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Lookey Loos Part 2...February, 2011
« on: February 24, 2011, 07:15:30 PM »
Went to 2 auctions today...Feb 24, 2011...by same auctioneer. About 5 lkrs at each site and "only" 30 plus bidders. A gal who used to buy $5 and $10 lockers has upped her bids into the $100 range that those lockers now require. She got 1 for a hundred something, 1 for $35 and another in that range.

The fellow who used to get the $1 and $5 lockers is not coming right now...those lkrs are going for $25 and up.

But, crowd seems better than even a few weeks ago, so there is hope.


3844
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: what makes you a noobie
« on: February 23, 2011, 08:53:05 PM »
Quote from: terry on February 23, 2011, 07:34:46 PM
How long you have been a member. How many post. Your entertainment value. I think maybe have a resume. Pick an item and see who can get the most $ for. My pick is a ironing board. Lets have a contest. 

I'd like to play, but I need help understanding the "rules".

3845
Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Re: Hello all. Glad to be here.
« on: February 22, 2011, 03:53:28 PM »
Quote from: Highlander on February 22, 2011, 03:37:18 PM
The lockers I have seen so far have been a mixed bag.  Some good, some not so good.  About 2 weeks ago, I was at an auction in Fort Worth.  One 10x10 climate controlled unit was filled with NASCAR collectibles.  There was even a autographed racing slick.  Someone estimated it at about 10K worth of stuff that was visible.  It sold for 2600.  Too bad I only brought 1400 with me.

Oh well, maybe next time....

Welcome to the forums and the biz. Re the 2600 locker. If you HAD brought more and bid 2700 it might have gone on up from there, so....as I'm sure you have figured out....don't bid unless you really mean it !

Have fun too!

3846
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Are the storage units near you still taking pictures and documents back?
« on: February 21, 2011, 10:14:46 AM »
Quote from: Ironman on February 18, 2011, 08:40:05 PM
Here in Ga the auctioneer always covers those returns during his pre bidding speel............here they ask you to return all pictures, tax returns, bank statements, birth death certificates shot records etc etc to the facility manager who will call the renter and tell them to come pick it up. I do a presort as I unload the lockers opening up each box and removing those items and then when I leave ZI drop it off at the office. Takes a bit of time but makes me feel better for doing it.
California auctioneers give the same advice. Buyers follow it for the most part, but I've had property managers tell me that 99% of the time the former locker owners never show even IF the property managers can get ahold of them.

I recently got 8...count 'em...8 totes FULL of "personal papers"....which were mostly old bills, court documents, receipts and owner's manuals from 10 years ago!  How do you think the property manager would have treated me in the future if I had pawned 8 totes of garbage paper off on them!  I put them in my own trash containers over a period of some weeks until the totes were finally empty so I could sell them.  
I know this is different from really important stuff like family pics, but it does happen.

3847
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Lookey Loos Part 2...February, 2011
« on: February 20, 2011, 09:56:25 AM »
Feb 20, 2011

The lookey loos are still coming though the numbers seem to have stabilized or gone down a bit depending
on the auctioneer.

The other thing I have noticed is that some of the newbies I have seen coming for the last 3 to 6 weeks are starting to buy !  These folks seem to be pretty focused and will possibly be long-term contenders, but others are making newbie mistakes and won't last..imho.

Only a week left in February!

3848
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Newspaper Article from Auction the other night in Seattle.
« on: February 19, 2011, 12:02:52 AM »
Yep, that'll be the next "wave"....the newspapers and local tv stations doing reports on our biz.
Hopefully, the work involved and the true reality of the biz will get some focus. I've seen the "poor tenent" approach before and will probably see it again.

Time will tell.

3849
West / Re: The Insanity Continues........
« on: February 18, 2011, 07:10:22 PM »
Well, I was a nice guy today. It was pouring rain here in Central California but the crowd turned out anyway.
Really, only about 40 which is a nice down turn from 60 to 75 !

There were maybe 8 lockers and I didn't have to run anyone up...they did that all themselves.
A couple of 5 x 10s went for $500, but at least one of them looked pretty good. Each was only 2/3 full.
Then a 10x20 with some nice furn showing started around $400 but after about 3 or 4 people were in it up to about $800, it KEPT ON GOING !  Two bidders went after each other....one with a rep for just going and going because "he's the man!"  Well, man, you got if for $1,675 and I would have paid about $600 to $700 at the most.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I didn't get one, but I got two this week at $500 and $375 and I am happy with them.


3850
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Post Storage Locker Gun Stories Here
« on: February 18, 2011, 12:57:51 PM »
Quote from: the teacher on February 18, 2011, 12:18:34 PM
Some "Lucky" auction buyer got this unit a while back over in Bellevue.  Imagine what this guy thought when he started digging around in this unit!  Until he realized, uh oh, and they called the feds!

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/news/53249052.html

Now THAT's the WOW factor. Too bad it was such an extreme case!  Thanks for posting the story.

3851
Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Getting closer to a gun
« on: February 18, 2011, 09:13:15 AM »
Quote from: sbell111 on February 18, 2011, 09:09:09 AM
Years ago, I came across a preban M16 magazine in a bin.  I didn't know any better, so I put it up for sale on ebay.  Ebay closed down my auction pretty quickly, but someone who saw the ebay ad shot me an email.  He bought it for $50 and I didn't have to pay ebay their cut.

Yep, that happens. I've had 20 and 30 round magazines I've sold at the flea, but I keep them in the truck and I only sell to a hand-full of buyers I know and trust. I think this is a felony if I'm not mistaken.

3852
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Post Storage Locker Gun Stories Here
« on: February 18, 2011, 09:08:32 AM »
Quote from: oteixeira on February 18, 2011, 08:44:41 AM
I actually wonder...and this is me thinking out loud...if there are more guns in storage in CA because of the amount of laws that hinder gun ownership.  Here in NC, if you own a gun, I am pretty sure you would have it with you, not in storage, but that is just my general opinion, since I live in the sticks and hear guns go off pretty much every day.
Orlando
Well, there are plenty of gun owners in CA and most would keep their guns at home, but now and then they end up in lockers for one reason or another.  The only time you hear them going off in my metro area is when the south end occupants start popping off at each other, or some dumb a** shoots his girlfriend because she was getting it on with some other dumb a**.

I went to Arizona recently and at flea markets there you could buy long guns AND pistols right off the table with no questions asked if you had the right ethnic background/age/profile. They might have turned some people down. I saw one table that had half a dozen 9mm and 40 cal pistols.

I grew up in Kansas and it was an easy proposition to walk out in the woods and go squirrel hunting or target shooting.

3853
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Weekend Auctions?
« on: February 18, 2011, 09:02:44 AM »
Quote from: oteixeira on February 18, 2011, 08:46:22 AM
Check the auction contract with the storage facility.  I am pretty sure once they take your money and you start going through the unit, it is yours, you official "own" it, and no auction house can then take it back or refuse your bid.
Orlando
I bought one once, a 10x10, fairly tumbled but with a few good things showing. I loaded a video camera and a nice set of speakers into my truck and left. Coming back the next day the prop  manager stopped me and said the woman wanted to buy back her locker. I called the former owner and told her I had already taken some stuff out without mentioning what. She said that was all right; it was mostly the personal stuff she wanted. So, since I had only paid $50, had taken out a couple of good items, I offered the remains to her for $75 and she took it.

This is a bit of a variation on your statement Orlando, but it happens now and again and is yet another chance to make money in this biz.

3854
New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Weekend Auctions?
« on: February 18, 2011, 08:58:36 AM »
Quote from: josepc on February 18, 2011, 12:01:24 AM
Thanks for the help.....another is this phrase normal at all auction..."Seller has the right to refuse any bid and to with draw any property from the sale"....it just worries me that i buy a locker and find somthing valuable and then it gets taken from me. thanks!+

I think this might mean they can take an item out BEFORE the auction commences. For instance, in California guns are not to be sold in auction units. If the door goes up and they see a gun case 5 feet back, the autioneer or prop manager will go in an get it, open it up and if its a gun it gets taken out and -supposedly- gets turned in to local authorities. (except for the time I saw an auctioneer sell one off before the lkr was sold ... and that's a federal offense).


3855
General Storage Auction Talk / Re: Post Storage Locker Gun Stories Here
« on: February 17, 2011, 05:24:46 PM »
Over the last 7 years I've gotten 6 guns including a nice 22 with a big telescopic sight, a Ruger 10-22 (normal stock), A Ruger 357 and others I can't quite remember..nothing remarkable, but the last one I got a couple of months ago I am holding on to...the others I sold.

This one is a Ruger P85...I think it was the first of the P series and was made between 1987 and 1992 if I remember correctly.

In the locker I got on Feb 16, 2011 I got a lot of gun related gear but no guns. I ended up with 7 gun cases, lots of leather and nylon holsters, magazine holders, etc.



[attachment deleted by admin]

Pages: 1 ... 255 256 [257] 258 259 ... 274