i use craigslist, ebay, yard sales and 3 local channels(2 auctionhouses and a liquidation service). Also I do a lot of business among my fellow storage auction hunters

     Sorry I havent been on much lately. Been a little busy with liquidating a rather large unit i bought 2 weeks ago. I was at an auction that had 12 units up for sale. they only run 1 auction per year and generally run things very oddly. they move everything into different lockers and separate them into lots(to save space). Well, i didn't like this as most of the other 50 or so people did not.
     There was one locker that was huge, a 10x25 with a 15 foot ceiling(yes 15 feet tall). This locker was packed to the door and the only thing really visible were 4 gumball machines. The rest were boxes and some odds and ends. mainly boxes. after reading some of the wording on the boxes i somewhat incorrectly deduced that the locker was that of a silk screener or t-shirt printer. 
i estimated that(if it were boxes all the way back) that there were between 1500 and 2000 boxes. Now, when buying a business locker, there is always the   
fear that you are getting all their crappy paperwork, but i was sure there were not a 1000 boxes of paperwork. So long story short, i won the long for only SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. it took 3 26ft truckloads to get everything out. i am having it liquidated at a local auction company that i've had good success with. there were approximately 30 pallets worth of good sellable items all the way from nascar collectibles to new jackets and clothes new with tags. the guy also had a small trophy making business(same locker) that i sold separately for $2,000. after labor and storage fees i put my cost near $1000. also about 20 hours of my own time went in. Auction estimate is $15,000(my personal estimate is closer to 8k as im a essimist when it comes to these things. The items will all be in next weeks auction ending on nov 30th if you want to check it out. the site is called lastbidonline.com you can bid online but have to locally pick the items up. my items will all e under the heading "liquidation" and should begin being posted early next week. This was one of my better hits, I like to get 5 or 6 of these a year if possible, its GREAT though when you know you have it before you even look through the locker.

travis, i think youre doing a great job. this is probably the ONLY storage auction forum online that has a little action. when people are looking for this the're gonna look for recent posts and if they dont see many they are gonna be on their way.

yah i think most people are embarrassed rather than angry that their stuff was sold off....it WAS their fault afterall. But yah i've never seen anyone come up drunk or mad or anything.

im on the border of kentucky in tennessee. im always looking to sell off my smalls cheap. also i do a bit of trading depending on what you have. anyway welcome to the boards, good to have you

absolutely not. Storage managers generally dont know their as from a hole in the ground and they'll list everything as household goods to satisfy legal requirements. I mean seriouly, how often do i see "TV" listed. no one wants your T from 1990 dude, dont even bother putting it on the listing.

clothes(unless they are really good name brands or have tags) go to goodwill. Any low end household stuff(pots, pans etc) go to my local auctionhouse. Home decor does really well at yard sales and flea markets. Basically my rule of thumb is that if it is worth less than a dollar I send it out to auction usually. I sell anything small thats worth $30 or mre on ebay and anything big $30 or more on craigslist. I also have a shop where i generally sell the craigslist items as well as records, cds, dvds appliances bedroom sets etc. and some smalls