My 6 year old grandson went with us yesterday to our first auctions. We were standing at the last locker and my grandson was standing in front of me about 10' in front of the auctioneer. The auctioneer yelled out..."did ya'll (southern for you all) have a good time today?" My grandson raised his hand and yelled "YES". The auctioneer called him up to him. He reached into his pants pocket and I thought he was going to give my grandson a piece of candy. Instead he pulls out $2 and gives it to him. SCORE!!!! How many of you have had the auctioneer pay you instead of you having to pay him?

Just saying......

Reid

New to storage unit auctions but I have been around auctions for more years than I want to fess up to.    Mostly antigue but I have attended estate, tool, heavy equipment, livestock, general and the local damaged freight on Monday nights.

My wife and I attended our first storage locker auctions yesterday. I like to listen to the auctioneer and get a feel for how they run the auction and chatter. There were six auctions at the first facility and two more at their second location around the block. My wife and I nailed almost every locker price and agreed on what they were worth to us. There were two that semi shocked us. One was a small 5x5 with plastic bags about three feet high. You could see most of them were filled with toys and childrens clothing. It went for $100. I had nailed it at $75 and it was ending at that but one of the bidders was getting tired of the $2.50 increments and the auctioneer milking the bids out of the other bidder so he jumped to $100. The other bidder bowed out.

The last locker was a 10x10 that was full with what one person behind me called a "college dorm" locker. You could see a couch on end, a bunk bed set, two stereo units, and plastic bags, boxes and suit cases. The bidding went fast and furious. It ended at $750. I didn't consider that to be way over for the unit but more than I would have paid.

The other lockers were so-so. My wife wanted the first one because it had a really nice tall white desk with a lot of drawers. There was also a large back screen projection TV and other funiture items. The unit went for $250. One locker had only a couch, love seat and a torn apart stove and it went for $35.

There were about 40 people at the auction. You could tell the noobs from the regulars. Nobody seemed to raise the bids just because or to pick on the noobs. So it was a pleasant first storage auction experience. The auctioneer is having an antique auction today with free hotdogs so we are heading up to it.

Unfortunately I work full time M-F so I can't attend the week day auctions in the area. Looking forward to this forum.

Reid