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Messages - AuctionOne

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Stories about Storage Auctions / Re: Auction Scene #1...January, 2012
« on: January 13, 2012, 11:24:14 AM »
OMG, auctions here in Charlotte have gone crazy. Wednesday, a three facility tour advertised on AuctionZip had over 80 units for sale and the crowds of newbies were out in force, 200 strong in the rain. Prices were off the chain, I don' think I even bid once.

I think I am skipping the widely advertised sales until things settle down. There are far better opportunities where the newbies haven't discovered.

2
That's it??????

I looked at my area of NC and SC, and they listed practically nothing.

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New to Storage Auctions? / Re: City Slicker or Country Bumpkin?
« on: October 20, 2011, 04:42:04 PM »
I attend all the auctions in the Charlotte a area, and have been to the ones in Raliegh and other areas. You are not missing anything special, I no longer travel more than 50 miles one way, just too expensive. Good luck with all yor auctions.

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Re: just getting going
« on: October 09, 2011, 08:14:21 PM »
Good luck tomorrow! Maybe then, you will have something to crow about.  :D

5
CopiaVita,

Prices have all come up with time and inflation, just like everything else, but spikes occur along the way, like now with the TV shows. Things like local seminars on Government auctions cause big attendance and price spikes. But, the hard working and persistent always prevail. My dad used to say "The hardest working people I know are also the luckiest."

Most of my experience is in live auctions of all kinds, not just storage units, and the biggest changes have come from the huge increase in information available to ascertain values, and the expanded venues to sell stuff. I started doing this before the Internet, and you had to dig up information the hard way by calling dealers and subscribing to publications that they advertised in. The ease of finding information has closed up the margins probably more than anything else.

One thing I like about storage auctions is that you have to use your experience and knowledge "on the fly" due to limited time and lack of ability to "inspect" the merchandise.

My motto for live auctions in general is "To get what you expect, INSPECT !!!"

6
All those $3500 and $5000 vending machines are right by the truck door in the first part of the video.

See all those employees and the size of the warehouse? Rent in that area is 50 to 80 cents per square foot per month  That is why he is burning up cash.

J.R.

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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: partnerships??? good or bad??
« on: September 26, 2011, 11:59:33 PM »
Most partnerships end badly, I have been through it several times. It is harder than a marriage and I have been married for forty one years. One person always thinks they are contributing more and disagreements arise over what to buy and selling prices, with both people having different lifestyles, time commitments and monthly bills to pay. I stick to working only with my wife, that is hard enough  :D

J.R.

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Check out Tulving.com for precious metal pricing, but there minimums are high on quantity you have to buy from them or sell to them.

J.R.

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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: I am beginning to think...
« on: September 26, 2011, 11:29:55 PM »
Don't forget the four foot dusty plastic Christmas tree and cheap ornaments. If those are missing, there is at least a plastic beat up Santa, lol.

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I just moved to NC from Costa Mesa, where I lived since 1987. I am a SoCal native making my living at all kinds of auctions since 1981, and I NEVER saw Dave at any auctions other than Storage units. From 1998 to 2010, I specialized in high tech equipment. If Dave didn't go to the DotCom auctions, he was never a serious auction buyer, because we killed it in that period. I put 150k miles on a Suburban and a 16' Wells Cargo trailer during that period. So, Dave is NOT an auction whale for sure.

As for his store, I agree his prices were high and not that much traffic. I believe he did $1.7 million in a year, but with his overhead he could not have made much net profit, as Darrel pointed out in the one shoe at the old Sahara sitting around the table. His Dave Hester Auctions in Orange just sold off all the remaining inventory from Newport Consignments (Rags to Riches, same store) that they didn't feed into the new auction biz. Word in the local auction scene is that he is burning through cash, and Billy Humphrey's South Coast Auctions pickers will not let him get a lot of deals to feed auctions every two weeks since Billy has an auction every Wed night. I had two auction locations (operated one at a time), doing sales every two weeks and then every three to four weeks in a newer larger location, and it is a TON of work, so Dave has his work cut out for him going heads up against Billy. A bunch of smalls and locker junk will not feed that beast, you would need probably $500k a month in sales to make it work at
the high costs in Cali.

I think Dave is mostly talk, like many people in Newport Beach that spout off about their money, but are in debt up to their eyeballs. People with real money don't act that way, cause they really have it.

Good luck to all of you this week.
J.R.

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Until two months ago, I lived five miles from Dave Hester's business. His shop used to be mainly consignments and stuff he bought super cheap. My wife sold him the contents of her mother's one bedroom apartment for almost nothing just to get it out of there.

Now besides the stuff from storage units, he has started doing weekly auctions On Tuesday nights (his last sale was to sell out the inventory at Newport Consignment). Good luck with that. He has to compete with South Coast Auction (where I think he used to work) every Wednesday night, and word is from my auctioneer friends in SoCal, he is burning cash in the auction biz. I think he is trying to capitalize on the Storage Wars fame he is getting, for now.

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Hello from Charlotte NC
« on: September 25, 2011, 06:19:03 PM »
Hello, my name is J.R. Just moved here from SoCal two months ago. Now that I have my house pretty settled, it's time to get back in the hunt. I have been going to all types of auctions since 1981, and I have made a living doing this full-time since then. I had an auction houses in California in Costa Mesa and Westminster.

If you see a tall 60 year old guy at an auction driving a white Yukon XL and towing a 16 foot white trailer with "Shakai" lettering and Wolf graphics, come over and introduce yourself.


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