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Messages - sdclams

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North East / Things getting better?
« on: April 23, 2012, 05:25:14 PM »
Day job has been very busy, so I was forced to take a few months off from auctions. When I left back in December/January prices were totally outrageous, basic crap units going for $600 to $800.  Finally had some time today to hit two going through my town and a neighboring town one after the other in the Boston/MetroWest area. 

Maybe it was just today, but it seemed like things have come a little back to earth since I was gone. Are you all seeing the same thing or was this just a freak day.

First auction had only 1 unit available.  Unit was TOTALLy filled to the doorway, tons of boxes. Stuff did not look nice from the door, but there was so much volume that a few months ago it would have easily gone for $750 plus. Today it ended up going for less than $300.  Next auction had two units. FIrst was full of used mattresses, so there were no bidders at all (costly to get rid of them here in Mass. and they legally cannot be sold).  Second unit was very nicely boxed up full apartment unit. Tons of stuff, all seemingly in decent shape.  Unit  would have gone for over a grand a few months ago, today it went for just over $600 (still a little high, but not ridiculously so). 

I was not interested in either of the units, but I was happy to see that some of the ridiculous inflation was gone! Is this a trend, or was today out of the ordinary.

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New to Storage Auctions? / Re: [Update] First auctions on Wednesday!
« on: January 12, 2012, 01:43:42 PM »
so how did it go?

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The "Other" Job / Re: My full time "other job" is
« on: January 11, 2012, 10:09:23 PM »
Cranky, not sure of you are still following this, but I must live very close to you, as I am almost 20 miles west of Boston. Let me know if you end up with any fairly new (new within last three years) computer/technology equipment. I am always looking to buy at the right price to resell to my small business clients.

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The very first auction I ever attended had a somewhat similar situation. Woman and daughter (20's) were in tears. One of the Boston regulars went over to talk to them, came back over and said to all other regulars that they should not bid on her locker so she could get it back. Everyone actually listened and she got the locker for the starting bid of $100.  Not the nicest stuff in there, mostly personal items that they were able to recover. It was nice to see that the regulars had a heart for the situation, although I have been to many other auctions since where that NEVER would have happened. 

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General Storage Auction Talk / Re: iPad for research at remote locations
« on: January 09, 2012, 09:31:25 PM »
I have the small screen smartphone with me at auction time, but keep the iPad locked in the car to be used when digging into a unit that I purchase.  The bigger screen is much easier to do research on, but I find it too large to be useful at auction time.

A word of caution, at least in the Boston area there are many storage sites in old buildings that have very poor, if any, 3G signal. Don't always assume that you will have Internet connectivity whenever you want it.

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Broken wooden spoon. But out of the corner of his eye, lodged underneath the stained and slightly smelly mattress he noticed a....

7
It always amazes me when people don't do basic cleanup of items when selling them. This is readily found at flea markets, garage sales, but i focus mostly on eBay and Craigslist.  A few minutes of polishing, cleaning, wiping can generally add 10-15% to final sale price nearly every time. That is often the difference between making a useful profit or breaking even!

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New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Most commonly found items
« on: January 07, 2012, 10:14:29 PM »
You are right on with your list.  From my limited experience, I have found that in the boxs you should be prepared to deal with lots and lots of cd's and dvd's. Many in scratched condition. Plenty of paperwork and other personal items, and many small tools (basic screwdriver/hammer stuff). 

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Re: Hello People
« on: December 23, 2011, 02:45:21 PM »
Welcome. I am similar to you. I am new to this forum as well, and have many years of business and auction experience. I agree with you about the misplaced animosity, but it is what it is.  Everyone was a newbie at one point, just because you maybe had no idea that storage auctions existed until you saw the tv shows makes me no less a competitor/businessman/bidder than anyone else.

My other world is IT Consulting. When economic times are tough, I have to deal with hundreds of local out of work guys who think they know as much about small business technology infrastructure as I do. SOme of them do, some of them don't but they ALL charge less than half of what I do. They all eventually get other jobs and are out of the business soon, but I lose plenty of business during bad times because of them, its just the reality of the game.  Just like newbies in anything. I am pretty sure that most of the guys here on this forum also loved the Texas Hold-Em craze that popped because of the tv coverage, this is the exact same thing. In reality, if you know what you are doing, are smart about your decisions, you will be fine with or without all of the newbies.

Good luck, the storage auction world has been a fun one so far for me, but quite a bit of work. (that I enjoy every second of) The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of units available for everyone. Some will be overpaid for (sometimes because of newbies, sometimes because of whales, sometimes because there is one annoying and usually empty TV box in the corner), and some will go for the right price. Thats the fun part.

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / Re: New from Boston
« on: December 22, 2011, 10:13:51 AM »
Thanks Money.

The $50 locker was the kind of fluke.  Most lockers here are in the $300 to $500 range.  It went for so cheap because near the front door of the unit was a dingy mattress, box spring and a large, heavy looking and nearly fallen apart dresser. Those were the real eye catchers and it scared off just about everyone. They went right to the dump. What scared others off did not easily scare me, I don't mind rolling up my sleeves and getting a bit dirty, it adds to the fun.

Funny, what caught my eye about the unit was a display light sign that was turned in a way that you could only see the Microsoft Windows 7 Logo. My full time job is running an IT Consulting business, so I thought maybe there would be some technology related items that I would easily be able to make some money off of or use them in my work.  Turned out that the sign said "Games for Windows", and the unit was owned by twenty-something computer gamer, there was nothing tech related at all that had any value.

What I did find hidden under the mattresses though was a set of Bowflex 995 Dumbells with the stand.  That one find made the locker, I sold them easily on CraigsList for $250 (asked $300 and waited patiently while the $150 and $175 offers came in). Also sold a maple bed frame on CL for $50 and some other misc. items on ebay. It worked out, although the item that caught my eye is tough to sell, no takers just yet. Its a cool sign though, I might just keep it and hang it up in my office.

The wife is fine, she knows when I get hooked on something there is nothing she can do. I just have to make sure I clean everything out before buying the next locker and we are good.

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New to Storage Auctions? / Re: Is this for me?
« on: December 21, 2011, 11:39:59 PM »
Just one thought for you. Sell the big stuff, and for the used household items that you don't feel comfortable selling, donate them and get some nice tax deduction receipts.

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New to Storage Auctions? / Re: I'm also questioning this Business.
« on: December 21, 2011, 11:34:11 PM »
You can't have a true reference point until you start going to auctions to at least see what is in the lockers. At least from my limited experience (just over 10 auctions in a few months) I think you will be shocked at just how much stuiff (re: junk) is in the average locker. Even the smaller units would be tough to move in a car of any type, and almost everything has some sort of piece of furniture in it.

Do you have friends with a pickup that you can borrow when needed? That would work, you don't need to go out and get a box truck, just a way to move stuff out of the facility quickly.

Good luck, I have had some fun and done well with the one unit I have purchased, but it is a ton of work.

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Welcome to the Online Storage Auctions Forum / New from Boston
« on: December 21, 2011, 11:25:05 PM »
Hey, great forum. I have been going to auctions for three months, bought one unit so far. Doing this for hobby/fun, not necessarily as a business, but it has to pay for itself to keep the wife happy.

The first unit I bought was a $50 locker. Paid an additional $50 to get rid of big junk. Sold four items for a total of $310, so a nice little profit of $210, about $150 in donations/tax write offs, and a nice desk for my son. Great start, and I learned a great deal about processing.  Overall a good experience, but more work than most would think.

Looking forward to plenty more! Cheers.

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