Auction Scene #1...January, 2012

Getting a jump start on 2012 with the new Auction Scene series which replaces the old "lookey Loos" batches of 2011, the first full year of this forum and threads about the storage auction business which was popularized by the two tv shows Storage Wars and Auction Hunters.

The TV shows have had their imitators and spinoffs and there are other storage auction websites out there too, but THIS forum remains the only really viable source for ideas and opinions about the business we all love (and sometimes hate).

Locking this down until January 1, 2012 when we all hit the bricks for another year of buying and selling !

Ok guys and gals....

2012 is here....let's get cracking, buy, sell, report on the Auction Scene what is happening in our biz !

My first auction this year is Wednesday the 4th.

Our first auction is also on Wednesday Jan 4th. 

Another on Friday.

Checked out our local auctioneer that has the most facility's all the auctions are cancelled.   
Not that we have bought one form their auctions so maybe not all bad.

So looks like might be a slow month on the auction scene for us. Maybe we can get rid of our current inventory. 

Happy Hunting. 

My first auction is my Secret SPOT sealed bid auction on friday.  I can't wait I always spend at least 2 days mulling over my bid on the units.  I love having a week to digest what I see and how much to bid.  Can't go wrong at this place.

Wish me luck guys, I really want the auto unit in the other thread I started.

Ugh....I hope today wasn't a sign of what's to come in our area.
7 location caravan with only about 15 units and 5 (3 in one lot, 2 separate) cool-boxes.
First location~one unit~minimal crowd (about 25 all regulars).  5X15 3/4 full.  Messy, particle board furniture.  Went for $475
Second~picked up another 20 or so.  2 units.  5X10 3/4 full.  Little furniture went for over $350.  I bowed out a $200.  Next unit nice front-loading washer & dryer.  That's it.  $250
Third location~4 units.  Picked up a couple more people.  First unit 5X10 half full.  Lots of big kids toys, a dining set and some totes.  Went for $275.  I bowed out at $250.  The rest of the units were junky and all ended up around $200.
Fourth~two units.  Dump runs.  Crowd about the same.
Fifth unit~Cool boxes.  My first time for these.  There were two individual then three that belonged to the same owner and were sold as a lot:
The first contained a dresser, nightstand and flat screen TV.  Folks were saying plasma (can't verify as it was under wraps. 
The second container was a bit intriguing as there were tons of totes.  There was some jewelry, a camera case and stuff like that.  NO furniture. 
The last 3 were all well packaged and full.  Every box tightly wrapped and secure.  Notations on every box, like Books 1, Books 2 etc.  There was some exercise equipment, but no visible furniture and the like.

I asked the auctioneer if we kick off with that one so we see how much $$$ we had left for the other two.  Opened at $100 and the auctioneer rolled his eyes.  I jumped it to $500 and from there it went nuts.  My final bid was $1500.  It went for $3300.  I've never seen anything like this in the Tucson area before.

The frenzied atmosphere continued with the 2nd box going for $975.  I bowed out $275.
And the final for $325.  For a damaged nightstand, dresser and unidentified TV. 

Yikes!  I decided not to carry on as I had to get back to my side of town to get my kids from school and the like.

Those storage boxes certainly caused a bunch of commotion here.  Don't know if that is the norm, but for goodness sakes people.......

Next week is our big one here with auctions going on everyday but Friday.  Hope to have some good reports then.  Considering there are 3 different caravans on Weds, we should have a natural crowd control taking place~

Rockin that sounds like us last month. We are heading out tomorrow new facility for us.
This one ran another ad for the auction, Said auction the date and furniture boxes and lots more,  should be interesting  the auctions are slim around here.
One advantage it is at 8:00 AM. 

We passed on the auction on the 4th, we are freezing down here it was 21 degrees in Florida WTH.
It was quite a drive and the unit count had dropped.

Let you know how it goes.

Next week is our big one here with auctions going on everyday but Friday.  Hope to have some good reports then.  Considering there are 3 different caravans on Weds, we should have a natural crowd control taking place~

That is one of the problems with living in a mid-size city like I do. Large enough population to create big crowds and crazy bidding, but too few storage auctions to spread the crowd. We rarely have seperate auctions going on the same day, and the one time we did the only thing that happened was the crowd stand the same size as normal on one trail, and it doubled to nearly tripled in size from normal on the other trail. I did NOT see that coming!

I have a hunch a lot of people came in from out of town thinking that because there were two caravans on the same day, which is rare, that the normal crowd would be split, which it was; but to many people from out of town had the same hypothesis and drove the crowd size out of sight.

I have a hunch a lot of people came in from out of town thinking that because there were two caravans on the same day, which is rare, that the normal crowd would be split, which it was; but to many people from out of town had the same hypothesis and drove the crowd size out of sight.

Yep~with two of the caravans having Phoenix based auctioneers I expect to see some new faces down here as well.  Hopefully the 100+ mile drive keeps the majority of them up there.

First auction for me this month is U-haul in little over an hour.  Not going to the 10am auction as only 3 units in paper and very well may be paid up by now.  The 11am one is not even a mile from work so can sneak away at lunch very easy like.  If crowds and prices are like last month I'll come back to work empty handed.

12th is one of my caravan auctions that I pick up a unit or two normally.  16th is the crazy day for me with 3 different auctions that day.  If the new crowds stay away and it's the normal regulars the prices will be low.  Too many units if current count stays even 50% for everyone to swallow at once, even with the cross the river people showing up like I suspect they will.  So hope by time the 4pm caravan starts most everyone will have bought a unit or 4 and not want or handle anything else.

Sounds like all you regulars who have posted here in the last few days will be busy with traveling and hopefully BUYING a lkr or two !

My last wednesday auction set was cancelled because the mgrs didn't get the timing right on their legal notices, so now it will be three weeks until those come up and the legal notices had to be redone (more cost for the company).

THEN, I just plain forgot about an auction yesterday, BUT there are always more auctions to come and I doubt the one I missed had those gold bars I am always looking for.

I did make a couple of small scores at two separate flea markets this week, and an item I got a couple of weeks ago for $10 just sold on eBay for $100, so the battle continues

Well I was all excited to start the new year off for nothing.  Got to the location and didn't see any other cars/trucks.  I was like ah heck - they canceled.  Sure enough - auction guy couldn't make it down so they canceled.  More units for Feb 3rd but now have to wait till the 10th or 12th to hit a auction.  Since will be in the 60s this week I may just go sell at the flea and try and make some money.

Well, wish me luck, my silent bid dirt bike unit is up for auction today.  Lost the 10x30 unit due to redemption, but 3 of the 4 units show signs of promise(one unit looks like $hit and appears to have black mold).

Went to my first auction today. Found it on AuctionZip which may attribute to the shenanigans that were afoot. Went from 8 units to 3 in the matter of a few hours (damn last minute payers).

1st unit: A neat clock with roman numerals, what seemed to be brass siding and it was about 2 feet high on its stand. There was also a mattress and some boxes. The interesting thing is that there was quite obviously a car kept in there since there were several oil containers and an old matted rug that looked soaked in oil and resting on top of it was a car starter. Strange. Anyway, the unit ended up going for $525. I thought that was rather high. Little did I know that would be a continuing theme for the last two.

2nd unit: This was a packed full 5x10 that looked like it was just a bunch of junk brought out from a college dorm. An unfinished art project, boxes labeled clothes, shoes, bags, etc and a few lamps is all I could see. This one went for $700  Seriously, what's going on?

3rd unit: This was a 10x20 with 6 or 7 mattresses, a beat up couch that would definitely need a reupholstering job and a nice looking antique-style table. This one was interesting because I know you can sell mattresses on CL for around 75-150 bucks depending on the condition so I estimated the value of the unit to be around $800...... It went for $1775.

I don't know if it's because I'm new to this or because of the giant crowd (around 100-150) but I think most of those bins went for around double what they were actually worth. Oh well. Hitting yard sales tomorrow. Hopefully that will go better!

Went to my first auction today.

  Seriously, what's going on?

Welcome to our world.  What's going on? Two TV shows.

THEN, I just plain forgot about an auction yesterday, BUT there are always more auctions to come and I doubt the one I missed had those gold bars I am always looking for.

LOL Watching to much SW there Barry 

@ Shmoopy Sounds out of control and way to many people. Sounds like you did good looking and seeing what you could see.

@acman good luck

@ CL Sounds like it is going to be a rough month for both of us.

Ok Went to one at 8:00 Am had to get up at 6:00 AM     to get there on time.

About 50 people, had three come right up and say this is my first one (just shoot me). Saw a few regulars.
Silent bids, first for us. People moaning and groaning of how they don't like it.

14 Units. We through our numbers out there (well on paper). One of the new guys was talking that he had a total of $1000 in bids. We looked at him like he was crazy. He said I loose that in a month selling cars, I said this is a lot more work than selling cars. Buy the time we got back to the office he said he was going to change some of his bids. (not sure if he did or not). He won one.

They did not tell the $ amount of the winning bids just who one. Only one regular got one.

Took until 9:30 to finish auction so much faster with that many people.

Husband and I were talking about the grumbles of the silent part. The owners/ Managers were two older small women. My guess is they like the quite no yelling out bids, and no fighting/ Complaints about who had the bid ect.  All in all not a bad experience just wished we new the winning bid amounts.

Did get some Flea market feed back from one of the regulars. So good info there. Plus she does not like furniture units because it is only her. So another person to back up on the furniture stuff for us. 

Also gave us a lead on a good Auction.  So worth the trip for the info.