Auction Scene #1...January, 2013

Some hours left to the new year begins, but better now than then !

Hope we all have a good first week of 2013...at the sales and beyond. 

No regular auctions this week for me, but went to a "piece by piece" auction and got a few things. For me the picking (whether at the piece by piece or yard sales, etc) has been as productive or better than the auctions.

Another day of all auctions cancelled.....3of5 for Wednesday have been cancelled.

Starting off to be a slow year.  Not even any estate sales this week that look good.


Got two resturant auctions lined up but going just since I have time.   Not really expecting much.


Did make a few picks today.    That's something, I guess.

Went to an auction in Chico yesterday and something was very wrong. Units that should have seriously gone for not more than 800.00 max. were going for 1500.00+ Granted I know that when they have rural auctions (this was with an auctioneer that also has an auction house in this town), I will see more locals since they don't seem to travel around but, the prices were really stupid! I stood and laughed at how high they were going. Not sure what was going on exactly..one guy told me the scuttle-butt was, these people work with the auctioneer and they get a kick-back of some type, bid high, win and then either split with him or he reduces the prices and they sell at his auction house for him??  I didn't pass that along because I know all kinds of rumors go around but it did seem very strange. Planning to go to the auctioneer's auction house just to see if anything shows up there. I hate it when I feel I have wasted my time going to one of these that may be rigged this bad.   

 Went to three auctions yesterday (1/16/2013) with each facility having 5 or so lkrs.

Crowd was good at each place about 15 people, half of whom were regulars of at least two years.

At the first place we were lined up in a hallway when a guy walks right along the side of the line right up to the 5 x 10 and starts looking in (not from the doorway but 3 feet away directly in line with the opening).

Me: "What part of the line concept don't you understand?"

He: "Whad you say?"

Me: (repeated above)

He then walked toward me and said "You got a number or somethin ?"  and he walked on back toward the hallway door behind us.

All the regulars and other newbies heard this exchange and it didn't take long for the regulars (once outside) to agree this guy was just begging to be "run up" if he bid on any locker.

Well, he did bid. Auctioneer was asking for $25 start and the guy shouts out "one dollar!".  We were unable to bid him up as that was his ONE BID !

You've got to be RANK NEWBIE to pull the line cutting and bidding bulls**t this clown pulled. To his credit, he got the idea and was quiet again for the next two auctions though he did get the courage to bid $25 for a locker that sold for over $400...so he made two bids that day.

****

The other two auctions pretty much reflected the first one with same number of lkrs, buyer and decent prices, but I didn't bid once on any lkr...just weren't what I was looking for.  More auctions next two weeks with hopefully something worth buying.

Today's...

6 units.  38 people....and a baby.
Sizing up I'd say 8-10 people there to actually bid.

1st:  Kirby vac.  Old school.  Several beat up boxes.  Smelled like piss.   
        First time newbie got for $145.  I passed.   I have 2 Kirby's I haven't sold yet.

2nd:  Matteress. Ton of pink children's toys, tables, easy bake....
         Looked like someone cleaned out kids room.  Was two laptops in a bag...
         Went to 20-ish year old for $130.   Had potential for small profit (or big if laptops were newer)
         Again, I passed.   Lot of take up space stuff.

3rd:   Flat cardboard box with bubble wrapped framed art sticking out.   Grand Father clock with no
          wieghts.   Went for $175.    Didnt bid.  I know nada about clocks but looked pretty cheap to me.

4th:   Dresser.  End table.  All scratched up.  Don't know bid, went to restroom....

5th:   Non-army, army style duffle.  Car amp.  Monitor.  Some electronics.
         I put a cap at $100 and thought that might be high.  Went for $115.
          This one was the one that struck me as the gamble.  Either a money maker or total bust.

I skipped out so didnt see the 6th unit.  Auctioneer's one and only auction today and was talking and BSing.  I ran out of time. 

What I did notice thru all this....
1st:  all boxes were spread out and slightly open with something of interest showing.  Kirby was next to door but you could see dust outline in back to where it was before.

2nd: right in middle ws bag with laptop but while everything else was tossed in, this was wrapped just so as not to see what kind of laptops thy were but totally noticeable.

3rd: art was slightly pulled from box

4th: all the boxes were covered by blanket but the furniture wasn't and had no dust on it.

5th:  duffle was opened towards door.  Car amp right up front but car stereo boxes ans electronics all in box in back.  And monitor and all other electronics were in such a way that you couldn't see the name.  Every piece just so happened to have something lending against it.

This is a place the cuts locks before you arrive.  Totally looked like they arranged the lockers.
I mean, who has a 6x6 locker, about a dozen items in said locker but lays it all out so you can't even take a step inside?  It seriously looked like how people spread things on a tarp at a flea market.

This is a place the cuts locks before you arrive. 

Interesting report !

As far as the locks being cut before buyers arrive....in my area that is the norm. It is VERY, VERY, VERY unusual for them to be cut at the time of the auction.

On the plus side, if STAGING has taken place it's obvious and the regulars won't bite most of the time.  I don't even go to that kind of facility anymore.

This week there are auctions Wed, Thurs, Friday but I go more for the socializing than anything....very careful these days to be a picky buyer.

Went to two of four possible auctions today bypassing two that were out of town far enough I didn't want to go.

Unfortunately, the crowd was 50 or so with only 6 to 10 being regulars; the majority of the rest were newbies and some from a metro area about 70 miles away !

First place had some OK lockers but once again I wasn't willing to pay the prices they were going for. I think the NY Storage Wars brought out some new idiots. Not a one of the 6 lkrs went to a regular.

Second place I went to...same story. One 8 wide by 12 deep went for $1,625 !  The front edge showed the back of a couch sitting on end, ends of mattress/box springs, a few boxes (nothing special in appearance and marked "Xmas" and "pots and pans").  Regulars were getting ill seeing this go above the $600 or so any of us would have bid.

So, not a good report, but more auctions tomorrow and Friday....there's always hope.

Not sure if SWNY is the problem as much as some getting their tax returns already. We have seen the same issues and I just laugh and shake my head. Let them waste their money and hopefully not return again. It makes it tough to get a locker but we just keep going until it happens and they go away.

Not sure if SWNY is the problem as much as some getting their tax returns already.

Yep, it's a double whammy all right. After seeing this trend for the last two years one wonders if it will ever really go away or just go up and down with the influx of new tv shows and repeating tax returns. Too bad the newbies can't just read about how much work it is and the true possibilities on ROI for most people. But then, they would have to know what ROI meant !

I went to an auction this morning...not too bad about 30 people and about 20 actual bidders. 7 of which were from the local nursing home...it was like a mobility chair convention. 

Got a great furniture/appliance unit for $400. I see an $1100 return in big ticket items and I haven't even gotten to the back of the unit which I think is full of baby furniture and expensive children's toys. A lot of the toys I can see are new in the box. I'm probably going to rent the unit so I don't have to move the heavy stuff.  Should be a money maker!

Went to 3 auctions yesterday (1/24/2013) and while I didn't buy anything it was a better experience than the auctions of the day before.

Crowd was only about 20....an improvement on the 50 of the day before.

Facility #1....5 lockers...3 were trash. Others were 5 x 10 and went in the $150 range. Nothing interesting to me.

Facility #2....8 lockers...best one went for $425 showing some nice furniture (more than I wanted to handle)
                   and one of the regulars was kicking himself later for not going for it. If he had it would have gone
                   on up to maybe $600 due to the $425 winner being a high volume buyer.

Facility #3....Some of the crowd had dropped out. Three lkrs...two went to one buyer who had passed on the
                   furn locker from facility #2.  She got two 5 by 10's packed...think she paid $150 plus for each of them.

******

One more auction today (1/25/2013) and then a couple next week.

The crowds and prices have really jumped up around here this month. Seeing the return of more 6 month, 1 year, and 2 year newbies. It's a funny cycle, word gets out that prices have come down, old newbies who dropped out months or years ago come back, prices go back up again, dazed look of confusion as to why the can't seem to win the cheap units they been hearing about.

Average cost per unit for me in December was about $280, average cost this month has been about $625!

A yes, new TV show about Storage Wars, and Tax Return checks, sprinkle in a little new years resolution of starting a new career, or starting their own business, and we get the cyclical Spring time fedding frenzy.

Just gotta wait for the 90 degree weather and the tax money to get spent by May and we should be back to "normal".

I hope the 90+ degree weather slows them down also, but when we lived in Texas and it got into the 105+ they still came out, just with less clothing on :-) Since we have been back to California, I am not sure how it will be in the Sacto area. We got out to an auction yesterday that wasn't real terrific but good enough. We did get one locker for a decent price and we'll get a nice return on it. Couldn't get to the second facility due to time restraints but the crowds would have been enormous anyway as it always is there.