Auction Scene #3...March, 2012

I went to metro on Bankhead and Northside drive on tues.9 units up for bid. About 60 people mostly rednecks.

1 unit went for $300 and it had some broken furniture, a matress some trashbags and a set of old and ugly 20inch rims.

1 unit went for $70 and it had some trashbags and a cheap walmart mountain bike.

1 unit went  for $650 and it had a decent looking fridge with water and ice built in the door. 2 stoves with the eyes missin and a dishwasher. All were stainless steel looking.

1 unit went for $450 and had about 7 storage totes a **** load of trash bags a couple of broken nightstands a dirty matress and boxspring , a halfway decent fold up wheelchair and a couple cheap looking lamps.

All the other units went between $30 and $150 and were basically full of stuff to scrap.

Out of the 60 plus people only about 7 actually bid, but about twenty wanted to stand in front of the unit the whole time and not make one bid. Whats up with that

Where do you find the auctions with the smaller crowds? Do they even exist nowadays?

I guess when you go to auctions that they have a caravan following them around you will always have the bigger crowds.

I wonder how many people will be at this auction on sat the 24th where they say they have over 40 units up for auction?

I went to metro on Bankhead and Northside drive on tues.9 units up for bid. About 60 people mostly rednecks.

1 unit went for $300 and it had some broken furniture, a matress some trashbags and a set of old and ugly 20inch rims.

1 unit went for $70 and it had some trashbags and a cheap walmart mountain bike.

1 unit went  for $650 and it had a decent looking fridge with water and ice built in the door. 2 stoves with the eyes missin and a dishwasher. All were stainless steel looking.

1 unit went for $450 and had about 7 storage totes a **** load of trash bags a couple of broken nightstands a dirty matress and boxspring , a halfway decent fold up wheelchair and a couple cheap looking lamps.

All the other units went between $30 and $150 and were basically full of stuff to scrap.

Out of the 60 plus people only about 7 actually bid, but about twenty wanted to stand in front of the unit the whole time and not make one bid. Whats up with that

Where do you find the auctions with the smaller crowds? Do they even exist nowadays?

I guess when you go to auctions that they have a caravan following them around you will always have the bigger crowds.

I wonder how many people will be at this auction on sat the 24th where they say they have over 40 units up for auction?

That is actually a small size crowd for Metro.  Prices don't seem to bad either.  That $70 unit would be about right in my area ($20 for bike and rest a $50 gamble) depending on the look of the unit.  Your $450 to me was high - was getting those type of units for $150 - $200 bucks.

Small crowds are still out there but very few and far between.

You wil not find a auction within 50 miles of downtown with less than 60 people, some of the time 100+.   I attend auctions all over north Georgia, YES all over north Georgia.  I sometimes have travelled 90 miles from home.   The east, southeast, and northeast seem to have less people than anything on the west side.

No surprise that today's auction has been canceled.  They only had 1 unit.  Now to make a decision of in the morning which of 2 auctions I hit out-of-town at 10am.  Trying to find a phone # now for the places.

Today's auctions were a bust.  The first small town 8am auction was a no-show.  Figure everyone paid up and I didn't have a phone # to call.  Not a wasted trip since now have that # and # of another place in the town.  I then had to decide between two auctions at 10.  One was close, up near my sister and her hubby/kids, and the other farther away.  Closest one had 2 units, the other 7 or 8.  I decided to hit the closer one thinking most people will hit the 7-8 one.  Made a mistake.  Only 12 people at the 2 unit auction.  Guy opened up both units.  One was crap - matress/boxspring and junk dresser.  It went for $30.  The last unit was nice.  Had a stand-up closet, wood chest, rocking chair, so/so couch, chair, old washer, and a few other things in back I couldn't tell what.  Bid opened at $100, I did 110, and guy jumped it to 150.  Thinking he figured could scare people off.  I bid 160 and stopped.  At $180 didn't see it being worth a trip back up there to unload.  That and I don't normally mess with furniture.

Monday has our 3 facility auction I got 2 units at last month.  Then only 3 more auctions that I know of for the month 

SAFE IN LOCKER UPDATE FROM 2/17/12

Re: Auction Scene #2...February, 2012
« Reply #66 on: February 17, 2012, 12:18:29 PM »  

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Two units went for a bundle - one with commercial cooking equipment and Sysco Food items ($2000) and a 5x5 with a safe!  ($500)  Oh yeah, the safe unit was won by a Thrift owner I spoke with, so I will find out what was in it and report back.

I finally got a chance to catch up with the thrift owner who purchased the safe noted above and thought everyone would be interested in the contents.  She said it was filled FULL OF CDs.  (Certificates of Deposit)  Someone help me, but the only person who can mess with them is the name on the paper.  Basically worthless to anyone else....

So once again, no Pirates Booty, unmarked $20s, or anything else of value.  I didn't ask if they broke the safe open, or called and got a combination,  but since they also own a scrap yard, I figured it was the former.  

I talked to him back in January about the show.  He said he HATED it and the shows.  Due to the increase in crowds, he now has to take longer to do 1 facility and can only do 2 or 3 a day.  Before he said he could do 4 or 5 facilities.  So while he may be getting more per unit he is spending 2 and 3x as long.

Your right Cheesehead - those CDs are worthless to anyone but person named on certificate.  You would need a certificate of death, and few other legal documents to get anything out of those CDs.

About 40 people at Saturday's auction (3/17/12) with 20 units plus some old cars up for bid.  There were two other auctions on opposite sides of town, so it did thin things out a little.  This is one of the oldest storage facilities in my area - with OLD cinder block walls and gravel/grass walkways   As you can imagine, many lockers had mold and water - and it seemed like every locker that had anything good in it, also had something REALLY bad in it too!  (Projection TV, six moldy mattesses, fire ant infestation, etc.)  

Winning bids were from $50-$900 - I bid on three units but stopped at my limit and got outbid.  I knew I would have to bust my hump and to make little if anything.  From what I saw, the winning bid took all the profit out of the three lockers I was interested in.  

Over the last few weeks I have missed more auctions than I have gone to.
Part of that is that I am still cleaning out a packed 10 x 20 I got about 3 weeks ago but MOST of it is final
acceptance of the changes that have taken place since the tv shows started.

Once again the crowds are large, the prices are staying high and in my area we are doing as much work for
1/3 the profit we used to get. Used to pay $300 for a locker and maybe make a $1K profit if it was a good locker.
Now pay $1k for a good locker and make $300 profit.  That alone is a downer, but the time involved in watching 60 people loiter in front of a locker I can assess in 1 minute is pretty discouraging.

Starting in a week I'll miss some I wanted to go to as I am taking a 10 day vacation and going out of state...a needed break from the madness and the box moving !

I'm with ya.
I stopped WAY before the shows. Started again and shocked at the difference. Also going from industrial/business lockers to personal lockers is something to get use to.

With industrial, even if 30 people showed, everyone had their specialty. Door opens and 25 just walk away.
Now you got everyone bid'n on everything!

Everyone keeps saying "let the noobie loose a ton and they won't be back."
But everyone that leaves is replaced by two more!

Went to one last month that the auctioneer asked who was attending an suction for the first time. Out of 22 people, 14 raised their hand! And gotta figure some were embarsssed to admit it.....

I'm still going but my focss is more on picking and automotive.

I concur with Movieman and Alias,

I don't see any predicitable trend in the storage auction industry as far as bidding and crowds. One or two auctions the prices will come down and seem about reasonable and then all of a sudden the next auction comes and the prices go right up to and past what they have been since the start of the TV shows. The faces change but there is always somebody willing to gamble their money. There is almost no such thing as a $50 unit any more. Units last year that were in the $25 - $50 range (or $5 to $25 pre TV shows) are now going for $100. It seems like nobody can let anybody get anykind of room for less then $100. So many people think "Hell, I can risk a $100!"

I'm changing my strategy a little bit myself. I am trying to hold my money and "pick" great units. I know, they are few and far between, and I will have to pay a premium, but kinda like Movieman said, i am getting a little tired of the low profit units myself. Thought about fighting for a unit today, a 10 x 20 packed out! Then I realized there was nothing really showing but a bunch of nice totes and marginal furniture plus the usual mattress & boxspring to the dump. Not to mention the hours and hours of loading, unloading, sorting, researching, listing, re-packing, hauling, shipping, meeting customers, etc. There was NOTHING in view that said I could make my money back, forget about doubling the money. Of course a unit stacked like that has a lot of stuff so who knows what was in those nice newer totes or what the furniture you couldn't see was like. Nothing but a big gamble based on volume. I'm gonna stick to units where I can "see" and count my money first, then take a risk on the totes or boxes. Not spend hundreds of dollars on totes and crap furniture just because it's "packed out".

END OF RANT, SUCKS GOING HOME EMPTY HANDED FROM THE AUCTION! 

saw 4 totes and 3 trashbags go for $600 today , it wasnt even newbies just 2 whales who dont like each other

saw 4 totes and 3 trashbags go for $600 today , it wasnt even newbies just 2 whales who dont like each other

Now the "winner" of that match will hate the other guy even more and the loser will be saying "Enjoy your stuff a**hole !" 

@ Movieman enjoy your vacation.

We have also missed more than attended Oh wait have not attended any yet this month. Planning on hitting one on Wednesday, on the way to visit my son. 

The low profit + all the work = - (not worth doing).

We have slowed mainly because of still high inventory on large items.
Have noticed that people are only buying what they need and maybe a cheap splurge .50.  Granted this is in our area.

And like Cobia said no predictable trends. The auction on Wednesday is where we got our first unit, they were shocked at the turn out then. They don't have them very often so will be interesting to see the crowd.

@ fredgsanford that is just sad.