Auction Scene #4...April, 2012

Cobia - I've found only 1 or 2 of our regulars will venture away from their main hunting grounds.  Either they don't want to waste gas and come home empty or lazy.  Not sure which.  Even auctions that are only 30 mins away in smaller towns have a complete set of other buyers.  Maybe they don't look for those auctions.

Calcoastgal - those small lot auctions can be worth it if can stick out the whole day.  I'm like you however and would of taken off unless really was interested in something.  I hate those auctions as it takes forever.  Good part is you know what your bidding on and less trash.

Keep it up drbecker.  Got to love units that keep on given.

For me I have a auction Thursday I may go just to look.  Is at 5:30 in evening, is normally crowded, and place is a little "iffy" from talking with other regulars.  Friday has 2 auctions I can't make due to work.  Saturday is my small 3 facility caravan that I've done very bad at and ok on.  Hopefully they will do "live" auctions this time.  Lots of people since it's a saturday, and live may drive up the price but we will see.

This week...April 9 through 13 (Friday the 13th)...six auctions to go to.

Hope to get at LEAST one locker !

Couple more pictures from the locker that keeps giving> I dropped off the personals this afternoon and the manager said he was just going to throw them out. Turns out the renter killed himself 8 years ago and his girlfriend was paying on it for 8 years. She died in Dec and the payments stopped. He lived in CA the locker was in WA. Looks like he lived here about 2 or 3 years and this was stuff he stored when he moved back to CA. He had never been back.  Rent was $66 a month now started lower but I figure he paid about $18K over 30 years.

46 pieces of Wedgewood:



Marble table with chairs



Brand new toaster oven from 30 years ago never used these are actually worth something.

Lol - very nice pictures there drbecker.  Think you have enough bikes?  If those are not for you and the family it's time to sell those bad boys.  Least here in the south it's time to sell them.

Well it keeps coming, going through some small I though were junk I took a careful look at this and saw the name!  These are worth around $50 to $100. Some were real gold this one is not marked so must be plate. Probably from the 50s.

You might want to get this checked out.  I don't see it saying swiss made on it anywhere.  It might be real it might not.

Two facility caravan today.  Got to the first and saw two 'regulars' pulling out and a note on the door saying "Auction cancelled".  Went in and talked to the manager as he is my favorite and I had some homemade strawberry shortcake to deliver to him.  He said the other facility was still a go, but for the third straight month all his tenants paid up. 

Headed on down to the other facility and there were about 30 folks (2/3 newbies and/or looky-lous) for 3 lockers.   First locker a 5X10, 1/8 full with nothing but junk.  It was obvious it had been gone through.  Went for $75.  Second unit a 10X10 2/3 full.  I really liked this unit.  Nice dining table with 6 chairs, lots of tubs nicely stacked, an NFL stadium seat, tools, golf clubs and kids toys.  I was in it up to $500, but it went for $800.  Our local whale never even placed a bid on it.....he knew a newbie couple was going to overpay.  Final unit was a 5X10 with about 3 feet high of crap on the floor from front to back.  There was a nice headboard in/under it, but other than that it looked like oodles of dirty laundry.  It went for $100 to a regular.  He said he needed the headboard.

Rather disappointing day, but seems to be the norm lately.  Small enough crowd, but units were minimal, quality was lacking and prices just a bit too high.

We have some unadvertised auctions on Wednesday and Friday.....so still some hope for this week~

Just catching up from this past weekend/holiday 

Went to a facility on Good Friday that is part of a strip mall-type office complex.  The only ones there were me, another couple who have a store, and Mr. Whale. (not him again!) 

Three lockers - bidding went like this:
#1 - 5x5, with absolute crap - Whale opens at $25, couple go $30, Whale $35, couple $40, Whale $50 and wins.  (Couple comments to me "Didn't want it, but wasn't going to let him have it for $25!) 

#2 - 10x30 - half full with two or three dressers, four stock car slicks, a couple racing jacks, misc. tools, and boxes/bags.  Couple opens at $50 - Whale to $100 - and on it went to $850 with the Whale winning.  Wow, maybe he's Dale Earnhardt's cousin or something... 

#3 - 15x50 - (GIANT locker) - about half-full of big furniture - three full size cloth office couches, a couple conference room medium-sized tables, desks, chairs, etc. - but limited amount of boxes and no file cabinets.  Whale starts at $100 - and he never stopped.  Couple went up to $1700 - Whale won at $1800. 

So Mr. Whale flexed his muscles and won them all, and with tax spent around $3000.  Apparently one of those days where he wasn't going to lose a unit.   Things are picking up with two more this week and three next week.  Hoping for the best - good luck to everyone!

Went to an auction on Tuesday the 10...five units.

I remember two went in the $100 to $150 range...both 5 x 10s...each with about 5 to 10 items. I would have paid maybe $40 for each.

Crowd wasn't bad .... maybe 20 to 25.

Then a 12 x 20. I would have paid $450 to be safe. It started at $300 and sold at $625.  It was stuff down each side and was only 2 feet high at that...couple of bigger things, a large aquarium for one.

******

Went to three today. First place nothing to write home about...3 units. Second place 6 units. One nice 10 x 15 showing a lot of small tool boxes (contents ?) 4 bikes (worth $40 apiece at flea), a frig, a washer (or dryer ?) beat up chest of drawers.  I waited until bidding started and at $700 bumped it by $25...my one bid. Sold for $925 to one of the 5 "big" bidders there (me included)....all but two of us bailed at the $725 mark.

So, it goes on. Small crowd here though...again only about 20.  Third place cancelled.

Another auction, another locker.  Today found me at a place that hardly ever holds an auction.  He tries hard to work with people.  Someone did pay up so we had 5 units instead of 6.  Crowd was ok - around 25 people, mostly regulars with a few newbies.  Units were as follows:

1) small closet size - lots of cloths on top, end of golf bag, TONS of dust.  I grabbed it at $25
Whale and I was bidding on this both at same time, he told auction guy to give it to me instead.  Working with him in past paid off in small way today.

2) 10x10 - tool chest, fishing poles, dresser, 4 small toolboxes on side - $250

3) 5x10 - 2 matress, 4 new dish tv stands in boxes, large fish tank, 2 drawer toolchest in back - $200 (this to a newibe, lady has unit here and had heard about it).  No clue how she is going to move that stuff less she has a young grandson or something.

4) 5x5 - looked even worse then my unit.  Tried to grab it at $10, went for $20

5) 10x15 or 20?? - this unit was packed.  Old style rocking chair, tons of boxes, totes, etc.  Looked like what I call a "grandma" unit.  It started out at $200 and sold for $550.  This will either be a really good unit or bad.  I saw many boxes with magazines in them is why I passed on it.

So in general not a bad day.  3 facility caravan on Saturday.  Normally is a silent auction but they are going to call it out they keep saying.  Crowd is normally in the 50s so we will see how it goes.


*side note - guy did offer me $40 sight unseen for the unit.  I passed as I want to dig and even if it is all trash, I'm out just $25.

Went to two auctions today...each place had 5 units.

First two at place one were trash but still sold in the $50 to $75 range. About 25 people there...20 were newbies I had never seen before...the supply of them is like waves coming in on the beach, but their numbers seem to be dwindling a bit.

Third unit a 10 x 20, pretty full but with more big stuff than I normally like. It was the first viable one at this place and I figured it would go for a bit, so I decided to start it high and see what happened. Auctioneer asked for $100 and I said $500.  That shut them up pretty fast, but anymore there's always SOMEONE (OLD or NEW) who will chime in.

This time it was a newbie to responded to the auctioneer's offer of "600 anyone?" Newbie took the bait.  Then he asked me for $700 and I came back at $625 and got it. When locking it up a regular came up (he hadn't bid) and said "I owed you one." The spirit of sharing getting paid back.

Next two lockers were good: 10 x 15 showing a lot of smalls...went for $1050. A 10 x15 with a really nice queen mattress showing went for $675.

So, that place was OK.

******
Next place, 5 lockers crowd had grown to maybe 50....45 newbies.  First few were 5x5 and crap. Went in $75 range.
Third one a 10 x 5....paint sprayer, some cheap tools, not much in there...$375 to newbie. Last two were large, but crap and I didn't even stay for the selling of the last one.

****
The one I got will do OK, but unless there's a big surprise in there, it won't go down in the record books for earnings.
I may post a pic of a little cabinet with beveled glass which seems old and might bring a few bucks, but nothing super.

I went to my first pod auction yesterday. Advertised 8 units 4 were auctioned. There were ~15 people total and maybe 8 groups of bidders.

#1 - $50 looked like big load of trash. 1 particle board dresser, boxes, 1/10 full.
#2 - $650 professionally packed, ~30 boxes, large entertainment center showing, 1/2 full, this is the one I would have wanted. I was really on a info mission although I did have the $ to buy it.
#3 - $725 young white couple with a young son. Corner curio ($50), stained multicolor microfiber couch ($100), lots of boxes, 2/3 full. This was the whole house/apartment probably some good stuff but would be difficult to clear profit.
#4 - $625 train table, BBQ grill, hoses, air hose, misc tools. Looked like it had thoughtfully packed. I quit at $600 - large surface area needed to store before selling and couldn't bring myself to keep going.

I was surprised by this auction. First not many people and prices weren't horrible. If I had cleared more room in the garage, I would have taken one home.

Sam

Went to two facilities yesterday, same company. Silent bidding (more on this later)

First location advertised 6 units....was down to one at auction time. 20 or so in the crowd... half noobs, half regulars. Cut the lock, threw open the door and there stood one broken beach chair and an old pillow. Pass.

Second location advertised 18 units....still had 14 at auction time. Same kind of crowd, lost a few, picked up a few.

I ended up bidding on 6 of the 14, smaller, inside units, obvious quality or neatly packed mysteries....I have a bit of the gambler in me and neatly stacked & packed closed boxes and totes sometimes get me going. Bid prices ranged from mid $200 range to upper $400 range.

.....now about the silent bidding aspect. Everyone gets a bid sheet with all the units listed and has until the end of the auction to fill them out and hand them in.

THEN....they are sent off to the corporate headquarters in Texas to be tallied up and winners decided. This takes anywhere from 10 to 15 BUSINESS days. This is the only company I have ever dealt with that does their auctions this way.

Has anyone else ever run into this kind of policy? It has many downsides to it but the one upside is, so many folks around here hate it, that the crowds stay relatively small.

It took me a while to get used to not needing to have any cash on me and lugging a fist full of locks around.....and the wait can be torture, especially if you have upcoming actions prior to hearing back from Texas. All in all though I have had some profitable units from this chain and have continued to return.

Thoughts?

Dang Jbone - I've never heard of that before.  My auction Sautrday doesn't do the count until the end of the caravan.  Even if they already know who won at the previous places.  But at the end of the day you do know who won.  I think they do this to keep max # of people at all 3 facilities.  One thing I hate about silent auctions is you can easy "win" more units then you have the cash.  Here, they give you time to run to the bank if need or will take a CC.  I'll pass on putting stuff on my CC for this.  Just waiting for the day I win 4 units, blow all my cash, and have to bust my butt to get them all cleaned out.

MM - glad you got a unit.  Even if make a small profit as long as your in the green it's all good IMO.

Genie - I'm surprised at the turnout for the pods.  Most pods in Atlanta are a zoo.  Where I'm at they normally only have 1 and it always cancels.  They have advertised for over 6 months now but have yet to do an auction.

Attended a rare weekend auction this morning....rare for me as weekends tend to draw way to large of a crowd. This is a small privately owned place though and a bit off the beaten path, only had about 10 ~ 12 show up. Two units up for auction.

1) 5 X 10 two mattresses, mediocre furniture some black trash bags. I did not bid, went for $260.

2) 10 X 10 odd unit, 1/4 full, neatly stacked boxes with what looked to be new smalls...toaster, waffle maker, irons, hair dryer....things like that. NIB large wooden storage cabinet. I saw about $200 in value and set my limit at $250, ended up going for $475.....even if everything was still in all the boxes it seemed like it would be hard to break even at that price.

Stopped at a local yard sale on the way home and was lucky enough to find a few boxes of books. I have a bar-code scanner APP on my phone that looks up ISBN numbers through www.bookscouter.com and was able to find $38 worth of books, about a dozen total, selling for $0.25 a piece....turned $4 and change into a couple of  bucks.....so the morning was not a total waste.

Now that the weather has broken I think I may hit a few yard sales every weekend.

3 facility silent auction this morning.  Crowd was down to about normal size for saturday (30-40).  Did have a bit of a fuss after the first location.  Some of the newbies stood behind the new girl taking the bid sheets.  They waited till she looked at the last one to up thier bid and put in their sheet.  Many of the regulars noticed this and it was "quickly" fixed.  If you crowded around the girl they yanked your sheet out.  First unit was a really NICE unit but knew it was out of my price range so didn't worrry about it.  Later in day one of the newbies felt the wii box in the front even after being told the rules multiple times.  Lady that runs the auction yanked her bid sheet, and then looked inside the box and told all of us the contents (most of regulars were in the back).  After that the rest of the day was easy and simple.  Four people won the 10 units.

I laughed as one of my buddies called me before the auction saying he just passed me.  We had both gone out to hit yard sales before the auction.  I spent $25 to buy 45+ CDs and the case.  Can sell them for $2 - $3 each at the flea and was running low so took the gamble.  Going to pick up some match box cars from budy for $.25 each just to refill my box at the flea.  Sell them for $.50 each.  Nothing to really make money but it brings in the kids...who bring in the parents who then shop also.

So a decent day but nothing great.  Still have unit I bought friday to clean out.  Can't wait till Monday to get back in there.