Auction Scene #4...April, 2012

Nothing to really make money but it brings in the kids...who bring in the parents who then shop also.

Guy at today's swap had a popcorn machine. $0.25/bag
Said he makes $20-30/day but the real value is his sales have gone up.
Same thing. Smell draws kids. Parents follow. And at only $0.25 who's gonna turn down an easy and cheap way to calm the kiddo's!
Machine is placed in very back so they have to walk thru all his inventory.

I had no auctions this week in my area so I decided to take the time and go to an antique fair at the local fairgrounds. Just an FYI for all of those out there I will never avoid or throw away a mattress again. Bed springs were selling for $6.00 each... Yes I said beds springs. The older and rustier the better. Individual springs were 6 and a 2'X2' sections were going for $25.00. Almost everyone there was carrying them around. Not sure what you would do with them but one lady I talked to was going to put her 2X2 on her mantel.

I have 2, not advertised, sales this week. Hoping for a low turnout. So tired of the crowds paying way to much for everything and the store is getting empty.

Bed springs were selling for $6.00 each... Yes I said beds springs. The older and rustier the better. Individual springs were 6 and a 2'X2' sections were going for $25.00. Almost everyone there was carrying them around. Not sure what you would do with them ....

Some time ago (maybe a year) one of the auction buyers in my area was selling single springs (RUSTED) on eBay.
Forgot what she got for them, but I'll say $10...seems about right. I seem to remember a pic  of one of these with a Christmas decoration fastened to the top.

This "craze" probably got started in some craft  type article and took off. Who know if it is still going, or in what areas.  I would think that if you got a mattress in a locker you could certainly strip off the fabric maybe do some cutting and would end up with the same things, but who knows if they would go or not. I'll look them up on eBay and modify this thread later with results.

Edit: couldn't find anything on eBay or any articles using Google.

Bed springs who knew. 

Found this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-HARD-TO-FIND-RUSTY-BED-SPRINGS-PLUS-FREE-PRIMITIVE-NODDER-PATTERN-/380429247940?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item589359a5c4


Have a twin mattress laying around will see what I can come with the true question will be will it sell.
will keep you posted.

Ok - well that is news to me on the bed springs.  Read the ebay link money posted.  He allowed them to sit and rust for months naturally.  WTH - if those things actually sold I'd have to re-look at all those box springs.  As is I give them to a lady that burns the matress and takes springs in to scrap.

Auction today that I'll not get to attend due to meetings.  Still have my friday locker to clean out also with a 30% and then 50% chance of rain.  Really wish they would of given us gate codes.  Could of had it cleaned out Saturday.

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?

Sounds strange, but if all the hassle keeps the competition at bay and you can win some nice units, i'm all for it!

Sounds strange, but if all the hassle keeps the competition at bay and you can win some nice units, i'm all for it!

Kinda related... I overpaid on a unit I got in February so I had to nickel & dime it the best I could. This unit (like many) had several mattress & boxspring sets in it. Normally, if they are not new in plastic or practically new, I don't attempt to sale them, they just go to the dump. Since I was really hurting to recoup my initial investment in the unit I decided to try to sell them even though they were obviously used, but not in terribly nasty shape. Funny thing is I did end up selling one of the queen size mattresses to a guy for $40. When he showed up to look at it I pointed out all the imperfections so he knew he wasn't getting a new mattress. His reply: "I don't care about that, it's for my dog, and your price is cheaper then a new dog bed."

Never occured to me to market used mattresses as "cheap dog beds!"

Funny thing is I did end up selling one of the queen size mattresses to a guy for $40. When he showed up to look at it I pointed out all the imperfections so he knew he wasn't getting a new mattress. His reply: "I don't care about that, it's for my dog, and your price is cheaper then a new dog bed."

My first thought is 'how big is your dog?!?!'

veering back to the auction scene~
Attempted two different, little known, auctions over Fri/Sat.  Both were cancelled with no way of knowing.  Tried calling numerous phone #'s etc, to no avail the day(s) before and again on the way to said auctions..  Lots of crabby 'regulars' over the weekend here.  Lucky for us they were both within 25 miles, but still.....hate the wasted gas and time.

Can't find any auctions in our neck o' the desert this week, so time for organizing and listing~

Have a twin mattress laying around will see what I can come with the true question will be will it sell.
will keep you posted.

And here's the completed return on "nodder rusty spring".

http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?rt=nc&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=spring%20nodder%20rusty&_dmpt=Folk_Art&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283

Think I'll pass on this idea as it seems like a lot of work getting them ready for what MIGHT amount to a return of $1 on a single spring.  The completeds have SOME sales, but nothing outstanding.

Went to an auction this past Saturday - six lockers - local auctioneer owns the facility and also a nearby auction house.  It's also one of the only places in my area where they do the old-fashioned "hard core" auctioneering - with the main guy, and his partner, who yells out "YEP" everytime someone places a bid and verbally prods the crowd for bids.  

Unit #1:  10x30 - Full size circus tent - went for $130
Unit #2:  10x10 - 1/3 full of boxes, most were re-sealed and contained furniture/desks/hutch = $750
Unit #3:  5x10 - had four couches = $110
Unit #4:  10x20 - Popcorn machine, razor scooter, 2 leather chairs, old cabinet radio = $475
Unit #5:  workout equip, military bags, headboard, suitcases, etc. = $950
Unit #6:  Kids (plastic) motorized motorcyle, one unassembled kids cycle in box, GUN (could only see the stock, may have been a BB Gun), few more boxes, lamps, etc.  Bidding went crazy = $975

Guys run a pretty good auction, but they also attract a pretty big crowd - about 40-50 with about 30 different people bidding!  Prices were a little higher than they've been.  Image one is the $475 leather chair unit and image #2 is the box unit.  Didn't get good shots of the others - since the "tag team" auctioneer brothers stood directly in front of the locker.  

Auction this morning started out as 5 lockers. There were only 2 at sale time. The crowd was very small for my area. Only 10 bidder numbers.
First unit had a couple of small pieces of furniture showing, a mattress and box springs, two surf boards and alot of boxes and bags. Unit went for $800.00. I guess from what I over heard the surf boards were old and possibly worth alot.
Second unit had a nice large hutch showing as well as an antique built in type glass door shelving unit, fridge with no doors showing, some kind of couch or chair upholstered, a coffee table and lots of boxes and bags. I won this unit for $400.00.
Ended up finding the doors (side by side with water in the door) for the fridge, two sets for washer and dryers, Pretty nice 60's era dresser, the upholstered item is a chaise lounge, several pieces of 10k gold jewerly (not big but worth some), $10.00 face value of silver half dollars. All in all not a bad unit for the money. I will try to get photos posted tomorrow. I forgot to bring my camera home from the office.

Nice calcoastgal - those 1/2s could be worth more then spot value depending on what they are.  I'm always looking for coins and stuff like that with no luck.

Today is my 7 facility caravan I always take off to do.  Wish I had not burned a vacation day.  First place had 2 units and 1 at the 2nd facility.  Third facility had a unit for the first time in 4 months.  I drive up and see the News 6 van in the parking lot and just groaned.  We already had a larger crowd again with a bunch of noobs.  The camera man films the opening of the 1 unit a 10x25 and I almost bust out laughing.  Unit has a bunch of crap lumber in it (plywood, 2x6s, etc), a very used shop vac, broken work lights in back, a decent ladder, a few gutter type metal and a counter or something.  All of it looked to of been ripped out of a house.  Most of us just walked away.  I heard a $30 bid so it may of gotten $50.  If the lumber had been decent looking I'd of bid and it would of been worth the time and effort.  As it is that was a bust locker.  I just hope the segment proves this isn't storage wars and maybe it "reduces" the crowd.

All of the other locations paid up except for 1.  Have 1 more unit to bid on at 1:15 so I came home to waste time.  Maybe it will draw the crowd down with 2 hours between auctions.

Well I've found luck but not by winning a unit. Have a friend who is moving to Chicago and wants me to consign here lockers. They are 2 10x30's. She's giving me 30% of the sale total and she's on the hook for any garbage fees.  Good news is I stand to bank alot of cash bad news is the I actually must go though all her crap.

Went to 2 of 3 auctions today; all three had about 35 attendees with bout 5 to 8 regulars, some recent newbies and the balance completely new including a one-legged man in a wheel chair.

Price pretty good, though a couple went higher that I thought was comfortable and all the ones I was interested in went for $400 to $1000 more than I would have paid...but then, I'm interested in making a profit whereas some of these folks are not (apparently).

Bottom line, I didn't get one, and where I used to (1 year 4 months ago) buy 4 to 6 a month, I now buy 1 to 2 a month and sometimes 1 in six weeks. Oh well; picking is going well though.

Nice auction today......about 15 people show up.  One new guy bought 8 lockers....all crap in my opinion, but maybe he'll get lucky on one or two.  Funniest part was two women that nobody had ever seen before.  They walked out about half way through the auction complaining that this was "nothing like the tv shows"....LMAO!

I'm with MovieMan.....picking is going pretty good....auctions are rough right now!