Auction Scene #6...June, 2012

I would have gone for $16 unit. Probably gone to $25.  I can gamble with those easy ones.
Would have bid on GameCube unit too but cautiously. Maybe $125. 
And the $245 unit I can see the price. Just cause I totally need that chair! 

The pedal car one here would have gone way higher, too.  $275 is still a risk to high for me.

......
I stumbled upon an auction yesterday while estate sale-ing.  30 people, 11 lockers.  It was cash only and I only had about $400 left on me.   Luckily the did upstairs first with the small closet size lockers.  6 of them. Four packed with garbage bags and liquor boxes. Couldn't see a single item. Passed. Went for $60-$80.
Other two were decent but prices jumped over $200 in seconds.
Last five were 10x10 and larger.  I just left.  Figured if these people were bidding upwards of $100 for a closet of unseen items in garbage bags, no way my $400 was going to score a large locker...

 

I saw $100 easy in the $275 unit.  Doubt I'd of gone that high myself.  On the auction you stumbled on Alias - trash bags and boxes are a niche here.  A unit packed front to back and to very top hit for over $300 a U-haul this month.  I love those type of units but for 1/2 that much money.  So I could see me bidding the $60 - $80 for those units as described.

Ill throw in but that little, totally unseen.... I don't know.   I'll gamble $25, maybe $40 if it looks packed well.

But you sell clothes.   I don't.
Hell, I have enough trouble keeping my own clothes washed and sorted and folded.   

Greetings to everyone, haven't had much time to chime in lately as the regular job and life in general have been very busy lately. Went to 2 auctions in the last 10 days and am glad to report small crowds and reasonable bidding. First had 6 units and 10 bidders in my hometown, I got a 60% full 5x10 for $55.00 that turned out good; and the second had 16 units and 30 bidders, I got a 60% full 10x10 for $275.00 that is looking very good having sold one big item already. As always, enjoy reading everyones posts and be carefull in the heat. We cleaned out the 10x10 in mid 90's with high humidity. Good luck out there!

OK~updates for the past two weeks~
A couple weeks ago Don landed a locker for $30.  Quite astonishing as he joined me at the 'popular' auction.  Had a womens mtn bike, some shelves (fallaparticle board), totes, bags (garbage variety) and it had been turned.  We found one jewelry box that contained.....wait for it.....quite a few mercury dimes.  Sold those for $25.  Bike for $45 and a header (brand new in box) for a 02-03 Chevy Cavalier for $50.....too funny as Don swore it would never sell~:)  Still have a bit of inventory, so that was a nice unit.

Last week no auctions and no swapmeeting as temps are well over 100 degrees (and that is by 10am).  Luckily craigslist has been good to me!

This week......Don and I again divided and again....he conquered.....I wasted gas~
He landed another $30 locker, which will barely break even, but then later landed one for $100 that I just sold the AC unit ($90) and has a ton of toys, a few collectibles, some really cool vintage tools and other oddities.  My rough calculations has the unit netting about $300 and I ALWAYS figure low so.....fingers crossed.  Oh and there was a ps2 in this unit.  Since we have numerous games/controllers and the like (from various other units) the girls are playing that on occasion.....I told them they have until the end of July then it's up for sale and they're stuck with their ps3 again......

Don's going to PS tomorrow then we get ready for July which brings our Phoenix auctioneers down (every two months) so that means numerous hours spent melting in 105 degrees with humidity and daily thunderstorms.....yippeeeeee (no really.....I love a good storm!).

Hope all is going well for YOU~

Missed 3 of 5 auctions today as I was out of town on other business.

First one I got to had about 30 or so people with about 6 or so regular bidders. Good crowd, mediocre lockers (except for one) and decent prices for what they were. One was a 10 x 20 PACKED top to bottom, left to right and we assume all the way back. I would have liked it for $400 or so as it was a total mystery. It went for $1,050 to a couple who have been buying a few lately.

Next auction had 4 lkrs. Nothing special for me. Crowd and prices OK. One was a 10 x 30 (we were all waiting for) but turned out to be hundreds and hundreds of dining room chairs from a restaurant. Couldn't see much else but you could see floor to ceiling chairs front to back. It went for $1,250...NOT TO ME !  At the last 10 x 6 there I just left without waiting to see what it went for.

Good news though was that both that route and another (same auction outfit...different auctioneers) were sporting decent size crowds. Several regulars speculating that we might be coming to the end of the tv influence.

Did one of the Public Storage runs yesterday.  40-50 people......and outrageous pricing!  I can't believe how fast these guys are running up a total piece of crap unit to $500 and above! 

Worst one I saw for the day.....10X20 with an old single shot break open .410 shotgun showing.  Lot's of cloth (not microfiber, more like floral pattern) furniture, broken stuff, etc.  Maybe a good $400 unit if a guy wanted to gamble......sold for $2300! 

Anyway, while some of you guys are whining about the 100 degree heat, here's a picture that kind of sums up our summer so far!

Did PS just suddenly decide to auction at every facility this week or what?
All over town. Morn is all down west valley hwy.
Problem is I've seen it posted everywhere so I'm sure turn out is gonna be high.  Specially in that area.

Ive decided not to set alarm.  If I wake in time, great.  If not, guess I needed sleep more.   

Went to 2 auctions this past week. One had 9 units and 10-15 bidders there. Nice crowd and majority were regulars. Was able to get 2 units, almost a 3rd. The one I missed out on had some electronics/appliances boxes and the 2 in the front had their item inside the box. Also some ok furniture inside it. It was a 5x10. Went for $190. I was out at $175.

The first unit I won was an inside unit packed full with just furniture. It was a 5x10 also. Some of the furniture was bigger and I figured people wouldn't want to deal with carrying it outside to load. I got it for $40. Have already sold a bedroom set for $165 and have about another $200 in furniture pieces remaining.

The very next unit I was able to win also. It was an outside 5x10 3/4 full with a bunch of furniture, a few boxes and some appliances showing. Bidding started at 10 and went back and forth between 2 guys to $50 then I jumped it to $75 and the bidding ended there. At a yardsale this past weekend we were able to sell smaller stuff from that unit for $20 and also sold chairs from inside for $70. So, less than a week after and both units are beyond breaking even with a bunch of stuff still to sell.

The other auction I went to only had 2 units and about 10 bidders. Both units were decent and I liked them but we didnt have much space available after winning 2 units earlier in the week. Both went in the 200-300 range and each person should make a profit. Overall the scene is settling down here and that is good for everyone.

Was going to an auction today and looking forward to it as I have done well at that location.

Yep...CANCELLED !   Bummer, but there are always more upcoming.

Meanwhile, I hit up a Salvation army  as-is auction and got a whole shelf of electronics for $5 and after getting out
the half-dozen items I wanted gave the rest to another guy so I didn't have to do the work. (shelf is 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep and stacked 3 feet high).

Sounds like a great week for all to end June with.  I myself skipped the auctions friday as I had already purchased 2 units in 10 days and daughter had gotten 2.  So we were on inventory overload and low funds.

Wish we had an auction like MovieMan - electronics can sometimes be very easy and cheap to fix.
Very nice buy PureVendue - that would never go here.  Too many guys love furniture and have "other" people to clean the units out.  So they are not scared away by weight, quantity, etc.

I'm with you rockin on the temp.  Is quarter till 8pm here and still temp is at 104, heat index is like 110 or higher.  Have another 3 days of 100+ temps then we will just be in the high 90s.  Was surprised I did so well today in sells with the heat.

As for crowds - they are mid-size to more normal.  We expected this come July in my area.  Most people don't want to be out in the heat and stuff.  Still will see a few newbies I'm sure baking their kids butts in strollers.

I know it's July, but I wanted to give a report from the last week of June. This was our "big" auction week in the region. 5 auctions, 2 being multiple facility caravans.

Crowds: WAY down, 2 auctions had less then 10 people show up! WOW! The most crowded was one of the caravans with about 35 to 40, a few months ago it was double that.

Prices: All over the place, but nominally trending doward. I ended up winning 6 units over the week. Some were good buys, others I still paid to much for. 2 units look like good money makers, 2 units look like OK money makers, 1 looks to be break even, and 1 looks to be a loser.

The best units were won on the hottest day, so the heat was my ally. All units had there fair share of mattresses and boxsprings so another reason why I was able to win them for the price I wanted.

Don't know how much the heat played a part in the auctions, but the few who showed up seemed to be mostly fresh faces and lookie-loos at that. Not as much wild first time bidding from newbies like I have been seeing over the previous 6 months.